US admin strips Harvard of right to enrol overseas students

NEW YORK: The US government has taken away Harvard University’s right to accept foreign students. 

The move affects thousands of international students and is part of a growing fight between US President Donald Trump and the university over its policies and campus environment.

Trump is furious at Harvard – which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners – for rejecting his demand that it submit to oversight on admissions and hiring over his claims that it is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and "woke" liberal ideology.

"Effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) Programme certification is revoked," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a letter to the Ivy League institution, referring to the main system by which foreign students are permitted to study in the United States.

Last month, Trump threatened to stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students if it did not agree to government demands that would put the private institution under outside political supervision.

"As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enrol foreign students," Noem wrote.

"All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme regulations, to maintain this privilege," she said.

"As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' policies, you have lost this privilege."

More than 27 percent of Harvard’s enrolment was made up of foreign students in the 2024–25 academic year, according to university data.

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.