Revocation of Harvard’s foreign enrolment rights sparks uncertainty for Indian students and scholars
The Trump administration’s latest immigration policy decision has thrown the academic future of nearly 800 Indian students at Harvard University into serious uncertainty. The move to revoke Harvard’s eligibility to enrol foreign students has drawn widespread concern and criticism from education advocates and diaspora leaders, reported timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
Harvard currently hosts over 10,000 international students and scholars, with 788 of them from India for the 2024–25 academic year.
The policy threatens to disrupt the studies of Indian students, many of whom are enrolled in long-term programs at the Ivy League institution
Ajay Bhutoria, a former advisor to President Joe Biden and an advocate for Indian-American issues, warned that this directive could force over 500 Indian students at Harvard to either transfer institutions or leave the United States altogether before the upcoming academic year.
He emphasised that Indian students contribute more than $9 billion annually to the U.S. economy and play a key role in strengthening bilateral ties between the two nations. “This policy sends a chilling message to Indian students and the broader South Asian community — that their contributions are not valued,” Bhutoria said.
The decision comes amid a broader tightening of student visa regulations under the Trump administration, raising alarms in the global academic community.
Many education experts and legal analysts have expressed concern that such moves could tarnish the U.S.’s reputation as a global hub for higher education and innovation, particularly among the Indian diaspora, which has traditionally viewed American universities as premier destinations for learning and research.