Foreign Students of Harvard University are released from the Trump administration’s ban

When Schray Mishra Reddie was admitted to the University of Harvard in 2023, her parents were “ecstatic”.

This is “the final school that anyone wants to get into India,” she says the BBC.

Now, with an angle, she had to overcome bad news for her family: she may not finish in July in the executive program after Trump Administration moved to prevent Harvard record foreign students “As a result of their failure to comply with the law.”

“My family was very difficult to hear. They are still trying to process it,” she said the BBC.

Ms. Reddy is one of the 6,800 foreign students of Harvard, who make up more than 27% of their enrollment this year. They are the most important source of profits for the ivy league school. About a third of foreign students from China, and more than 700 are Indian, such as Ms. Reddie.

All of them are not sure now what to expect next. Harvard called this step “illegal”, which could lead to a legal problem.

But this leaves students’ futures in the suspended state, be it those who are waiting for enrollment this summer, or halfway through college, or even those who are waiting for graduation, whose opportunities are related to their students.

Those who are already in Harvard will have to be transferred to other US universities to stay in the US and keep their visas.

“I hope Harvard will stand for us, and some solution can be developed,” says Ms. Reddy.

The university stated that “completely committed to maintaining (its) ability to conduct our foreign students and scientists who come from more than 140 countries and enrich the university – and this people are immensely.”

This step against Harvard has huge consequences for millions of students in the US. It follows that the Trump administration at the Institute of Higher Training, especially those who witnessed major pro-Palestinian protests on the campus.

Dozens of them face investigations because the government is trying to capitalize the accreditation process and remake the way they work.

White House First threatened to ban international students from Harvard In April, after the university refused to make changes to hiring, admission and pedagogical practice. And it also froze almost $ 3 billion in federal grants that Harvard is difficult in court.

However, the announcement on Thursday left the students.

Chinese student Kat Si, who is in the second year in the STEM program, says she is “shocked”.

“I almost forgot about (the preliminary threat of the ban), and then suddenly came the announcement of Thursday.”

But she adds some of it, waited for “worse”, so the last few weeks spent, looking for professional advice on how to continue to stay in the US.

But the options are “all very troublesome and expensive,” she says.

The Trump administration seemed to be lonely China when Harvard accused of “coordination with the Communist Party of China” in its statement.

Beijing responded on Friday, criticizing the “politicization” of education.

It states that this step will “harm the image and international position of the United States”, calling for the ban to withdraw “as soon as possible.”

“We have signed up,” says 20-year-old Abdullah Shahid Sial from Pakistan, a very vocal student activist.

The junior specialist in applied mathematics and economics, he was one of the two Pakistani students who enrolled in Harvard in 2023.

He was also the first in his family to study abroad. It was a “massive” moment for them, he says.

The situation in which he will now turn out, he adds, “ridiculous and degumanized.”

Both Mrs. Reddie and Mr. Sial said that foreign students resort to college in the US because they see it as a hospitable place where there are many opportunities.

“You have so much learning in different cultures, from people of different sections of society. And everyone really appreciated it,” says Ms. Reddie, adding that it was her experience.

But Mr. Sial says it has changed recently, and foreign students no longer feel desirable – Trump administration recalled hundreds of student visas and even detained students in campuses across the country. Many of them were associated with the protests of Palestin.

Now, adds Mr. Sial, in the international student community a lot of fear and uncertainty.

This has only deteriorated the last development. South Korean graduate school student says she has a second thought in the summer because she is afraid that she will not be able to re -enter the US.

She did not want to reveal her name, because she is worried that she could affect her chances of staying in the US. She has one year from graduation.

She said she had a semester and still waited for “reunion with friends and family.”

Anxiety among international students is sensitive, says Jiang Fangzhou, who reads public administration at Harvard School Kennedy.

“We may have to leave immediately, but people have their lives here – apartments, rentals, classes and community. These are not things you can get away from the night.”

And the ban does not just affect current students, says 30-year-old New Zealand.

“Think about the entrances, people who have already refused the proposals of other schools and planned their lives on Harvard. Now they are completely stuck.”

Mengchen Zhang reporting supplement