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WASHINGTON: Even with a fresh victory on behalf of international students, US universities fear they’re losing a broader fight over the nation’s reputation as a place that embraces and fosters the world’s best scholars.
University leaders see it as a steady erosion. They say the Trump administration‘s repeated attempts to curb immigration have sent students a message that they aren’t welcome in the United States. Colleges say foreign students are listening: Since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the number of new international students coming to the US has fallen by 10 per cent after years of growth.
Already, there’s concern that the coronavirus pandemic and a slowdown of visa processing could prevent thousands of students from returning this fall.
Foreign students now face even more uncertainty after seeing how quickly policies can change, and on nothing more than a political whim, said Kim Wilcox, chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.
“Higher education in the United States is still seen as the gold standard around the globe, but access to it comes with all kinds of risks,” Wilcox said. “There’s a growing sense that we’re just not a welcoming place.”
Trump’s latest policy would have forced international students in the US to transfer or leave the country if their schools held clas