Tag: students

  • International Students Navigate Escalating Threats

    International Students Navigate Escalating Threats

    International students across the country are on edge after a week of arrests, deportations and escalating threats from the Trump administration.

    So far the administration’s sights have been set primarily on Columbia University in New York. On March 8, immigration officials arrested recent graduate Mahmoud Khalil, intending to strip him of his green card and deport him for his role in pro-Palestinian campus protests last year. Over the next week, Department of Homeland Security agents raided students’ dorm rooms, arresting one international student and prompting another to flee to Canada.

    Elora Mukherjee, a law professor at Columbia and director of its Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, said international students have been flocking to the clinic for guidance: on whether their visas could suddenly be revoked, or if they should avoid traveling, delete their social media accounts or move off campus to make it harder for immigration officials to find them.

    She said she’s never seen anything like it.

    “Our clinic has been inundated with requests for legal consultation,” she said. “There is a palpable sense of fear among international students on campus.”

    Mukherjee said she’s been trying to quell international students’ anxieties. But in the wake of what she called an “unprecedented assault on due process, First Amendment rights and basic human decency,” she isn’t sure how.

    “They are worried about what may happen to their student visas. They are concerned that they may not be able to complete their degree programs if they are targeted. They’re wondering how they can make changes to their daily life to reduce the risk,” she said. “I don’t know what I can reassure them of right now.”

    Chief among the threats facing international students is the equation of protest activity and other protected speech with “terrorist activity.” In an interview with The Free Press last Monday, an unnamed White House official said that protesting made Khalil a national security threat, justifying his deportation. That strategy, the official added, is the administration’s “blueprint” for deporting other international students.

    In a post on Truth Social last Tuesday, Trump said that Khalil’s arrest was “the first of many,” calling international student protesters “not students, [but] paid agitators.”

    “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country—never to return again,” Trump wrote. “We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.”

    Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired Cornell University law professor who specializes in immigration law and international students in particular, said ICE officials’ activity at Columbia is the administration’s opening salvo in a battle against two of its most frequently invoked bogeymen: higher education and immigrants.

    “This administration has declared war on immigrants broadly and international students specifically,” he said.

    That war is currently centered on Columbia but is likely to spread across higher ed. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Face the Nation that the administration plans to continue arresting and deporting international student activists. He added that the government is reviewing and revoking more student visas “every day.”

    It’s not clear if the Trump administration’s argument will hold up in court. If it does, experts say it would give the executive nearly unchecked power to deport noncitizens for disfavored speech, and there’s likely to be a fierce legal battle over that question. But international students have very few legal protections, Yale-Loehr said, and the administration has ample leeway to justify deporting them.

    “International students have the same constitutional rights as citizens, but immigration statutes are very broad and there are many grounds for deportability that could trip you up, even as a green card holder,” Yale-Loehr said. One of those potential grounds, he said, is donating to an overseas charity that the State Department deems suspicious or linked to terrorist activity—as it’s done with many charities for Palestinian children and families affected by the destruction of Gaza.

    “It’s easy for someone to unintentionally or unknowingly violate our immigration laws that way and get put into the deportation process,” Yale-Loehr said.

    When asked whether Columbia would protect current students approached by ICE or detained on campus, a university spokesperson pointed to a statement from earlier this month and said students were encouraged to familiarize themselves with university protocol in such cases.

    “Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community,” the statement reads. “We are also committed to the legal rights of our students and urge all members of the community to be respectful of those rights.”

    The Trump administration is also considering instituting a travel ban similar to the one implemented during his first administration—except greatly expanded, from seven countries to 43, according to an internal memo circulating among media outlets.

    Some college officials are urging students not to travel until the details of such a plan become clear. On Sunday, Brown University advised its international student community, and any noncitizen staff and faculty, to avoid leaving the country or even flying domestically over the upcoming spring break.

    “Potential changes in travel restrictions and travel bans, visa procedures and processing, re-entry requirements and other travel-related delays may affect travelers’ ability to return to the U.S. as planned,” executive vice president for planning and policy Russell Carey wrote in a campuswide email.

    Jill Allen Murray, deputy executive director for public policy at NAFSA, an association of educators advocating for international students in the U.S., decried the student arrests as authoritarian and said they would have consequences for global views on U.S. colleges.

    “We as a nation hold dear freedom of speech and the right to protest. These are the very values that draw students from around the world to our shores,” Murray wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “Americans and international students alike will certainly view this as an alarming attempt to crack down on freedom of expression.”

    Mounting a Legal Challenge

    Mukherjee said that even for students with longtime visa status or green cards, there are no guarantees. Trump’s invocation of an obscure wartime powers act to justify deporting student protesters, she said, is a “dramatic escalation” in anti-immigrant policy. She’s been cautioning students against appearing at protests or participating in research and academic opportunities abroad.

    The Columbia students aren’t the first to face potential deportation over pro-Palestine protests. Momodou Taal, a British graduate student at Cornell, was suspended for his activism last fall, and a university official told him he may need to “depart the U.S.” if his F-1 visa was subsequently nullified.

    On Sunday Taal filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging two executive orders that empower immigration officials to deport noncitizens whom they determine to be national security threats. He said that threat amounts to unconstitutional repression of free speech.

    “The First Amendment is explicit and clear and extremely lucid in that it’s not protection for citizens alone; it is protection for persons within this country,” Taal told Inside Higher Ed.

    Taal successfully avoided deportation last year, but since his name has been well publicized, he’s been anticipating a knock on his door from ICE for weeks. He said that’s partly why he chose to pursue a legal challenge: to use his own vulnerability to try to protect other international students.

    “I know a lot of people are afraid … and I have had that fear, certainly, that something will happen to me. But I fundamentally reject the idea of sitting and laying in that fear and doing nothing,” Taal said. “This level of oppression is meant to stop people from talking about Palestine. When free speech is attacked, that is not the time to retreat, but rather double down.”

    Taal’s lawsuit joins another challenge to the administration’s deportation strategy. Last week legal advocacy groups filed a petition against Khalil’s arrest, and a federal judge ordered that Khalil be kept in the country while he reviews the case.

    ‘Much Higher Anxiety’

    Even before immigration officials raided dorm rooms, international students, recruiters and the institutions that serve them were anxious about President Trump’s second term.

    Last fall, colleges urged international students who had left for winter break to return to the U.S. before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, fearing a possible travel ban or student visa suspension. Professionals in international student recruiting tell Inside Higher Ed that the crackdown on foreign students has been gradual but is ramping up fast.

    William Brustein, former vice president for global strategy and international affairs at West Virginia University, spent decades in international student recruiting and support. He said that international students in the U.S. have grown increasingly worried in recent years about their freedom to express public opinions, what kind of research they can work on, even their physical safety. Khalil’s arrest, he said, validated and escalated those concerns.

    “It just reinforces the sense of caution they have about what they can say in class, what they can post online, even what they can say in the cafeteria or around campus if someone is listening,” Brustein said.

    Brustein added that colleges have slashed spending on their international support offices, hampering their ability to respond to students’ needs at moments of crisis.

    “Colleges have limited resources, and there’s only so much they can do to help,” he said.

    Free speech restrictions and ICE raids aren’t the only challenges facing international students in the U.S. The Trump administration has promised to clamp down on approvals for new student visas, and Congress recently passed the Laken Riley Act, significantly lowering the threshold for visa revocation.

    Yale-Loehr said that such policies are beginning to manifest at the border. He’s heard stories of students with clearly marked visas in their passports being pulled aside and held for further inspection in airports across the country, some of them turned away by ICE and forced to challenge the decision from abroad.

    “In the past, these students would never have been put into secondary inspection,” Yale-Loehr said.

    Mukherjee said that while international students faced some of the same issues with visa crackdowns and travel restrictions under the first Trump administration, there is no comparison to the repressive tactics currently on display.

    “I’ve never seen a moment where international students are so worried about what may happen to them if they speak out about injustices in our country and across the world,” she said. “It’s an unprecedented time.”

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  • For Parenting Students, Campus Support Bolsters Outcomes

    For Parenting Students, Campus Support Bolsters Outcomes

    Title: Pillars of Support: Results from an Evaluation of the Parenting Students Project at Austin Community College

    Authors: May Helena Plumb and Paige-Erin Wheeler

    Source: Trellis Strategies

    A new report from Trellis Strategies evaluates the impact of the Parenting Students Project (PSP) at Austin Community College (ACC), highlighting the challenges student parents face and the program’s efforts to support them. Data show that students who are parents have high rates of financial and basic needs insecurity. In addition to the demands of being a student with parental responsibilities, these students are more likely to be working.

    As part of the United Way for Greater Austin’s PSP initiative, parenting students met monthly with each other, attended seminars about financial wellness and mental health, and received a $500 monthly stipend. Additionally, PSP participants received services in coordination with ACC, such as case managers and childcare scholarships.

    The report highlights the positive impact on participants’ academic progress, including a 95 percent term-to-term retention rate and an increased likelihood of taking nine credit hours per semester. A second area of impact was financial wellness, as increased financial stability lowered borrowing and alleviated transportation insecurity through a more flexible schedule. Third, PSP empowered parenting students to be better parents, as well as provided them with scholarships for childcare. Finally, PSP bolstered mental health through an increased sense of community and belonging.

    The report also identifies areas for growth and offers the following recommendations:

    1. Refine program requirements so that they best support student success. While credit requirements are helpful in moving students forward, parenting students still need some flexibility in enrollment intensity. A participant suggested scaling the number of credits taken to correspond to the stipend so that PSP support is not all or nothing. Participants also expressed a desire to choose some of the seminar topics.
    2. Consider areas of need. PSP participants indicated a desire for more flexible childcare options. Some also discussed other forms of support, such as housing resources, cooking classes, and diapers and toys for children. The needs will vary based on the group, so it is important to evaluate what students need.
    3. Address different needs for fathers. There was a large disparity between the share of fathers who participated in PSP and the percentage of student parents at ACC who are fathers. While student fathers are more likely to be married and have access to childcare, they are also more likely to have specific mental health challenges and to stop out of college.

    Click here for the full report.

    —Kara Seidel

    If you have any questions or comments about this blog post, please contact us.

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  • Donors Support Grad Students Lacking Federal Research Funds

    Donors Support Grad Students Lacking Federal Research Funds

    Recent federal executive orders from President Donald Trump have put a halt to some university operations, including hiring and large swaths of academic research. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, among others, have paused grant-review panels to comply with the orders and cut funding, leaving researchers in limbo.

    Graduate students often receive educational stipends from federal agencies for their research, putting their work—and their own degree attainment—at risk.

    To alleviate some hardships, the University of Hawaiʻi’s UH Foundation launched a Graduate Student Success Fund, which will provide direct relief for learners who have lost funding.

    Fewer than a dozen graduate students in the system have been impacted to various degrees to date, but “like most institutions, the extent of the possible impact is unknown,” a UH spokesperson said.

    On the ground: Michael Fernandez, a first-year UH Mānoa doctoral student in the botany program, is a participant in the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program, which supports learners pursuing research-based master’s or doctoral degrees in STEM education fields. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial aid for tuition and fees and an annual stipend.

    “I and other fellows in the program feel uncertain about future funding from the fellowship,” Fernandez said in a press release. “This is especially concerning for me, as the NSF-GRFP is currently my primary and sole source of funding for my graduate studies.”

    University of Hawaiʻi president Wendy Hensel spurred the creation of the Graduate Student Success Fund for grad students at UH Mānoa and UH Hilo. The fund, supported by private donations, mirrors an undergraduate student success fund available to bachelor’s degree seekers who need help paying for tuition, books and fees.

    The UH Foundation will also support undergraduate researchers who may have had their work interrupted due to federal freezes.

    The Graduate Student Success Fund is designed to aid student retention and financial wellness and also support career development and future talent in Hawaiʻi.

    “It is critical that we do all we can to ensure that our university graduates, the next generation of talent, desperately needed for Hawaiʻi’s workforce,” Hensel said. “These graduate students are our scientists, doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, engineers, educators and leaders of tomorrow.”

    Details as to how funds will be distributed, including amounts and number of recipients, are still being determined, the spokesperson said.

    The bigger picture: Federally funded research projects that address diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, green energy or other alleged “far-left ideologies” have come under fire in recent weeks.

    In January Trump signed an executive order halting federal grant spending, which was later rescinded, but some organizations have halted funding regardless.

    Trump Administration Weaponizes Funding Against Institutions

    On March 7, the Trump administration announced it had canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University for “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The federal government has also threatened to pull funding from any educational institution that invests in diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

    In February, the National Institutes of Health announced it would cut funding for indirect costs of conducting medical research, including hazardous waste disposal, utilities and patient safety. In 2024, the agency sent around $26 billion to over 500 grant recipients connected to institutions.

    Hensel published a memo in February opposing the cuts for reimbursement of facilities and administrative costs.

    “For UH, the impact of this decision cannot be overstated,” Hensel wrote. “The university is supported by 175 awards and subawards from the NIH with a current value of $211 million. NIH’s reduction of UH’s current negotiated [indirect compensation] rate of 56.5 percent at the JABSOM [UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine] and the [UH] Cancer Center alone will eliminate approximately $15 million in funding that UH uses to support its research programs, including ongoing clinical trials and debt service payments.”

    How is your college or university supporting students affected by federal action? Tell us more.

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  • How a Republican Plan to Cut Universal Free School Meals Could Affect 12 Million Students – The 74

    How a Republican Plan to Cut Universal Free School Meals Could Affect 12 Million Students – The 74


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    Every school in Kentucky’s LaRue County provides free breakfast and lunch to any student who wants it.

    It’s been that way for a decade, ever since the federal government launched a program allowing LaRue County Schools, and thousands of other districts nationwide, to skip the paperwork asking how much families earn.

    In these communities, lots of kids already receive other kinds of assistance for low-income families. Federal officials saw a way to make the subsidized meals program more efficient: Cover meal costs based on how many children are in similar assistance programs, rather than verify every family’s income.

    But LaRue County Schools won’t be able to do that anymore if sweeping changes to social programs proposed by congressional Republicans become law. GOP lawmakers say they want to ensure only eligible families get help and that taxpayer dollars are reserved for the neediest students, so that federal subsidies for school meals remain sustainable. But by one estimate, the Republicans’ plan would affect nearly a quarter of the students in the nation’s public schools.

    Research has found that universal free school meals can boost school attendance, increase test scores, and decrease suspensions, likely because it eliminates the stigma students often associate with the free meals. Taking them away from students on a large scale could also have downstream effects on everything from families’ household budgets to local unemployment.

    Stephanie Utley, the LaRue County district’s director of child nutrition, said that inevitably, fewer kids would eat school meals, either because their families no longer qualify for free breakfast and lunch or because they cannot produce documents to verify their income.

    When fewer kids eat school meals, it’s harder for districts to cover their costs. To save money, Utley would likely swap higher-quality foods for cheaper ones, she said.

    Apples and beef from local farms would go. The high school would serve fewer salads — they’d be too labor-intensive to prep. And a popular chicken breast sandwich would become a ground chicken patty.

    Utley may have to lay off staff, too, she said, which would hurt the rural community’s economy.

    “We’re the biggest restaurant in town,” she said. “It would be a nightmare.”

    GOP school meals proposals would impact states

    Republican lawmakers are considering a trio of proposals to help offset tax cuts sought by President Donald Trump that would be “devastating” to children and schools, said Erin Hysom, the senior child nutrition policy analyst for the nonprofit Food Research & Action Center.

    One proposal would dramatically increase the share of students who need to be enrolled in aid programs — such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — for schools to be eligible to serve free meals to all kids through the Community Eligibility Provision.

    Right now, schools need to show 25% of students are enrolled in those kinds of assistance programs to participate in community eligibility. The House Republican proposal would raise the share to 60% — higher than the threshold has ever been. That would kick more than 24,000 schools off of community eligibility, and some 12 million students would no longer automatically qualify for free meals, Hysom’s organization estimated.

    Essentially, only communities where nearly every child qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch could serve free meals to all kids.

    “They’ve really moved the needle to the upper echelon of poverty,” Hysom said. “You couldn’t get any higher than that.”

    Another proposal would require all families who don’t automatically qualify for free school meals through programs like SNAP to submit documents to verify their income with their application. That would burden families and schools with time-consuming added paperwork. Schools could end up cutting staff who serve food and work on school menus to hire more people to process applications.

    Together, those changes would save $12 billion over 10 years, according to the list of proposals circulated by U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, the Republican chair of the House budget committee.

    A third proposal would change how families qualify for SNAP and likely make over 1 million students no longer automatically eligible for free school meals. That would increase the paperwork burden even more.

    All of that would make it more costly for states with universal free school meals to run their programs, because they rely heavily on federal reimbursement. Some states were already weighing whether they could afford to keep up free meals for all.

    These three proposals are part of a process known as budget reconciliation that GOP lawmakers are using to make long-term changes to federal spending and revenue. As of Wednesday, Congress was considering a separate, stopgap budget that would keep funding essentially flat for the Agriculture Department, which pays for the school meal program, through the end of September.

    School staff and child nutrition advocates are taking the House’s budget reconciliation proposals seriously. The Trump administration has already cut a $1 billion Agriculture Department program that helped schools buy food from local producers.

    Free school meal cutbacks would have ripple effects

    If fewer kids have access to free meals at school, more families would likely struggle to afford groceries at home. Many families who don’t qualify for free meals struggle to pay for food. This school year, a family of four qualified for free school meals if they made under $40,560 a year.

    When schools eliminated free school meals for all following the pandemic, there was a surge in unpaid school meal debt, an issue school staff say will only intensify if these proposals go through.

    Right now, schools typically have to verify the family’s income for 3% of their applications. If schools had to check income for every application, the burden would be enormous, school staff and child nutrition advocates said.

    Many families who eke out a living working multiple jobs would have a hard time gathering up all the required documents to show how much they earn. Though children can participate in the school meals program regardless of their immigration status, undocumented parents may be afraid to hand over personal documents when Trump is threatening mass deportations.

    “Eligible children are going to fall through the cracks,” Hysom said.

    Many schools are already facing financial pressures from higher-than-usual food and labor costs, a 2024 survey of nearly 1,400 school nutrition directors showed. On top of that, schools are navigating new and stricter requirements for how much salt and sugar can be in food served by schools.

    Schools have to buy most of their food from American sources, but if Trump puts certain tariffs in place for the long term, that could create new financial constraints.

    “Cost is absolutely a concern,” said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, which represents school nutrition directors and conducted the survey. “When avocados or tomatoes from Mexico become much more expensive, that will cause an increase in demand for domestic produce, and an increase in price, as well.”

    Shannon Gleave, the president of the School Nutrition Association, understands the need to make sure the school meal program runs as it should.

    In Arizona’s Glendale Elementary School District, where Gleave is the director of food and nutrition, kids can speed through the lunch line because everyone qualifies for free meals. But staff scan student ID badges to make sure each kid only takes one meal, and that children with dietary restrictions get the right food.

    Upping the verification requirements a little could work, she said. But verifying 100% of applications “is not an efficient use of time.”

    “There is no way my existing staff could do that now,” she said. “You have to figure out a way to be good stewards of resources, but also look at the amount of administrative burden that it’s going to entail.”

    This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.


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  • How to help students overcome ‘learned helplessness’

    How to help students overcome ‘learned helplessness’

    BALTIMORE — Students who experience “learned helplessness” — the belief that even with effort, they will not progress — can resist help, be quick to surrender academically and exhibit passive behaviors, said speakers at the Council for Exceptional Children’s annual convention on Thursday.

    To educators and families, these students — whether with or without disabilities — may seem lazy, defiant and resigned to failure, speakers including special education teachers from Alabama told a conference session.

    However, students’ lack of self-confidence and sense of powerlessness can actually stem from early childhood traumas and from past negative school experiences. But all is not lost, the speakers said: Learned helplessness can be unlearned through academic interventions and by celebrating successes — even small accomplishments.

    “When we get these babies and they come to us at 3, 4, preschool age, we have got to start pumping them up to think that they can conquer the world,” said Michelle Griffin, a learning specialist at Tarrant City Schools in Tarrant, Alabama. 

    Here are the speakers’ recommendations for increasing students’ resilience and control over their learning:

    Encourage a growth mindset

    For students with learned helplessness, success can feel out of reach, leading them to believe that no matter how hard they try, they’ll miss the mark, said Danielle Edison, a special education teacher in Tuscaloosa City Schools in Alabama.

    Over time, this pattern can contribute to a significant learning gap and lower academic achievement. “By recognizing these signs early and implementing strategies to counteract them, we can help students regain confidence in their ability to take ownership of their learning,” Edison said.

    Teaching students to have a growth mindset — a belief that one’s abilities can improve through strategies and dedication — can help combat learned helplessness, the speakers said.

    To help students recognize their potential to improve, educators can encourage them to ask for help when needed. Teachers should also avoid doing the work for the students, setting unrealistic goals, or preventing them from making mistakes, the speakers said.

    “We can encourage a growth mindset by helping students use setbacks as learning opportunities rather than insurmountable barriers,” said Lena Cantrell, a 10-year Alabama educator who is pursuing an education specialist degree in special education at the University of Alabama. “Students become more willing to persevere when they see that failure is a step, not a stop.”

    Have a supportive learning environment

    Equity-focused interventions are another important tool. According to Cantrell, these can help students feel valued and capable of success. 

    “Cultivating a supportive environment plays a pivotal role,” Cantrell added. “When students know they are in a safe, understanding and encouraging space, they’re more likely to engage actively and take risks in their work.”

    Giving students autonomy in their learning and encouraging them to advocate for themselves can strengthen their problem-solving skills and confidence, Cantrell said.

    This doesn’t mean teachers are on the sidelines, said Amy Yarbrough, a special education teacher in Alabama’s Jefferson County Schools. Teachers can support students’ sense of control in their learning through physical and verbal prompts or by modeling a desired task.

    For example, by showing students how to close a plastic sandwich bag and then encouraging the student to do it on their own, a student can become more independent in that activity, Yarbrough said.

    Celebrate wins

    To help students overcome negative thoughts about their potential, teachers need to show positivity and encourage their students to be realistically optimistic. That means celebrating even the small steps toward success.

    Having positive affirmations can increase students’ motivation and resilience, the speakers said.

    “Help them experience success over and over again so that they’ll want to experience it more,” Griffin said.

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  • PGWP eligibility expanded for college degree students

    PGWP eligibility expanded for college degree students

    Canada’s college sector has welcomed a recent policy change from the IRCC stating that graduates of college degree programs will now join university students in being exempted from PGWP field of study requirements announced in October 2024.  

    At the time, the IRCC updated the eligibility criteria for students applying for a post-graduation work permit, allowing only college graduates from certain fields of study to apply for a PGWP, thus putting the college sector at a severe disadvantage.  

    The most recent revision has been hailed as a rare piece of good news for Canadian colleges, which stakeholders warned were at risk of being “decimated” by the IRCC’s eligibility criteria.  

    Conestoga College senior vice-president Gary Hallam said the decision was an “important step forward” for the sector, acknowledging “the excellence of our academic programming and the essential role colleges play in ensuring graduates have the skills and knowledge needed for success in today’s workforce”.

    “We are particularly pleased our international students will now benefit from the breadth of our programming,” added Hallam, highlighting Conestoga’s 25 degree programs offering a blend of theory and hands-on practical learning.

    The change applies to students who applied for a study permit after November 1, 2024, to pursue a college bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree program.  

    Coupled with other restrictions, the field of study requirements were already having a dramatic impact on Canadian institutions, with new international college enrolments seeing a 60% decline in 2024, triggering a stream of course closures and layoffs felt hardest in Ontario.  

    The IRCC’s decision… acknowledges the essential role colleges play in ensuring graduates have the skills and knowledge needed for success in today’s workforce

    Gary Hallam, Conestoga College

    The English and French language requirements announced last year remain in place for all PGWP applicants, and non-degree students will still have to meet the field of study requirements intended to foster greater alignment between education and labour-market needs.  

    Earlier this year, the IRCC added education as an eligible field of study reflecting labour market shortages across the regions in areas such as early childhood education, teaching assistance and childcare provision.  

    Despite some confusion regarding the wording of the IRCC’s guidance, the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) confirmed the change, and that the department was working to update its website.  

    Since January 2024, the IRCC has stepped up scrutiny of international student recruitment at Canadian institutions, capping international student numbers with the aim of reducing temporary residents from 6.5% of Canada’s total population to 5% by the end of 2026.

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  • 5 powerful ways to link STEM lessons to real-world applications

    5 powerful ways to link STEM lessons to real-world applications

    Key points:

    “Why are we learning this?”

    This is a question every educator has faced before. To be fair, it’s a valid question. Students are naturally curious, and it’s normal for them to wonder about the knowledge that they’re acquiring. The real issue is how we, as educators, choose to respond to them.

    In my experience, teachers have two standard replies to this question:

    1. They’ll try to explain the subject in detail, which results in a long-winded answer that confuses their students and doesn’t satisfy them.
    2. They’ll argue that the information is important because it’s on an upcoming test, which typically leaves students feeling frustrated and disengaged.

    Either way, the result is the same: Students lose all legitimacy in the lesson and they’re unable to connect with the content.

    If we want our students to engage with the material in a way that’s memorable, meaningful, and fun, then we need to help them discover why it is important. Teachers can accomplish this by introducing real-world connections into the lesson, which reveal how the information that students acquire can be practically applied to real-world problems.

    Without building these connections between the concepts our students learn and real-world applications, students lose interest in what they are learning. Using the strategies below, you can start to build student investment into your classroom content.

    The everyday enigma

    Use everyday items that operate with mystery and frame your lesson around them. Your students’ curiosity will drive them to learn more about the object and how it functions. This allows students to see that the small concepts they are learning are leading to the understanding of an object that they interact with daily. When choosing an item, pick one that is familiar and one that has multiple STEM elements. For example, you could use a copper wire to discuss electrical currents, a piece of an automobile to explore chemistry and combustion, or shark teeth when teaching about animal adaptations and food chains.  

    Interest intersect

    Connect your students’ personal hobbies to the subject matter. For instance, if you have a student who is really passionate about soccer, try having them create a mini poster that connects the sport to the concepts learned in class. This gets them to think creatively about the purpose of content. This strategy has the additional benefit of helping teachers learn more about their students, creating opportunities to build communication and rapport.

    Get an expert

    Invite professionals (scientists, engineers, etc.) to talk with your class. This gives students a first-hand account of how the concepts they are learning can be applied to different careers. If you’re teaching chemistry, consider inviting a nurse or doctor to share how this subject applies to human health. If you’re teaching math, a local architect can expound on how angles and equations literally shape the homes in which students live. Not only does this provide a real-world example of students, but it helps schools connect with their community, creating vital relationships in the process.           

    Problem to progress

    Create an engineering investigation based on a local, real-world problem. For instance, I once knew a music teacher who was frustrated because pencils would regularly fall off his music stands. I challenged my 5th grade students to create a solution using the engineering design process. Not only did they succeed, but the experience allowed my students to see the real-world results of the inventions they created. When students understand that their work can make a tangible difference, it completely changes their relationship with the material.  

    Project-based learning

    Project-based learning is driven by inquiry and student ownership. This allows students to make contributions to the real world through hands-on investigations. What makes these inquiry-focused lessons so useful is that students are the driving force behind them. They choose how to approach the information, what questions to pursue, and what solutions they want to test. This makes the learning intensely personal while taking advantage of students’ natural curiosity, creativity, and critical-thinking skills. If you need a little help getting started, consider using one of these Blue Apple projects from Inquiry Outpost.

    By linking our STEM lessons to real-world experiences, teachers can provide a meaningful answer to the age-old question of, “Why are we learning this?” We can equip our students with the skills to not only navigate everyday challenges but also create positive change within their own communities. So, let’s empower young learners to see the relevance of STEM in their lives, and lay a strong learning foundation that will support them well beyond the classroom.

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  • College Applications Rise, Especially From Minority Students

    College Applications Rise, Especially From Minority Students

    The number of students applying to college rose 4 percent this admission cycle, and applicants submitted 6 percent more applications over all, according to a new report from the Common App. 

    The increase was fueled by an especially large spike in the number of underrepresented minority applicants, which rose by 12 percent compared to non-URM applicants’ 2 percent increase. In addition, applicants from families below the median income level rose 8 percent, compared to 3 percent from above the median.

    The increase could reflect the Common App’s addition of more community colleges and open-access institutions to its platform, expanding to include more institutions that primarily serve low-income students.

    One striking finding in the report: Domestic applicant growth exceeded that of international students for the first time since 2019. Domestic applicants increased by 5 percent while the number of international applicants declined by 1 percent.

    In addition, the number of applicants submitting test scores in 2024–25 grew by 11 percent, outpacing nonreporters for the first time since 2021. Some schools began returning to mandatory test requirements this application cycle, abandoning test-optional policies adopted during the pandemic.

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  • Record Number of U.S. Students Apply for U.K. Undergraduate Degrees

    Record Number of U.S. Students Apply for U.K. Undergraduate Degrees

    A record number of U.S. students have applied to study for undergraduate degrees in the U.K. next year, figures reveal.

    Experts had previously suggested that U.K. institutions might benefit from international students being put off by Donald Trump’s new administration.

    And analysis suggests campuses are already seeing an influx of applicants from the U.S. itself. Figures from the University and College Admissions Service, UCAS, show that 6,680 U.S. students applied to U.K. courses for 2025–26 by the main deadline at the end of January.

    This was a 12 percent increase on the year before and the most since comparable records began in 2006. It surpasses the previous record of 6,670 set in 2021–22 and is more than double the demand in 2017.

    Maddalaine Ansell, director of education at the British Council, said she was “delighted” by the 20-year high.

    “It’s a testament to the quality of U.K. universities that so many people want to study here. Three-year degrees, lower tuition costs and poststudy work opportunities all increase the attractiveness of the U.K. offer,” she said.

    “As well as adding to the vibrancy of their courses, we hope that these students will also take a lasting affection for the U.K. forward into their future careers and stay connected with us for years to come.”

    Almost two-thirds (63 percent) of the applicants from the U.S. were 18 years old, and 61 percent were women.

    The UCAS data covers undergraduate applicants, but separate figures show an uptick in demand at all levels—even before Trump’s second term began.

    Recent Home Office statistics reveal that 15,274 U.S. main applicants were issued sponsored study visas in 2024.

    This was a 5 percent increase on 2023 and also the highest level since at least 2009—despite total visa numbers from around the world falling.

    Recent research by the British Council found that more international students would choose the U.K. over the U.S. as a result of Trump’s return to the White House.

    Although he managed to generate a large swing toward the Republican Party among young voters, those aged 18 to 29 still largely backed Kamala Harris in November.

    In the 78-year-old’s first six weeks in the Oval Office, he has pledged to shut down the Department of Education, block federal funding for institutions that allow “illegal” protests and launched a crackdown on spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

    Universities UK said the increase in demand to study in the U.K. is positive, following a turbulent period for international student recruitment.

    “But it is too early to say whether this is the start of a longer-term trend,” added a spokesperson.

    “What is important now is for universities and government to continue to work together to promote the U.K. as a welcoming destination, and to preserve our competitive offer to international students.”

    Recent data also showed that a record number of Americans applied for U.K. citizenship last year, which immigration lawyers attributed to Trump’s presidential re-election bid and victory.

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  • Columbia Sanctions Students Who Occupied Campus Building

    Columbia Sanctions Students Who Occupied Campus Building

    Columbia University handed down sanction decisions for student protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall in April of last year, the university announced in a statement Thursday.

    The sanctions come as the university faces crippling attacks from the Trump administration over its handling of the protests last year, including the loss of $400 million in federal funding, which could lead to mass layoffs and program cuts.

    The university has not released the names of affected students, nor more details about how many will be expelled or suspended.

    The punishments, determined by the university judiciary board, are unusually harsh, ranging from multiyear suspensions and expulsions to temporary degree revocations for graduates, according to the email. While occupying the building—which students renamed Hind Hall in honor of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli soldiers—students damaged property and broke windows. 

    Last year, only a few of the students who occupied the building were punished, and most remained in good standing with the university, according to documents the university gave to Congress last year. Of the 22 students who occupied the hall, only three received sanctions, the most severe being short-term suspension. At the time, Columbia said the disciplinary process was “ongoing for many students.”

    University spokespeople told Inside Higher Ed that the decisions were the culmination of a months-long investigation. For all other student protests last spring, the judiciary board “recognized previously imposed disciplinary action,” according to the email.

    Last weekend, Columbia graduate and legal U.S. permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and threatened with deportation for his role in the pro-Palestine protests. Yesterday, Khalil sued the university, along with Barnard College, for allegedly sharing private student disciplinary records with members of Congress and other third-party groups.

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