The Lygon Group obtained a leaked copy of the letter.
It’s exhausting hitting. It’s powerful to learn. For an official authorities communication, the “Expensive Colleague” letter leans into emotive phrases: “smuggling”, “repugnant”, “nebulous”. The burden of the “Expensive Colleague” letter falls most closely on US universities and faculties.
The “Expensive Colleague” letter will impression worldwide college students who’re contemplating finding out within the US. The US is a well-liked vacation spot. One in 4 Australian college students select it as a research overseas vacation spot.
Till now.
We have to be alert to the impacts of the US administration’s insurance policies trickling by way of to school departments, from worldwide places of work to analysis places of work.
The quick impression falls on universities who settle for US college students on monetary assist. The monetary impression on most Australian universities will not be materials. On the upside, it may very well be, as privately funded college students search to flee the US. That’s what our companion Voyage is selecting up in its real-time scholar sentiment tracker, The Social Supply.
We all know that the President is not any fan of DEI. The “Expensive Colleague” letter implies that universities receiving US college students on monetary assist ought to ditch DEI insurance policies.
We urge them to not.
That request would break the power to have insurance policies to encourage indigenous college students to entry greater schooling, to assist ladies into management positions, or to take excellent care of LGBTQIAI+ individuals.
Sooner or later our sector should take a stand towards these US intrusions, as many different sectors haven’t.
It isn’t past our wit to push again.
We requested 3 senior worldwide schooling individuals at Australian unis for quotes on this text. All refused as they required media “approval”.
Timidity will not be the reply.
Our companions at Voyage monitor worldwide scholar sentiment by way of The Social Supply, checking in to see what worldwide college students suppose. The Social Supply aggregates the 1000’s of conversations worldwide college students are having every day on social media to watch actual time sentiment. And establish developments.
Let’s dive into the true time feelings of worldwide college students.
From concern to unhappiness
Between late 2023 and early 2025, discussions about finding out within the US fluctuated considerably.
The ‘Trump Impact’ now dominates scholar conversations on worldwide schooling.
Worldwide college students are unsure, fearful and apprehensive about Trump’s insurance policies, resulting in heightened considerations about monetary struggles, and the necessity for stronger scholar assist methods.
Financial issues are vital as establishments and the workforce debate the function of worldwide college students in shaping the US economic system intensify.
Sound acquainted? We have now this debate in Australia, and worldwide college students are listening very intently. Worldwide college students are listening to each coverage and political announcement. It is a shocking discovering from The Social Supply.
Discussions amongst worldwide college students about Trump himself surged in November 2024, coinciding with a number of universities issuing journey advisories for worldwide college students forward of his inauguration.
Whereas scholar conversations dropped off within the subsequent few months, March 2025 noticed an explosive 1,269% surge in scholar considerations concerning the US as a research vacation spot.
Sentiment evaluation underscores the emotional toll of those developments. Worry ranges peaked in late 2024, as worldwide college students apprehensive about Trump’s potential impression, compounded by college warnings urging college students to enter the US earlier than his inauguration.
Pupil sentiment has turned from concern to unhappiness this March. Sentiment stays reactive to political shifts, reinforcing the impression of the ‘Trump Impact’ on scholar mobility.
The Lygon Group and Voyage will proceed to maintain a detailed eye on how ‘the Trump impact’ is roiling world scholar mobility.
As Australia hurtles in direction of a federal election by which either side are promising caps-light or caps-heavy limits on worldwide scholar enrolments, we should always not squander a chance to be seen as a extra welcoming, greater worth proposition than worldwide schooling within the US.
This text was written by Jeffrey Sensible, with contributors Melissa Banks of The Lygon Group and Matthew Donlon of Voyage.
