Some international students say they have been chilled by the U.S. government’s attempt – now rescinded – to compel them to attend class in person this fall during the COVID-19 pandemic or risk losing their visa status.

“It was really scary,” said Yumiko Kishaba from Japan, who studies business administration at the City University of New York. “It's very confusing. It makes us like, I don't know, it's like uncomfortable being here in the U.S.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agencies retracted their July 6 ruling minutes before a federal judge was to decide on a lawsuit July 14 brought by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to stop the directive.

SEE ALSO:

ICE Won’t Compel Foreign Students to Be on Campus

Two hundred other colleges and universities submitted amicus briefs, or legal papers supporting the suit. Tech giants Facebook, Apple and Twitter lent their support to the suit, saying it would limit their ability to hire employees. And 15 Republican legislators wrote to ICE Acting Director Matthew Albence asking him to reconsider.

SEE ALSO:

Over 200 US Universities Challenge ICE Guidelines on Foreign Students

“These students are law-abiding members of our community and are seeking to better themselves with a college education, and our communities are better for it,” wrote the members of Congress.

“They followed the rules, and the rules are being changed on them in the middle of the game,” they continued. “That’s unfair.”

Attorney David Carpenter represents a group of students who filed a similar claim to the universities’ suit against DHS and ICE. Carpenter said he is pleased about ICE’s rescission, but the students’ suit will remain on hold in case the government issues another ruling like the July 6 directive.

“They faced health risks having to return to their home countries to travel,” Carpenter said. “For many of them who are from China, it’s just not practical for them to access their school curriculum abroad, for a variety of reasons, including the time zone difference, and their loss of connections within the school community.”

“I think they ended up having to do the right thing,” said immigration attorney Mercy Changwesha in Durham, N.C., about the government walking back the ruling.

“When this decision came in that international students, who take classes online, are going to have to go home or have to face deportation, it made no sense. We’re in the middle of a pandemic …”

Undergraduate foreign students in the U.S. must carry 12 college credits a semester to remain in legal visa status, but the COVID-19 pandemic has shuttered campuses across the U.S. to avoid the spread of the virus.

For the many students who remained in the U.S., they risked being deported if they took online classes only – as many domestic and international students have been doing since this spring.

For the many students who returned to their home countries when the pandemic emerged in the U.S., they would lose their visa status if they didn’t show up for classes for the fall semester.

Changwesha said she does not expect new international students who would have arrived this fall for the first time to get to the U.S. Most embassies, where students have to be interviewed in person and have their papers processed, are closed.

“So maybe a student who has an admission, but does not have a visa in their hand, might not get the opportunity to go to an embassy to get a visa before school starts in the fall,” she said.

“We expect that embassies are opening up slowly, but for now, most embassies are closed, except for emergencies.”

Changwesha said she tells anxious students to follow the guidance from their colleges and universities. Sign up for classes, keep a full load of 12 credits for undergrads and nine credits for master’s students. Attend those classes.

“You do not have to go home,” she said. “Go with whatever your school is doing: If your school is doing fully online, if your school is doing hybrid classes, go with the flow and follow your guidelines from school.

“Make sure you still attend class … make sure you participate and all that, because you have to maintain your status.

“I’ve talked with a lot of (international) students in the past week. A lot of them wait in that space wondering, ‘Do I just go home?’” Changwesha said. “And I told them, don’t go home yet. It’s a moving situation. Let’s wait and see.”

VOA's Laura Sepulveda and Mike Hove contributed to this report.

It’s tough to gain admission to Yale University, and it’s getting even tougher for international students as standout students from around the world set their sights on Yale.

The Yale Dale News, the campus newspaper, takes a look at the situation here.

Read the full story here.

Ruth Chane, a computer science major from Ethiopia, writes about her experiences settling into student life at Whitman College in the U.S. state of Washington.

"The community at Whitman College made sure I felt welcomed even before I stepped foot on campus," she says.

Read her essay here.

In The Student Life, the student newspaper for the Claremont Colleges, a consortium of five liberal art colleges and two graduate schools in Claremont, California, student Rochelle Lu writes about readjusting to her Shanghai home after spending a semester in the United States.

Read the full story here.

Cedarville University in the U.S. state of Ohio says it’s got more than 140 international students representing 44 countries.

Here, the school interviews Jonathan Sutton, director of international student services. He talks about his job and the opportunities for international students on campus.

Read the full article here.

Morehouse College, a private, historically Black liberal arts college in the U.S. state of Georgia, offers a guide for international students interested in attending the school.

Among the tips to apply and thrive at Morehouse:

• Take advantage of the school’s orientation program
• Turn to the school’s Center for Academic Success for tutoring, support and more
• Immerse yourself in campus life via clubs and societies

Read the full article here.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)

US News & World Report details the three top factors in foreign students' decision to study in the U.S. They include research opportunities and the reputation of U.S. degrees. Read the full story here. (December 2024)

A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.

Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.

Read the full story here. (December 2024)

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reaches out to international students by detailing the international student experience at the school.

Learn more about housing, life in Boston and more here.

China issued its first national action plan to build a "strong education nation" by 2035, which it said would help coordinate its education development, improve efficiencies in innovation and build a "strong country."

The plan, issued Sunday by the Communist Party's central committee and the State Council, aims to establish a "high quality education system" with accessibility and quality "among the best in the world."

The announcement was made after data on Friday showed China's population fell for a third consecutive year in 2024, with the number of deaths outpacing a slight increase in births, and experts cautioning that the downturn will worsen in the coming years.

High childcare and education costs have been a key factor for many young Chinese opting out of having children, at a time when many face uncertainty over their job prospects amid sluggish economic growth.

"By 2035, an education power will be built," the official Xinhua news agency said, adding that China would explore gradually expanding the scope of free education, increase "high-quality" undergraduate enrolment, expand postgraduate education, and raise the proportion of doctoral students.

The plan aims to promote "healthy growth and all-round development of students," making sure primary and secondary school students have at least two hours of physical activity daily, to effectively control the myopia, or nearsightedness, and obesity rates.

"Popularizing" mental health education and establishing a national student mental health monitoring and early warning system would also be implemented, it said.

It also aims to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas to improve the operating conditions of small-scale rural schools and improve the care system for children with disabilities and those belonging to agricultural migrant populations.

The plan also aims to steadily increase the supply of kindergarten places and the accessibility of preschool education.

The Open Notebook, a site focusing on educating journalists who cover science, has complied a list of U.S. graduate program financial aid information for international students.

Read it here.