Among college presidents, 65% said they were either moderately or extremely concerned about immigration restrictions and visa revocations, while 77% cited concerns about federal policy involvement threatening academic and institutional freedom, the findings by the American Council on Education (ACE) have shown.
“These survey findings make clear that many of the most pressing concerns for senior leaders heading into the new academic year stem from actions taken or proposed by the current administration,” wrote the report’s authors, Julia Napier and Danielle Melidona.
They highlighted policies that undermine research, curtail global engagement and threaten the sector’s foundations, which “draw focus away from the core mission of postsecondary education”.
The survey captured over 500 college leaders’ views from July 28-August 8, regarding their top concerns for the coming academic year and the impact of recent executive and legislative actions.
Among the leaders, a quarter of respondents said that immigration restrictions and visa revocations were among their most pressing concerns, with a similar proportion most worried about enrolment levels this academic year.
“I am not at all surprised [by the results],” Gerardo Blanco, associate professor and academic director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, told The PIE News.
“Perhaps the survey allowed for a confidential space to express these concerns as most presidents and other university leaders would be reluctant to express their concern unprompted,” he continued.
Though we don’t yet have a full picture of international student enrolment levels this semester, early predictions have forecasted a decline of up to 40%, with potential economic losses of $7 billion.
“Undoing present disruptions will take years, if not decades,” warned Blanco: “The perceived arbitrariness of student detentions and visa cancellations has generated a very different perspective of the US as an educational destination”.
“Most students can see that US universities welcome international students with open arms, but that might not be enough to ‘take the risk’ to go to the US,” said Blanco, noting that other countries were ready to attract those students pivoting away from the country.
This spring, the Trump administration revoked thousands of student visas, many of which appeared to be in response to students sharing pro-Palestinian views.
Though they proceeded to be restored in a government U-turn, the revocations sent shockwaves across US campuses and saw international student interest in the destination to drop to its lowest level since mid-pandemic.
According to an IIE survey, nearly a quarter (23%) of US colleges reported that students chose to leave the country after the mass revocations.
Since then, the state department’s near month-long suspension of new visa interviews wreaked havoc on global embassies and consulates, with many students unable to obtain a visa in time for the fall semester, though the full extent of this remains unclear.
The perceived arbitrariness of student detentions and visa cancellations has generated a very different perspective of the US
Gerardo Blanco, Boston College
According to ACE’s findings, 24% of leaders indicated moderate concerns about visa restrictions, with 43% signalling extreme concern. A quarter said it was one of their most pressing worries.
And yet, “if there is a silver lining in all of this, it is that only a few years ago, a key concern was convincing presidents and provosts of the value of internationalisation”, said Blanco.
“While the policy landscape is worrisome, seeing this high level of concern among presidents seems to signal that the efforts of past years have succeeded and that everyone, except for the federal government, sees the value of internationalisation students,” he continued.
Beyond immigration challenges, the survey highlighted several damaging impacts of Trump’s federal research funding cuts, with 29% of leaders reporting institutional revenue losses and a quarter indicating that research output had slowed.
Stakeholders have warned of the global repercussions of such disruptions, with Blanco indicating that scientific collaboration across borders was becoming “very difficult” to pursue.
“The system can probably bounce back from short term disruptions, as it did after the Covid-19 pandemic, but some of the negative effects of funding cuts and visa restrictions will likely linger for years to come and will weaken the US as a whole,” he said.
Elsewhere in the survey, nearly three quarters of leaders said they were extremely, moderately, somewhat or slightly concerned about enrolment numbers for the upcoming term.
With the US facing a domestic enrolment cliff, declining international student levels are only making the situation worse, as overall undergraduate enrolment declined by more than two million between 2010 and 2022.
Unlike other major source countries, the US has the capacity to host more international students, who currently make up less than 6% of the overall student population, though this fact frequently gets obscured by politically inflammatory debates on immigration.
