Japan has asked its universities to consider accepting international students affected by the Donald Trump administration’s decision to block Harvard from enrolling foreigners.
Toshiko Abe, the education minister, has asked universities nationwide to report, within a week, possible support measures for both Japanese and international students affected by the Trump administration’s move to restrict foreign enrolment at Harvard.
“We have asked universities to consider possible support measures such as accepting international students enrolled in US universities so that the students can continue their studies,” Ms Abe said on Tuesday.
There are 110 students and 150 researchers from Japan at Harvard. In all, around 16,000 Japanese students are enrolled in American institutions, according to The Japan Times.
International students make up 27 per cent of Harvard’s student body, totalling about 6,800.
Ms Abe said her ministry would do its “utmost to ensure young people with ambition and talent can continue their studies”.
A few days ago, China extended “unconditional offers” to foreign students at Harvard after the US government revoked the university’s certification to enrol international students, effectively forcing thousands of them to transfer to other colleges or face losing legal status in the US.
Mr Trump’s homeland security secretary Kristi Noem justified the decision by accusing Harvard of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party”.
The department said the move followed Harvard’s refusal to hand over information Noem had asked for about certain foreign student visa holders.
The move represented a sharp escalation of the administration’s campaign against Harvard University, one of its most prominent institutional targets.
Harvard denounced the move as illegal and retaliatory and pledged to support the affected students.
“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” the university said in a statement.
On Monday, the administration threatened to divert $3bn in grants from Harvard to trade schools.
Although a federal judge late last week temporarily blocked the ban and set a hearing for 29 May, Harvard’s international students say they face ongoing uncertainty.
The temporary injunction allows them to remain at the university for now, but they must consider whether to transfer to another US institution to preserve their visa status in case Harvard loses the legal battle or finish their studies abroad.
It is against this backdrop that a growing number of overseas universities, particularly in Asia, are stepping in to offer the affected students transfer opportunities.
Top institutions in Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, and Malaysia have begun actively inviting these students to continue their studies there, offering streamlined admissions, academic support, and credit transfers.
The University of Tokyo, one of Japan’s most prestigious institutions, is considering temporarily accepting international students from Harvard affected by the US government’s ban, according to Kyodo News.
The university has prior experience with providing such support, having hosted displaced students and researchers from Ukraine in 2022.
A spokesperson for Kyoto University, another prestigious institution, told AFP on Wednesday that it was considering accepting young researchers from US universities and assessing ways to assist Japanese students currently in America.
Last week, Hong Kong education secretary Christine Choi called on universities in the Chinese city to welcome “outstanding students from all over the world”.
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on 23 May issued “an open invitation to international undergraduate and postgraduate students currently enrolled at Harvard University, as well as those holding confirmed offers for Harvard degree programmes, to continue their academic pursuits at HKUST”.
The university said it was “extending this opportunity to ensure talented students can pursue their educational goals without disruption”.
The City University of Hong Kong said it was “extending support to international students facing academic disruption, inviting them to continue their education in Hong Kong”.
In Malaysia, Sunway University CEO Elizabeth Lee said it was ready to welcome Harvard’s international students for “immediate transfer”.
“Dear Sunway and other international students at Harvard, I am truly sorry to hear you’re all caught in a bind with the US Department of Homeland Security’s recent announcement that Harvard would lose its Student and Exchange Visitor Programme certification, which places the university’s current and incoming international students at serious risk of losing their legal right of passage and abode in the USA,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
“You’re most welcome to immediately transfer to us at Sunway Education. We can directly take any students who are affected into our range of programmes at Sunway University. We have a partnership with the Arizona State University where we can work on the transfer of all your credits earned from Harvard to ASU, or even to any of our own Sun-U degree programmes which can also earn you additional British certification from Lancaster University.”
Macau’s Education and Youth Development Bureau has urged local universities to offer transfer support to students affected by the situation. In a statement released on Saturday, the bureau confirmed it had reached out to Macanese students at Harvard to provide assistance.
“I believe that Macau’s universities are strong and attractive,” Pang Chuan, Macau University of Science and Technology vice president told local news outlet TDM.
“Now we need to let these students know that Macau is willing and able to help them, and the credits they earned at Harvard can be transferred to universities here.”
Analysts have warned that Mr Trump’s crackdown on academic institutions could diminish the global prestige of American higher education and accelerate the shift of top talent to Asia. Simon Marginson, a professor of higher education at Oxford University and founding director of the Center for Global Higher Education, told Time: “Harvard attracts some very, very good people from all over the world, so it hurts the university quite substantially to lose that talent.”
He said universities in Asia, which have steadily climbed the global rankings in STEM disciplines, stood to gain significantly, especially given that a substantial portion of international students in the US came from Asia.
Meanwhile, secretary of state Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced that the Trump administration would “aggressively” revoke visas of Chinese students – key contributors to American university revenues – especially those studying sensitive subjects or found linked to the Communist Party of China.
