Asian schools scoop up international students facing uncertainty in US

Trump's hostile stance may hasten decline in US higher education pre-eminence

- Lydia DePillis and Jin Yu Young

For Mr Jess Concepcion, a microbiology student from the Philippines, obtaining a doctorate from a university in the US had been a dream.

But when the US, under President Donald Trump, started pausing visa interviews this spring, threatening to deport international students for political speech and slashing funding for academic research, he changed plans.

Applications for doctoral programmes take years and have to be tailored to specific schools, so he is aiming for programmes in Switzerland and Singapore instead.

"That uncertainty made me stop in my tracks and choose another country," said the 24-year-old.

According to the United Nations, 6.9 million people studied outside their home country in 2022. The US has long attracted the most foreign students, 1.1 million in the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

International education search platforms, including IDP and Keystone Education Group, have detected a marked decline in student interest in American programmes.

For years, countries in Asia have been strengthening their universities and marketing them to students around the world. With more appealing alternatives, the Trump administration's hostile stance may hasten the decline in US higher education pre-eminence.

"We're shifting from a world in which there were only a few primary target destination countries to a much more multipolar world," said Mr Clay Harmon, executive director of the Association of International Enrolment Management.