China has stepped up and issued “unconditional offers” to international students at Harvard amid the American university’s ongoing conflict with the Donald Trump administration.
The Trump administration last week revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students, leaving foreign students with the choice of transferring to other universities or losing their legal status. A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the decision and set a hearing for 29 May.
The ban, effective for the 2025-2026 academic year, came as the administration alleged that Harvard fostered antisemitism and coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party. The move affects around 1,300 Chinese students who make up about a fifth of Harvard's international enrollment.
Hong Kong education secretary Christine Choi called on universities in the Chinese financial hub to welcome “outstanding students from all over the world”. “For international students affected by the United States' student admission policy, the Education Bureau has appealed to all universities in Hong Kong to provide facilitation measures for eligible students," Ms Choi said in a statement.
The Education Bureau said it had contacted the Harvard Club of Hong Kong to offer support for students affected by the move.
“We’ll continue to keep a close eye on the needs of students whose studies have been affected by the shifting global education landscape,” the bureau said, adding that it would consider support measures as part of the city's role as an "international education hub".
The education secretary said that universities in Hong Kong were making use of government measures, including relaxing the maximum limits on foreign students, to attract pupils to the city.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on Friday invited international students at Harvard to continue their studies at the city university.
The university said it was ready to “provide unconditional offers, streamlined admission procedures and academic support to facilitate a seamless transition for interested students”.
Hong Kong, a city of 7.5 million people, has five universities in the top 100 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
It was until recently regarded as one of Asia's freest academic arenas.
Schools and universities in the city are now obliged to integrate national security and patriotic themes into their teaching, bringing them closer in line with education in mainland China.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, demanded Harvard provide his administration with the “names and countries” of all its international students. There would be some 6,793 names on such a list, according to the latest data shared by the university.
“Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their students’ education nor do they ever intend to,” he declared on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Nobody told us that!”
The administration had previously warned that Harvard University’s federal funding was at risk if it did not comply with the president’s demands, which included ending diversity programmes, submitting a “viewpoint diversity” audit, and dissolving pro-Palestine demonstrations.
But judge Allison Burroughs called the order a “blatant violation of the constitution” and granted Harvard a temporary restraining order against the administration.
Burroughs said Harvard’s attorneys had shown the move would do “immediate and irreparable injury” to the institution.
Another federal judge had previously blocked the Trump administration from revoking the legal status for international students nationwide while a legal challenge was ongoing.
Harvard’s professors and staff have come out in support of their foreign students and the university administration has said it was committed to ensuring the students could stay.
