Opinion… from the Editor 05.06.25

The new restrictions, which come into effect on Monday 9th June, bar 12 countries from travelling to the United States, with partial entry restrictions for citizens of a further seven countries, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

The travel ban is something many international educators and policymakers have anticipated since President Trump’s first term, especially given his administration’s previous moves toward restricting immigration and tightening border security. However, this measure, along with the revocation of Harvard’s SEVP certification, suspension of visa interviews, increased social media vetting for international students, and threats to OPT, are sending a clear signal to international students and the world at large, and it’s hard to see them as anything other than a blow to the US’s reputation as a top destination for education. It’s worth noting that, at the time of writing, the president is now trying to block international students from Harvard by executive order!

The timing of some of this news – at the NAFSA annual conference in San Diego last week – was especially poignant. For international educators, that gathering is often a moment of reflection, networking, and problem-solving around the challenges that shape the future of international education. To hear this kind of news during such an event really underscored the uncertainty facing the sector but also proved to be a moment of solidarity amid all the chaos and confusion. Read my report here for more insights from the global event.

Unfortunately, the impact of government actions and policies in the US have already started to have consequences. According to data released by listings platform Studyportals this week, international student interest in higher education in the US is already declining, falling to its lowest level since Covid-19. Domestic student interest in US higher education has also been affected, found the report, with searches for programs in Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland increasing in the first three months of this year.

IDP Education’s decision to downgrade its student placement and profit projections for FY2025 is another clear signal of how deeply policy shifts and uncertainty in major study destinations – especially the United States – are reverberating across the global higher education sector.

IDP’s outlook underscores just how dramatically the global study abroad landscape is shifting in response to increasingly restrictive immigration and education policies in traditionally dominant destinations like Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.

However, while the Big Four dominate headlines, smaller markets have also been tightening or reassessing their policies – often quietly so. Continued efforts by the Dutch government to limit English degrees and reduce international student numbers, first announced in 2023, are just now starting to impact. According to new figures from Nuffic, the Dutch organization for internationalization in education, the 2023/24 academic year saw the lowest growth in new international enrolments since the 2007/08 academic year.

Believe it or not, there has been some non-US news this week, including a steady year for ELT providers in Ireland, a new elite football program in the UK, updates to the TOEFL iBT test, a formal agreement between Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science and a new Memorandum of Understanding between Felca and English UK , building on its series of MoUs with other national and international associations, all of which show mutual commitment to maintain professionalism and quality in the study travel industry.

One of Felca’s member association’s ARSAA – Argentine Study Abroad Association was part of a panel discussion at NAFSA last week, with President Gabriela Ardito outlining some of the qualities agents look for in a partnership, and generally providing attendees with a better understanding of how agents evaluate and select partner schools and how to foster successful partnerships. Despite all the political rhetoric hanging in the air at the conference it was encouraging to see the sector also focus on what it can actively influence and improve: the student experience through stronger, more strategic partnerships between institutions and recruitment agents.