The News
The White House threatened to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students, sharply escalating its row with the most prestigious US university.
The standoff began after Harvard, in a striking act of defiance, rejected President Donald Trump’s order that colleges end DEI programs and screen students for antisemitism, among other demands. International students pay higher fees than domestic ones, and excluding them would mark a further financial blow for Harvard following a funding freeze and threat to revoke its tax-exempt status.
Trump’s crackdown on higher education, federal spending, and immigration could come at the cost of the US losing some of its academic, scientific, and research dominance, especially to China, some analysts warn.
SIGNALS
As US science loses funding, China eyes gains
Scientific and tech innovation is a critical sphere of US-China competition. For artificial intelligence specifically, the US has remained the main destination for the world’s top-tier researchers in recent years. But funding cuts mean many universities are now unable to admit new PhD students, a Duke University professor wrote: “China is certainly continuing to train PhD scientists while the U.S. is heading towards a future where our country no longer produces new scientists and engineers.” At the same time, foreign countries including China are reportedly trying to recruit US scientists who are out of a job because of funding cuts, efforts that reflect “a sophisticated understanding of the intersection between economic dislocation and talent acquisition,” a tech market researcher wrote in Fast Company.
Chinese students rethink going to US
Chinese students, who have long been central to cultural and academic exchanges between the two superpowers, now find themselves being used as bargaining chips in an escalating trade war. The US has revoked some Chinese student visas, as part of its broader crackdown on international students, The New York Times noted. Now, “many students, even if they look up to the freedom, tolerance and rich academic resources of the United States, feel they have to change directions,” a Beijing-based study abroad consultant said. The visa fears are prompting more Chinese students to instead opt for the UK, the South China Morning Post reported, while Beijing steps up recruitment efforts to lure overseas Chinese students back home for their PhDs.
Trump attacks threaten financial engines
President Donald Trump’s targeting of universities is also endangering their finances, which could hamper research capabilities. In addition to federal funding freezes, the White House plans to target universities’ financial investments, particularly in areas disfavored by Trump, like clean energy and China, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman reported. “University endowments may end up being as much of a liability as the DEI programs and Middle Eastern Studies departments they help fund,” Hoffman wrote. Targeting funding for colleges, with their billions in revenue and investments, can have larger economic ramifications, Nature wrote: University research is “the engine for creating start-ups and jobs,” leading to a “virtuous circle of discovery and innovation” that is now at risk under Trump.