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  • Export success is not international education success

    Export success is not international education success

    The UK government’s newly published International education strategy opens with a statement few in our sector would dispute – in an “uncertain world, education matters more than ever.”

    That is true. But a closer reading of the document suggests a more specific and narrower interpretation of why education matters.

    This is not, in any meaningful sense, a national international education strategy. It is, instead, an international education export strategy.

    There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Education is one of the UK’s most successful export sectors, supporting jobs, research, soft power, and local economies across the country. At a time of financial constraint, it is understandable that government thinking frames education primarily through the lenses of growth, trade, and global influence.

    But if this is the government’s intent, it should be honest about it. Words matter, because they shape priorities, expectations, and trade-offs.

    Calling this an “international education strategy” implies something broader – a vision for how education helps the nation understand the world, engage with it intelligently, and equip its people to thrive within it. That wider vision is largely absent in this strategy.

    The dominant logic of the strategy is export-led. Success is defined through metrics such as global market share, education exports reaching £40 billion per year by 2030, transnational education expansion, and the recruitment of international students as contributors to economic growth and soft power. Students, staff, and institutions appear primarily as instruments in a national growth and influence agenda.

    What’s missing

    What is missing in this strategy is just as telling.

    First, there is no serious engagement with languages and area studies. At precisely the moment when the UK’s universities are retrenching from modern languages and regional expertise, the strategy is silent on linguistic capability and cultural literacy.

    This is not a marginal issue. If international education is about preparing a country to collaborate, compete, and coexist in a complex world, then understanding other languages, cultures, and political contexts is a basic requirement.

    Second, the strategy underplays the role of internationally mobile academic and professional staff. International researchers and educators are acknowledged, but largely as contributors to research outputs, innovation, and competitiveness.

    There is little sense of them as part of a long-term national knowledge ecosystem, or of the conditions required to attract and retain global talent in an increasingly competitive environment. Trust and partnership are repeatedly mentioned, but these depend on openness, stability, and welcome – not just on visa routes that happen to suit current labour market needs.

    Third, outward mobility for UK students and staff remains peripheral. The return to Erasmus+ and the continuation of the Turing Scheme are positive steps, but they are framed as supporting soft power and employability rather than as core components of a genuinely international education system.

    More than a decade ago, I argued that if we truly value international experience, we should allow UK students make use of UK student loans to travel and study beyond our borders. That argument still has traction and still goes unanswered.

    Nothing new

    None of this is new. When previous international education strategies were published, I raised similar concerns – that international education was being conflated with international student recruitment and export earnings, and that the deeper purposes of education in a global society were being squeezed out.

    More than a decade on from BIS’s International education strategy: global growth and prosperity, the language is more polished and the ambition more coordinated across government, but the underlying philosophy has changed remarkably little.

    The risk is not that the UK pursues education exports. The real risk is that we mistake export success for international education success. A country can generate billions in education revenue while simultaneously hollowing out its own international capabilities – languages, cultural understanding, outward mobility, and academic openness.

    A true international education strategy would start with different questions. What capabilities does the UK need to thrive in a multipolar, unstable world? How does international education contribute to social cohesion at home as well as engagement abroad? How do we ensure that internationalisation benefits domestic students and staff, not just balance sheets and trade statistics?

    The current strategy contains elements that could support such a vision. It talks about partnerships, mobility, values-based education, but they are subordinate to the export narrative rather than driving it.

    If government wants an international education export strategy, it should say so clearly. And if it wants a genuinely international education strategy, then this document is only half the story.

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  • Children With Disabilities Particularly Vulnerable to Minneapolis ICE Crackdown – The 74

    Children With Disabilities Particularly Vulnerable to Minneapolis ICE Crackdown – The 74


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    The Trump administration’s weeks-long immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis, which has shuttered schools and terrified students and parents, has left one group particularly vulnerable: children with disabilities. 

    Their families, who already fear their kids shutting down, running away, harming themselves or acting out when confronted under normal circumstances, have seen their anxiety skyrocket as they contemplate worst-case scenarios with federal agents. 

    Thousands of Minnesotans gathered in sub-zero temperatures Friday to demonstrate against the federal government’s ongoing presence, including surrounding the airport terminal and flooding the streets downtown.

    Idil Ahmed, who lives near the epicenter of raids and protests, worries about her 6-year-old autistic daughter having a meltdown during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

    “If they stop us, all hell will break loose with my child,” Ahmed said. “And there is no talking to these people.”

    Parents tell The 74 they have no faith, after federal agents ripped a disabled, autistic woman from her car and, according to school officials, used a 5-year-old as bait this week to lure his mother from their home, that immigration officials would be patient with a child who can’t immediately respond to orders.

    “When I saw that image of this young boy with his backpack, I thought, ‘That could be my son,’” said Najma Siyad, mother of a 5-year-old with autism. 

    Both Ahmed and Siyad are members of Minneapolis’ Somali community, the largest in the United States and one that has been virulently targeted for removal by President Donald Trump. 

    They are among many Somali families whose children have autism; a neurodevelopmental condition that is prevalent in their community.

    They and other Somali-Americans say their children are doubly vulnerable by virtue of their race and disability: While the first is obvious, making them a potential mark for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the second is not. 

    They and other families with special needs kids have missed school, skipped doctor’s visits and, in many cases, are not getting the occupational, physical and speech therapy services that help their children manage their lives and progress academically.  

    Ahmed said her daughter missed three consecutive weeks of occupational therapy because her therapist was too fearful to enter their neighborhood.

    “OT for us is so important,” Ahmed said. “It regulates her emotions, helps with fine motor skills, simple things like dressing, eating, body movements, the teaching of how to be physically independent.”

    And while multiple districts are offering remote learning to families afraid to leave their homes, online instruction isn’t a viable option for children who need a team of skilled school staff to access their education. 

    “It’s not a solution for us,” said Anisa Hagi-Mohamed, founder of an autism advocacy group called Maangaar Voices. 

    Regression, both educationally and socially, is a constant concern, these parents say. But stronger still is their worry about their child coming face-to-face with a federal agent who doesn’t know — and perhaps doesn’t care — why they won’t interact. 

    A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and CBP, said he was working on a response as to whether agents are trained to interact with autistic children and others with disabilities. Minnesota law requires autism training for peace officers but this does not apply to ICE and CBP, Minneapolis advocates say.

    Hagi-Mohamed has three kids, a 9-year-old son and two daughters, ages 5 and 8. All are “on the autism spectrum,” and each has their own unique vulnerability, she said.

    Her middle child is nonverbal and frequently runs away to no particular destination. 

    And her son looks far older than his age. He also has difficulty responding to anyone who commands him to act. 

    “He would completely shut down, self harm and get hurt in the process,” Hagi-Mohamed said, imagining him in an ICE encounter. “I worry all the time.”

    She’s advised him not to talk to any adults outside of school or home. 

    She’s frightened, too, for her 5-year-old, who treats all grownups with the same deference as her parents. 

    “The stranger danger thing is not so strong in her,” Hagi-Mohamed said. “She is one of those kids who if you tell her to do something, she will do it.”

    These families say they have remained petrified ever since an ICE agent in Minneapolis killed unarmed motorist Renee Good on Jan. 7 just after she dropped her 6-year-old son off at school. Hours later, federal agents wreaked havoc at nearby Roosevelt High School. 

    Maren Christenson, executive director of the Multicultural Autism Action Network, said she lives so close to where Good was shot that she’s worried tear gas will seep through the family’s windows from the ongoing protests. 

    Maren Christenson and her son, Simon Hofer (Maren Christenson)

    Christenson’s 14-year-old son, Simon Hofer, has autism and she can’t predict how he would respond to an ICE agent. 

    The boy said he’s worried — not so much for himself, but for his friends. 

    “I have been feeling angry, scared, sad,” he told The 74 on Thursday. “It feels kind of hopeless sometimes and overwhelming. Friends of mine and classmates are afraid to go to school and so they attend online.”

    His mother has told the special education community that even if someone is Caucasian, is a citizen, has a disability and can articulate their challenges, they are not free from peril. 

    Her advice? “Comply: do what they tell you to stay safe.” 

    But she’s unsure whether that strategy would work for people with autism who can become unmoored by such an encounter. Stress might hamper their ability to communicate, she said.

    “We have held a number of community conversations and brainstormed, asking, ‘What could we do? What are people doing?’” she said. “But the truth of the matter is we are in uncharted territory. There is no guidebook, no best practices for when your city is under siege.”

    A mother of two boys with autism who lives in the southern suburbs of Minneapolis and who asked not to be named to protect her family’s safety, said her children, ages 8 and 5, are just now learning about the concept of police. 

    They cannot at all understand the complexity of immigration enforcement — or the harsh tactics that have come with it — so she’s keeping them mostly at home.

    “There is only so much I can do when I am not with them,” she said.

    Hodan, the mother of an 18-year-old college student who has autism, said her son has always had high anxiety. But now, she said, it’s worse. She’s given him a list of a dozen phone numbers to call in an emergency that he keeps in his jeans and in his shoes. 

    “He has his citizenship card in his pocket and when we drive, I make him put it on the center console,” said his mom, who asked that her last name not to be used to protect her family.

    Along with school and therapy sessions, also gone from families’ routines are winter afternoons at indoor play spaces, trips to the gym for their teenagers and other child-friendly destinations. 

    Siyad, a mother of three who lives 18 miles south of Minneapolis, close to St. Paul, said they recently took the 26-minute drive to the Minnesota Children’s Museum and had to turn around when they were three minutes away after witnessing an ICE encounter on the road. 

    “That fear is daily,” she said. “I am a naturalized citizen but I was not carrying my passport at the time. We had to turn around immediately.”

    The painful irony, she said, is that her children, like all of the others in this story, their parents said, are U.S. citizens. 

    “Our kids are as American as apple pie,” she said. “This is their home.”


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  • Ex-Uvalde School Cop Acquitted in Mass Shooting Response Case – The 74

    Ex-Uvalde School Cop Acquitted in Mass Shooting Response Case – The 74

    School (in)Security is our biweekly briefing on the latest school safety news, vetted by Mark Keierleber. Subscribe here.

    It took 77 minutes and 370 law enforcement officers to stop the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooter after he killed 19 children and two teachers in 2022. 

    Among the first officers to respond to what would become one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history was former campus cop Adrian Gonzalez. On Wednesday, after an emotional three-week trial, a jury found Gonzalez not guilty of failing to save lives during the shooting. Prosecutors had alleged the 52-year-old endangered children’s lives and abandoned his training when he failed to stop the 18-year-old gunman before entering Robb Elementary School and opening fire.

    Getty Images

    Big picture: It’s the second time ever that a school-based officer has faced criminal charges for their failure to protect and serve as shots rang out inside a school. It’s also the second time the officer has walked free. 

    In 2023, former school-based police officer Scot Peterson was acquitted of similar charges after he took cover outside a Parkland, Florida, high school as a gunman killed 17 people in a 2018 mass shooting.

    Both cases raise the same question: Once a gunman enters a school and starts shooting indiscriminately at innocent people, what level of responsibility do armed police officers have to stop them?

    Three for three? Gonzalez’s acquittal doesn’t mark the end of the criminal fallout from what the Justice Department determined were “cascading” police failures in Uvalde. Pete Arredondo, the school district’s former police chief, will stand trial on 10 child endangerment charges. A trial date for that case hasn’t yet been set.

    In the news

    Updates to Trump’s immigration crackdown: 

    • As thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents descend on Minnesota, school communities have been pushed into chaos and fear, my Twin Cities-based colleague Beth Hawkins reports. | The 74
    • The Columbia Heights school district announced that federal agents have detained four of its students over the last two weeks — including a 5-year-old boy who was used as “bait” as officers pursued his family members. The Department of Homeland Security said the elementary schooler had been “abandoned” by his father during a traffic stop. | MPR News, X
    • The former Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent, who was arrested by federal immigration agents in September, has pleaded guilty to felony charges connected to lying about his citizenship status on school district employment forms and for possessing a gun while in the country illegally. | The New York Times
    • Maine parents have stopped sending their kids to school as the state becomes the next immigration enforcement battleground. | Maine Morning Star
    • Immigrant-rights advocates have called for a Texas judge to recuse herself from a case involving an unaccompanied minor, alleging she demonstrated cruelty and bias including grilling immigrant children about whether they had “abandoned” their families in their birth countries. | El Paso Matters
    • Worms and mold in the food: As the Trump administration restores the practice of family detentions, children in ICE custody are being exposed to unsanitary conditions and limited access to clean drinking water. | PBS
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    As Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta prepares for a trial over allegations it failed to protect children from sexual exploitation, the company has asked a judge to exclude from court proceedings references to research into social media’s effects on youth mental health.| WIRED

    Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency inappropriately handled sensitive Social Security data, the Justice Department acknowledged in a court filing. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, which sued to halt DOGE’s access to such confidential information, said the revelation “confirms our worst fears” that the quasi-agency’s data practices jeopardized “American’s personal and financial security.” | CNN

    Poor reception: Turns out, kids aren’t so hip to the idea of school cell phone bans. Fifty-one percent of teens said students should be allowed to use their devices during class. A resounding 73% oppose cell phone bans throughout the entire school day. | Pew Research Center

    School districts across Michigan have rejected new school safety and mental health money from the state over objections to a new requirement that they waive legal privilege and submit to state investigations after mass school shootings. Some school leaders have argued the requirement creates legal uncertainties that outweigh the financial support. | Chalkbeat

    As the Prince George’s County, Maryland, school district faces a “crisis budget” and braces for $150 million in cuts, officials plan to spend $6 million on artificial intelligence-enabled security technology, including weapons detection systems and license plate readers. | WUSA

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  • Academic freedom suffers blow after blow in Florida

    Academic freedom suffers blow after blow in Florida

    In 2023, FIRE raised the following question: What’s going on in Florida? In light of recent affronts to academic freedom in the Sunshine State, we regret to raise this question once again.

    Florida State University nixes class on women authors

    Michelle Zauner’s mother died from pancreatic cancer in 2014. Zauner, a Grammy-nominated musician who plays in the rock band Japanese Breakfast, reflected on how Korean culture and heritage helped her grieve in her memoir Crying in H-Mart. This book spent 55 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list and was floated for a film adaptation with White Lotus actor Will Sharpe attached to direct. 

    Zauner was listed alongside Jane Austen as a potential author of study in a class on contemporary women authors. But before students had a chance to explore how women across generations and backgrounds have contributed to the literary tradition, the Florida Board of Governors pressured FSU to pull the plug on the course.

    At the end of the fall 2025 semester, the Board sent an email to FSU faculty reiterating recent regulations:

    Courses cannot distort significant historical events, include a curriculum that teaches identity politics, or be based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.

    These constraints come from SB 266, which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed in 2023. Among other things, this law specifically prohibits instructors from teaching “that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.” It is unknown whether or how the course violated this provision. 

    In summary, the law bans faculty from teaching ideas that the state of Florida has deemed verboten. SB 266 essentially expands Florida’s 2022 Stop WOKE Act, a similarly unconstitutional law that FIRE is challenging in court. We’ve explained to DeSantis that principles of academic freedom protect faculty members’ right to discuss pedagogically related materials, subjects, and viewpoints in courses, and the First Amendment protects faculty from government interference in these matters. 

    In since-removed FSU courses, such as the class on contemporary women authors and another course on African diaspora short fiction, discussions of systemic racism and sexism (and, indeed, whether they exist) are undoubtedly germane to the course. 

    Florida must refrain from censoring pedagogically relevant course instruction, especially to suppress disfavored ideas or viewpoints. 

    Florida government’s hostility to educators raises serious concerns

    Self-censorship is also a concern. Consider the culture of shaming that exists within Florida’s education system. Over the past few months alone, Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas issued press releases and statements announcing investigations into specific educators whom he did not hesitate to name publicly. 

    In November, he announced proceedings against an instructor for using “Mx.” as a gender-neutral honorific for another person. The month prior, he publicly announced the removal of an instructor at Florida Southwestern State College for “promoting gender ideology.” Again, using their full name. 

    Scrutiny of this sort only serves to make faculty fear for their jobs, and when the government invites it, that effectively coerces instructors into censoring themselves. 

    The Supreme Court recognized that the First Amendment “does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.” The spring 2026 semester began with this “pall of orthodoxy” over every college classroom in Florida, undermining the promise of academic freedom that is so integral to higher education. 

    If you are a faculty member in Florida who is affected by these regulations, please contact FIRE.

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  • Unsealed documents prove the government crusade to deport Ozturk, Khalil, and others is based solely on protected expression

    Unsealed documents prove the government crusade to deport Ozturk, Khalil, and others is based solely on protected expression

    On Thursday, a federal judge unsealed internal government documents shining a light into how the Trump administration targeted pro-Palestinian foreign students — who were all legally present in the United States — for deportation.

    Since the beginning, FIRE has demanded answers. The American people deserve reassurance that their government was not trying to deport people lawfully in the United States based on their opinions alone. Such action would be intolerable in a free society.

    Now we know that the government’s case was built not on criminal activity, but on the opinions expressed.

    On Aug. 6, FIRE sued Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others, arguing that the two federal immigration law provisions used in their crusade to deport legal immigrants over protected speech are unconstitutional.

    The following statement can be attributed to Conor Fitzpatrick, FIRE supervising senior attorney.

    There are few things more un-American than masked agents throwing dissenters in the back of a van because the government doesn’t like what they have to say. But these documents prove that it was the students’ opinions alone, and not any criminal activity, that led to handcuffs and deportation proceedings. The First Amendment means the government cannot punish speakers for their opinions, but that is exactly what the government is doing.

    This can’t happen in a free society. It can’t happen in a free America. We’ll continue to fight this egregious violation of the Constitution every step of the way.

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  • Teachers, Parents Increasingly Back Cell Phone Bans in Michigan Schools – The 74

    Teachers, Parents Increasingly Back Cell Phone Bans in Michigan Schools – The 74


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    In his 30 years as teacher and administrator, Jason Purcell felt the weight of responsibility that often fell on his shoulders in enforcing the prohibition of cell phones in the classroom.

    When Purcell was convinced to come out of retirement this past fall to teach at Mackinaw City High School, he saw a remarkable difference teaching students in a district that had long banned cell phone use during the school day.

    “It makes a world of difference when there is a school wide policy that is enforced by all the teachers consistently and supported by the administration,” said Purcell, who has taught math, been an academic counselor and served as an assistant principal throughout his career. “Students have and always will find ways to be distracted from the learning, but not having cell phones may take away the biggest distraction that students face.”

    Mackinaw City Public Schools’ cell phone ban was instituted around 2010, coinciding with the rise of teen cell phone ownership, longtime Superintendent Jeffrey Curth said.

    Teachers have all taken on the responsibility of enforcing that students’ cell phones are left in their locker with the ringer off from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m, Curth said, removing a major source of distractions and potential source of cyber bullying.

    “Because we’ve just had it in place so long, it’s just what’s expected,” Curth said. “I think when you see the amount of cyber bullying and things that it’s raised to the level that it has in society today, I think it’s just further strengthened our stance that we feel that we’ve done the right thing.”

    As the state considers a school cell phone ban that received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Michigan House last week, an increasing number of Michigan school districts have followed Mackinaw City’s lead by enacting bans and passing cell phone policies limiting use in the classroom in recent years.

    Nationwide, 26 states have passed full bans on cell phone use, while six others have required districts to establish their own policies or limited cell phone use in class, according to Newsweek. A 2024 American Association of Educators survey of 1,517 teachers from across the country, on the other hand, found that 70% want cellphones to be banned during the school day.

    From passive presence to active participation

    Anchor Bay High School student success teacher Jamie Pietron said she was initially apprehensive about how students would adjust to the districtwide ban that started this fall, wondering how the policy would be enforced by administration.

    There have been consequences for students who violate the district’s “away for the day” cell phone policy, Pietron said, helping contribute to a more connected learning atmosphere.

    “In the past, when kids were done with their work, they went on their phones,” Pietron said. “Teachers are making lessons and activities more engaging to cover any ‘down time’ and students are focused on what they need to do.

    “… It is amazing to walk through the cafeteria and see kids actually talking, playing cards and having conversations with each other instead of staring at their screens.”

    Northville Middle School teacher Richard Tabor said he also has seen a shift from “passive presence” to active participation in his classroom since the district enacted its cell phone ban in 2024-25 for students in grades K-8 during class time, requiring them to be collected by teachers at the start of the day.

    Prior to the ban being in place, Tabor said it was teachers’ responsibility to enforce their own policies on student cell phone use, leading to inconsistency in where students were allowed to use cell phones and where they weren’t.

    Without the option to scroll during downtime, students are able to engage with the classroom environment,” Tabor said. “Students are more likely to ask questions, take physical notes and participate in discussions because they have no alternative ‘escape’ during moments of boredom or difficulty.”

    Mackinaw City special education teacher Elizabeth McNeil said her transition from teaching in a district without a cell phone policy to one where a ban has long been in place has been a “breath of fresh air” in removing “distraction and drama.”

    “At my previous district, there were daily arguments about giving up phones and discipline problems, even when just asking a student to put their phone away,” she said.

    “In a society where adults are addicted to their phones, it is encouraging to see that we are encouraging students here at MCPS to realize that their phones are not part of their lifeline,” McNeil said”

    Parental approval

    Beyond support from teachers, bans have largely been met with approval from parents, who acknowledge that devices that continually cause them distractions throughout the day shouldn’t be in the hands of their children during school.

    Heather Gatny’s opinion has evolved on the issue, from trying to hold off on getting her son a cell phone until he is in high school to recently getting him one as an eighth grader for Christmas.

    She likes the idea of him having one in his possession, even if it is kept off while he is in class at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, but stressed that in the classroom it can only cause distractions.

    “If the kids were allowed to have their phones in the classrooms, they’d be looking at them the whole time,” she said. “I think that’s for the best for them to not have access to it, because they’re just on apps. They’re goofing around. They’re not paying attention to what the teacher is saying. They’re paying attention to what their friends are texting them.”

    With two young children in second and fourth grades at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Sarah Krzyzanski said she is for cell phones being stored in a central location in the classroom for those who are concerned about students being able to respond to an emergency.

    In the classroom, however, she said schools should be aiming to keep the focus on learning and not conditioning students to be dependent on having a cell phone by their side.

    “These kids are at the point where they’re kind of addicted to that ‘ding,’ and they get to where they crave it, and it becomes an impulse,” she said. “I don’t believe that a child with a phone on their person has the ability to pay attention to the teacher and actually follow lessons and do it with enough of their brain engaged to be taking that educational content out the way that they should be.”

    Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: [email protected].


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  • Sector backs Harvard int’l students in Trump legal fight

    Sector backs Harvard int’l students in Trump legal fight

    This week, the American Council on Education (ACE) was joined by 22 higher education associations filing an amicus brief in support of Harvard against the administration’s efforts to uphold Trump’s June 2025 proclamation barring international students from the institution.  

    “If the federal government may punish a university for its perceived ideology or that of its students, then the marketplace of ideas collapses into a monopoly of dogma,” the brief warns. 

    It urges the court to affirm the preliminary injunction issued by Judge Allison Burroughs last June, which blocked Trump’s attempt to prohibit foreign nationals seeking to study at Harvard from entering the US. 

    The signatories have said the proclamation represents an unprecedented executive overreach threatening institutional autonomy and academic freedom, as well as violating the First Amendment. 

    “Over the last year, the current administration has engaged in an unprecedented effort to coerce institutions of higher education to behave in a manner that reflects the administration’s preferred ideology, including by reshaping their faculty, curriculum and student body,” the document reads. 

    “When Harvard resisted the administration’s unlawful demands, the administration retaliated with extreme sanctions, including the proclamation issued in this appeal.” 

    The case arises from multiple attempts by the Trump administration bar international students from attending the Ivy League institution last spring. 

    Initial efforts were led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attempting to strip Harvard of its SEVP Certification, which enables US institutions to enrol international students – a move halted by federal district judge Allison Burroughs.  

    Weeks later, Trump escalated efforts and issued his own presidential proclamation aimed at achieving the same result, which was met with a preliminary injunction from judge Burroughs, who said Trump’s directive implicated core constitutional protections. 

    Appealing judge Burroughs’ decision, the administration argued the proclamation was legal under the president’s immigration authorities – citing the familiar argument relating to national security concerns. This took the case to First Circuit appeals court, where it is now being heard. 

    The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Trump’s proclamation cites Harvard’s alleged “violent crime rates” and deficient reporting on foreign students as rationales for the directive, alongside its “entanglements” with the Chinese Communist Party and “discriminatory” admissions practices reducing opportunities for American students.

    If the federal government may punish a university for its perceived ideology or that of its students, then the marketplace of ideas collapses into a monopoly of dogma

    American Council on Education et al.

    The brief argues that the proclamation is “fundamentally inconsistent with institutional autonomy – at Harvard and other educational institutions across the country” and that the administration’s actions are unconstitutional and set a dangerous precedent for all US colleges. 

    “The administration’s actions at issue in this case are directed at Harvard, but they reverberate throughout every state in the nation,” the brief states, arguing that punishing a university for its perceived ideology is “the antithesis of American values”. 

    It highlights the targeted nature of Trump’s directive, which would allow international students into the US seeking to study at any institution but Harvard – signalling the intervention is punitive, not regulatory, the amici said.  

    They emphasise the value of international students, “who … enrich and strengthen our community in innumerable ways”.  

    “But these benefits are unattainable when schools are prohibited from enrolling international students because they do not pass the government’s ideological litmus test.” 

    The brief contextualises the case within the administration’s long-running assault on Harvard, involving the freezing of federal grant funding, threats to Harvard’s tax-exempt status and requests for information regarding Harvard’s international students.  

    The administration’s appeal is expected to be considered in the coming months.

    In the federal funding fight, judge Burroughs found in September 2025 that the administration acted unlawfully when it cut Harvard’s research grants – a case also heading to the court of appeal after the administration disputed the ruling. 

    Despite the ongoing attacks on America’s oldest institution, Harvard’s overseas enrolments rose to their highest level since 2002 this academic year, making up 28% of the total university population.  

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  • Sector unmoved after Australia revises student risk ratings again

    Sector unmoved after Australia revises student risk ratings again

    Under the new categorisation, which came into effect on January 8, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs (DHA) moved India to level 3 alongside Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, while Sri Lanka was reclassified to level 2 under the Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF).

    The changes come just months after countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were classified as the lowest risk (level 1) markets, while India, Bhutan, and Nepal were considered moderate risk (level 2).

    While the timing of the updated risk ratings — typically set in March and September — is unusual, the government has signalled its intent to crack down on misconduct in the sector. It comes amid assistant minister for international education Julian Hill’s recent calls to improve the “composition, distribution and integrity” of Australia’s student cohort, alongside his warnings about fake documents and profit-driven agents during his India visit.

    Although Hill told a tertiary education conference last November that the DHA was closely scrutinising South Asian student applicants and their documentation, including English language proficiency, and would adjust risk ratings if issues emerged, stakeholders say the SSVF has largely run its course, with changes to country risk levels making little practical difference.

    “SSVF was developed over a decade ago to give some applicants faster and easier processing. Today, regardless of an institution’s risk level, Home Affairs expects English language requirements to be met and financial evidence to be provided in all cases. Processing times no longer depend on whether an applicant is streamlined, but instead on where an institution sits on NOSC,” Ravi Lochan Singh, managing director, Global Reach, told The PIE News.

    Introduced in 2016, the SSVF categorises countries and education providers by risk level, allowing students from low-risk markets applying to low-risk institutions to submit less documentation.

    However, the framework is increasingly seen as less decisive in visa processing, with greater emphasis placed on New Overseas Student Commencements (NOSC) allocations under the government’s National Planning Level (NPL).

    Set by the federal government based on provider performance and capacity, stakeholders say these allocations now influence how visa applications are prioritised as institutions approach their student caps.

    Just in October last year, the federal government announced that NOSC allocations for many public universities would rise in 2026, with Group of Eight (Go8) universities seeing allocations increase by around 4%, after accounting for Adelaide University’s merger with the University of South Australia, compared with a roughly 14% rise for non-Go8 institutions.

    The government already has access to vast datasets. AI should be used more effectively to analyse risk patterns at a granular level, rather than reinforcing regional stereotypes
    Gurjeet Ahluwalia, Sophiya Consultants

    According to Gurjeet Ahluwalia, CEO of Sophiya Consultants, since the requirements for students from AL2 and AL3 countries are largely similar, many Go8 and other Australian universities that continue to focus on India as a major source market are likely to be largely unaffected by the change.

    “Many Go8 universities had already begun reducing their reliance on China and shifting focus toward markets like India. That strategy is unlikely to change simply because of a move from AL2 back to AL3,” noted Ahluwalia.

    While reports of Australian universities curbing recruitment from North Indian states such as Punjab and Haryana have been widespread — with document fraud and agent misuse often cited as reasons for India’s fluctuating risk rating — Ahluwalia said the region is frequently disproportionately flagged, despite the government having the resources to address the issue more effectively.

    “The government already has access to vast datasets. AI should be used more effectively to analyse risk patterns at a granular level, rather than reinforcing regional stereotypes,” said Ahluwalia.

    Reports suggest that detecting financial fraud among students has become increasingly challenging, with some agents using “search fund” schemes in which money is temporarily deposited into a student’s account to make them appear financially eligible to apply for a visa, before being withdrawn later.

    According to Ahluwalia, while most Indian students now demonstrate stronger financial profiles through tax compliance and GST-linked reporting, challenges like “search fund” schemes could be addressed if Australia adopted a system like Canada’s Guaranteed Investment Certificate (GIC), which requires students to deposit a fixed amount into a participating Canadian financial institution to cover a year’s living expenses as proof of funds.

    “A system similar to Canada’s GIC policy, where students deposit funds directly into an approved account, would strengthen financial transparency,” stated Ahluwalia.

    “It would also protect students from scams while giving authorities greater confidence in financial evidence.”

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  • ‘The pace is relentless’: How college leaders are adapting to an increasingly hectic job

    ‘The pace is relentless’: How college leaders are adapting to an increasingly hectic job

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    WASHINGTON — Leading a higher education institution is often associated with big picture ideas and high-level thinking. But jobs ranging from dean to president require hands-on management of a complex portfolio of tasks, and that portfolio has only grown in recent years.

    “Leadership right now is not just demanding. It is cognitively and emotionally dense,” Francine Conway, chancellor of Rutgers University–New Brunswick, said Thursday at the American Association of Colleges and Universities′ annual conference in Washington, D.C. “The pace is relentless.”

    During a standing-room-only panel, Conway and other senior college officials offered attendees practical solutions to solving some of the most prosaic day-to-day challenges that can slow leaders — and their institutions — down.

    ‘You will drive everyone good at their jobs away by micromanaging’

    In most cases, one of the key benefits of a leadership position is having a support team. Conway said she actively seeks to empower her office mates to take on decision-making responsibilities, in part to keep her work high level.

    “I say to my team, ‘If you can make a decision that does not substantively change the institution or alter our mission, you can go ahead and make that decision,’” she said.

    But for some leaders, it can be hard to delegate appropriately, said Jennifer Malat, dean of the University of New Mexico’s arts and sciences college.

    “A lot of us get into leadership roles because we were super overachievers who have a mindset that we must do everything ourselves,” Malat said. But you can’t succeed as a leader that way, both because there physically aren’t enough hours in the day and because “you will drive everyone good at their jobs away by micromanaging,” she added. 

    Mardell Wilson, provost at Creighton University, a private nonprofit in Nebraska, echoed that sentiment. 

    “You really aren’t as important as you think,” she laughed. While it’s easier to be confident in one’s own work, “you have to give someone else an opportunity.”

    For Carmenita Higginbotham, delegating is especially essential. She helps lead two dramatically different Virginia Commonwealth University campuses in her roles as dean of the public institution’s main art school and as the special assistant to the provost for its arts school in Qatar.

    “I don’t delegate tasks, I delegate outcomes and give them the bigger picture,” Higginbotham said, listing increases in student retention and post-graduate employment as examples.

    Once leaders establish which outcomes are important, she advises them to let their teams work on them without seeking constant updates. 

    Instead, they should emphasize they are available for questions or broader conversations about the project, she said. 

    “Sometimes, if people are trying to impress you, they won’t come to you,” Higginbotham said, adding that’s an instinct she fights as well. Encouraging openness from team members can avoid issues down the line, she added. 

    Avoiding a Tetris calendar

    College leaders are constantly fighting the most universal of constraints — time. While a full calendar can signal progress to some, panelists told attendees that the cognitive load of constant meetings often results in the sense that their job is getting in the way of their work.

    Leadership right now is not just demanding. It is cognitively and emotionally dense.

    Francine Conway

    Chancellor of Rutgers University–New Brunswick

    The wide-ranging responsibilities of college leaders can also result in rapid tonal shifts throughout the day. Conway gave the example of conducting standard employee check-ins after handling a missing student case. 

    To address the high potential for emotional whiplash, she creates 15-minute buffers between meetings on her calendar. And Conway said she is OK rescheduling meetings on days when she “needs more time to think and process” in order “to show up more fully.”

    “If you don’t design your time, it will be designed for you,” she said. 

    That operating procedure runs counter to the stereotypical calendar of some college leaders, with back-to-back hourlong meetings.

    “Not every meeting has to be an hour,” Conway said. “Or even 30 minutes.”

    When Wilson first joined Creighton in 2020, employees constantly had scheduled meetings, she said.

    Now, her office goes nearly meeting free in July, and she encourages her employees to do the same with their reports.

    Academic offices are usually in a scheduling frenzy at the height of summer, with people taking vacations or attending higher ed conferences out of town, Wilson said. Making July a low-touch month allows leaders to reset for the coming academic year and reduces burnout.

    “But it’s not just rest for you. You’re role modeling for your team, which is also really important,” she said.

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  • Test yourself on the past week’s K-12 news

    Test yourself on the past week’s K-12 news

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    How well did you keep up with this week’s developments in K-12 education? To find out, take our five-question quiz below. Then, share your score by tagging us on social media with #K12DivePopQuiz.

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