Trump administration bars Harvard from enrolling foreign students

SCMP | May 22, 2025, 2:26 p.m. | Original

The Harvard University campus as seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in April. Photo: AP

US President Donald Trump ’s administration on Thursday said it had revoked Harvard University’s right to enrol international students, citing its “coordinated activity” with China’s Communist Party as a factor in its decision.
The move is expected to affect almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accounting for over a quarter of its student population. Each year, anywhere from 1,800 to 2,300 Chinese students and scholars study at Harvard.

“Effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor (Sevis) Programme certification is revoked,” US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a letter to the prestigious university

Sevis is the system by which international students are allowed to study in America.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem salutes as she arrives at the commencement for the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, on Wednesday. Photo: AP
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem salutes as she arrives at the commencement for the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, on Wednesday. Photo: AP

The decision means Harvard can no longer enrol foreign students and those who are already there must transfer or lose their legal status, Noem said.

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