Universities around the world are seeking to provide shelter for students under repression by U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on academic institutions, aiming at top talent and making up billions of dollars in academic revenue in the U.S.
Osaka University is one of the highest ranked universities in Japan and is offering tuition waivers, research grants, and helping travel arrangements for students and researchers at U.S. institutions looking to transfer.
Japan's Kyoto University and Tokyo University are also considering similar plans, while Hong Kong directs its universities to attract top talent in the United States. China's Xi'an Jaotong University appealed to students at Harvard University to pick out under Trump's crackdown and hoped to “simplify “admission” and “full” support.
The Trump administration has issued substantial funds for academic research to curb visas for foreign students, especially those from China, and plans to impose taxes on elite schools.
Trump said that the top American universities are the cradle of the anti-American movement. In a dramatic escalation, his administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll in the event last week, which was later blocked by a federal judge.
Masaru Ishii, dean of the Graduate School of Medicine at Osaka University, described the impact on American universities as “the loss of all mankind.”
Japan aims to increase its foreign student population to 400,000 over the next decade, and currently 337,000.
Jessica Turner, CEO of London-based analytics firm Quacquarelli Symonds, ranks universities worldwide.
She said that in Europe, Germany, France and Ireland are becoming particularly attractive alternatives to Europe, while in the Asia-Pacific region, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and mainland China are increasing.
Policy “is a slap on my face”: Chinese students
Chinese students are particularly targeting Trump’s crackdown, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged on Wednesday to “actively” crack down on visas.
More than 275,000 Chinese students are included in hundreds of U.S. universities, providing schools with a major source of income and providing vital talent channels for U.S. technology companies.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 54% of international students are from India and China, contributing more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023.
The Trump crackdown took place at a critical time in the international student application process, as many young people prepared to travel to the United States in August to find accommodation and settle before the semester begins.
Dai, 24, is a Chinese student in Chengdu and plans to go to the United States to complete her master's degree, but is now seriously considering charging a quote in the UK.
“A variety of policies [by the U.S. government] She said: “It was a slap on my face.
Tom Moon, deputy director of consulting at Oxbridge Applications, said students from the UK and the EU are also less reluctant to apply to American universities, which can help students applying to their university.
The UK University said the U.S.'s UK university application has increased UK universities. However, it warns that it is too early to say whether this will translate into more students enrollment.
As Trump administration policies prompt many professionals to explore careers and research programs, the world is in urgent need of recruiting top American talents. Eli Glasner of CBC looked closely at the efforts to bring some of these doctors and scientists to Canada.
Ella Rickets, an 18-year-old first-year student from Harvard University in Canada, said she received generous aid packages paid by school donors and was worried that she would not be able to afford other options if forced to move.
“About what I applied to school, I think the only university in the Atlantic is Oxford. … But, I realized I wouldn't be able to afford international tuition and there wasn't enough scholarship or financial aid,” she said.
She said she would likely apply to the University of Toronto if Harvard’s admission was revoked.
Analytics company QS said overall visits to its online research guide in the United States fell by 17.6% last year, and interest in India alone fell by more than 50%.
“The measurable impact on enrollment usually occurs within six to 18 months. However, reputational effects are often longer, especially in the case of visa uncertainty and transfer of job rights, and perceptions of risk and rewards can be sustained,” said Turner of QS.
This reputational risk and the subsequent brain loss may have a greater damage to American institutions than the direct economic blow to students leaving.
“If the United States keeps these great and talented students out, they will find other places to work and study,” said Caleb Thompson, a 20-year-old American student at Harvard.
