Foreign students face uncertainty as Trump steps up attack on universities Premium

Harvard University faces turmoil as Trump administration targets international students, sparking outrage, legal challenges, and uncertainty in academia.

The future of international students at Harvard University — America’s oldest, wealthiest, and arguably most prestigious academic institution — has been thrown into turmoil. The Trump administration’s recent move to ban the enrolment of international students at Harvard starting in the 2025–26 academic year has sparked outrage, panic, and legal challenges.

After Harvard refused to turn over extensive data about its international students, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the school was being held accountable for “fostering violence, anti-Semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”

This accusation is part of a broader escalation in the administration’s crackdown on elite universities. “Institutions must now recommit themselves to the good of the nation,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement. “And that includes standing firm in the face of political intimidation.”

In a social media post on Sunday, President Donald Trump criticised Harvard for enrolling international students without “any contribution from their home countries”.

“Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to,” he wrote.

“We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries.”

In April, the federal government froze more than $2 billion in grants and contracts with Harvard, citing non-compliance with requests to modify hiring and admissions policies, dismantle diversity-equity-inclusion (DEI) programmes, and conduct ideological vetting of international students. Harvard has filed a lawsuit challenging both the funding freeze and the move to revoke its ability to enrol foreign students.