Australia’s Ambassador to the United Sates Kevin Rudd says he is seeking advice from the US Government to help Aussie students affected by a ‘distressing’ move from the Trump administration to ban international enrolments at Harvard University.
The administration has ordered that the prestigious university’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification be revoked, which would come into effect for the 2025-26 school year.
The decision announced by the US Department of Homeland Security on Thursday local time will force Harvard’s current international students to transfer to other institutions or risk losing their legal status.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has accused the Ivy League university in the state of Massachusetts of “fostering violence, antisemitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party”.
Harvard’s 6,800 international students enrolled in the 2024-25 school year, which includes some Australians, makes up 27.2% of total enrollment, and the school has deemed the controversial move illegal.
Mr Rudd has confirmed his office is “closely monitoring developments” at Harvard in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s statement.
“I know this will be distressing for Harvard’s many Australian students,” Mr Rudd said in a post on X.
“The Embassy is working with the United States Government to obtain the details of this decision so that Australian students can receive appropriate advice.
“We also intend to engage the administration more broadly on the impact of this decision for Australian students and their families both at Harvard and at other campuses across the United States.”
The US department said that Ms Noem had demanded Harvard to provide information about some foreign student visa holders enrolled there.
Ms Noem said in a statement that university’s ability to enroll non-American students is “a privilege, not a right,” as the institutions “benefit from their higher tuition payments”.
Chinese nationals were Harvard’s most prominent group of international students in 2022, followed by students from Canada, India, South Korea, Britain, Germany and Australia.
Ms Noem has given the university 72 hours to regain its revoked program certification, asking Harvard in a letter to provide records about international enrollments, including any footage of them protesting in the past five years.
Harvard has slammed Trump administration’s action as being “unlawful”.
“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” the university said in a statement.
The US president has frozen around US$3 billion in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, and the university filed a lawsuit against the administration, arguing the freeze on research funding is “flatly unlawful”.
With Reuters
