A year ago, nearly four in 10 students applied to college only in a single country. Today, 78 percent of students are considering two or more destinations, according to an IDP Education survey

Some researchers and educators are deciding for personal or political reasons that they're unwilling — or unable — to travel to the U.S. for academic conferences amid visa restrictions, social-media screening, and other policy changes www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

I attended a major international-ed conference last week, and it got me thinking: Are regular attendees skipping academic conferences because they could not get a visa or decided for political or personal reasons they were unwilling to travel to the U.S.? www.linkedin.com/posts/karin-...

The U.S. is fifth of five major destinations in a poll of prospective international students on the trust they have in the countries’ commitment to welcoming students from abroad. But students' views of studying in America are polarized.

The U.S. is fifth of five major destinations in a poll of prospective international students on the trust they have in the countries’ commitment to welcoming students from abroad. But students' views of studying in America are polarized.

Uncertainty and worry were the dual themes of a recent gathering of international educators as restrictive government policies and increased global competition threaten to erode the U..S.’s standing as the top destination for foreign students. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

Forty percent of attendees at this year's #NAFSA2026 conference are first timers and nearly half are from overseas, says NAFSA: Association of International Educators. Attendees come from more than 100 countries with the largest delegations from Britain, Turkey, and Spain.

Hello #nafsa2026 - want to talk about the long view on international students? Come to our super-smart panel at 2:10 in 110b.

Are you at #nafsa2026? Join me and Joann Ng Hartmann of @nafsa for a conversation about international education’s next story. We’ll be at the NAFSA pavilion in the expo hall at 12:45 pm

How to sum up the current state of affairs in international education: A #NAFSA2026 session on visa processing and delays is being held in the same enormous ballroom as the conference-wide opening plenary

How to sum up the current state of affairs in international education: A #NAFSA2026 session on a looming change to visa rules is being held in the same enormous ballroom as the conference-wide opening plenary

"When the world tells people to build walls, our field builds bridges," Fanta Aw of @nafsa-official.bsky.social said, kicking off the annual international-education conference. I'll be at #nafsa2026 all week for @chronicle.com . Are there talks, sessions, or events I shouldn't miss? Let me know!

Given the challenges in the U.S., it can be easy to forget that the number of globally mobile students is going up. According to UNESCO, the number of students worldwide crossing borders to study has nearly tripled over the past two decades, increasing from 2.5 million in 2002 to 7.3 million in 2023

President Trump sounded a note of openness to Chinese students, but there’s little reason to believe it augurs a change in direction on international-education policy. “I frankly think it’s good that people come from other countries. Not everybody agrees with me.” www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

Response from @presalliance.bsky.social to DHS accusations of fraud in OPT: "Broad enforcement narratives that question the OPT program as a whole risk undermining this vital and longstanding" program. www.presidentsalliance.org/press/presid...

International enrollments have dropped at colleges in all four of the major English-speaking destination countries — not just the United States.

Immigration officials vowed to stamp out fraud in OPT, while a pending rule change could undercut it. Recent developments are a reminder that the foreign-student work program is under scrutiny by the Trump administration and could face reform or elimination www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

NEWS: Top Homeland Security officials called optional practical training, the work program for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges a "magnet for fraud" and promised to "relentlessly investigate" students and employers. More to come ... lnkd.in/gQbJtrrG

A seemingly arcane change to visa rules could be the next blow to the enrollment of foreign students in the United States. I explain: www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has declined to renew special academic and employment benefits for students from 14 countries, including Ukraine, Sudan, and Myanmar. Extension decisions are made based on assessments of changing conditions in home countries, a spokesperson said.

The Trump administration has quietly allowed special academic and employment benefits to expire for students whose home countries are dealing with humanitarian, economic, or political crises. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

NEW from me: Colleges are worried about too few students. Economists are anxious about too many graduates. Wait — how can both things possibly be true? www.chronicle.com/article/high...

Three-quarters of Americans think international students are a “good thing” for the U.S., but views diverge widely based on political affiliation. Most Democrats and independents think its a positive, but only about half of Republicans surveyed agree in a Quinnipiac University pol

NEW from me: Immigration protections have become one of graduate students’ labor demands as foreign and undocumented students have been swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. www.chronicle.com/article/grad...

As college seniors prepare for graduation, the uncertain job market is top of mind. So is underemployment. “Regretfully, underemployment acts as a shock absorber,” said Jeff Strohl, CEW’s director. @karinfischer.bsky.social @chronicle.com www.chronicle.com/article/its-... #AcademicSky #EconSky

NEW from me: There’s a lot of handwringing about the trouble new graduates are having finding jobs. But underemplyment — that is, working in a position that doesn’t require a degree — may be the truest reflection of the current AI-addled labor market. www.chronicle.com/article/its-...

A federal judge in California has ordered the Trump administration to lift an indefinite hold on granting employment authorization, including OPT, to students and scholars from countries such as Iran included in a presidential travel ban. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

It's not just that student-visa denials are up — it's that they spiked in major emerging markets. In India, the biggest sender of international students to the U.S., 61% of visa applicants were refused in 2025. By contrast, in China, the previous top source, denial rates were 18%

The U.S. rejected one in three student-visa applicants last year, according to just-released government data. Denial rates have ticked up over the past decade and are significantly higher than refusal rates for other nonimmigrant visas www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

Only about a tenth of Americans study in China now compared to the high, of 14,887, in the 2011 academic year. That's troubling to those who believe that a deep understanding of this geopolitically and economically powerful country is critical. Check out Latitudes, my weekly newsletter, for more 👇

The United States will face a “critical shortage” of China experts with on-the-ground experience within a decade if the number of Americans studying there continues to be perilously low, a new report warns. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

Ahead of this week's Final Four, I took a look at the share of international students on the remaining men's and women's teams. The most global: @uarizona.bsky.social , where half the team is from overseas, from Australia to South Sudan

For years, there has been a dominant narrative about college: Earning a degree is the surest pathway to the American dream. Lately, though, thanks to AI and economic shifts, that story line has begun to unravel. www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Access to study abroad and other global-education activities is not equitable across community colleges, differing by focus, mission, and wealth, a new report found. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

For years, there has been a dominant narrative about college: Earning a degree is the surest pathway to the American dream. Lately, though, thanks to AI and economic shifts, that story line has begun to unravel. www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Optional training, the postgraduate work program for international students, has become a major steppingstone to long-term work in the U.S. — more than half of recent recipients of H-1B skilled-worker visas first came to the country on student visas.

The number of U.S. student visas issued in India the busiest summer months fell more than 60 percent ahead of the current academic year. Colleges hoped some of the backlog could be handled in September. It didn't happen: State Dept data show just 706 student visas were processed.

Many colleges relaxed rules to allow late arrivals of international students because of worldwide visa delays, but visas awarded in September did little to make up for precipitous summertime declines in issuances www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

Half of all international applications via the Common App went to the most selective U.S. colleges. The prestige gap may be widening: Foreign apps to the most elite colleges have held steady this admissions season while overseas interest in less selective institutions plummeted.

www.chronicle.com/article/sian... Sian Beilock represents a new breed of college president willing to take shots at her own sector, which she says has lost its way by becoming too expensive and too political.

What if the United States, long the most popular destination for international students, became defined more by quality than quantity? www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

U.S. student-visa issuances ahead of the last academic year fell more than 60 percent in India. But declines in incoming international students were even steeper in Nepal and Nigeria.

In this week's Latitudes: troubling signs for international enrollments, a call for oversight of Chinese student groups, and another state jumps on the bandwagon of trying to limit colleges' H-1B hiring. www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

From bad to worse: The number of visas awarded to foreign students took a nosedive in the summer of 2025, plummeting 36 percent, according to just-released data from the State Department, a troubling sign for U.S. colleges. I've got the analysis 👇

NEW: The bad news about international-student enrollments at American colleges just got worse. An exclusive @chronicle.com analysis of just-released State Department data shows new visa issuances in the summer of 2025 dropped by more than a third. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...

House committee chairmen are asking the U.S. State Department to designate Chinese Students and Scholars Associations as "foreign missions" of the Chinese government, requiring government approval of all public events files.constantcontact.com/f0eecb46901/...

The war with Iran is closing U.S. branch campuses in the Middle East and prompting do-not-travel warnings for the region. But the conflict is the latest event to fray U.S. ties in a part of the world that had been a priority for many colleges www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

NEW: For updates about higher education and the war in the Middle East, @chronicle.com has started a live updates page. www.chronicle.com/article/iran...

“Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.” -- A Columbia University neuroscience researcher who posted this on Instagram in the wake of DHS's actions on campus. www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/02...

Congress has restored funding for international-education and foreign-language programs slashed by the Trump administration and moved to block the executive branch from making unilateral cuts to spending www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...