At last year’s National Schools Regatta for junior rowers, the biggest queue was for the US universities tent.
Overwhelmingly attended by the private schools, the event, held at Eton College’s Dorney Lake, draws a large crowd of parents, grandparents, relations and family friends as well as competitors. Striped blazers and crests are much in evidence. The racing on the water is fierce and compelling. Still, folks were interested in getting their loved ones into a top American college, possibly but not necessarily using their sporting prowess as a lever.
As Oxbridge has become increasingly closed to the fee-payers in recent years, attention has turned across the Atlantic to the US’s prestige establishments. Every private school these days has someone devoted to advising on which US university to pick and how to navigate the application process. Fairs are held to promote their wares. They are packed with stands filled with representatives and experts on hand who are eager to impress parents anxious to learn more.
This is why Donald Trump’s onslaught against the universities, even if it proves to be temporary, has caused profound shock.
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security moved to end Harvard's ability to enrol students from other countries, halting their visa applications, ostensibly to root out supposed “woke” radicals. Trump said he would also be further cutting federal government contracts to the university, which has witnessed major pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
At the very least, the president has signalled chaos and uncertainty ahead. Just as well-heeled families thought they had found a ready alternative to Oxford and Cambridge, that route may not be so guaranteed.
Equally, his crackdown represents a golden opportunity for British higher education to step forward and fill the void. In the blinkered snobbishness that engulfs the independent sector and a few state schools, the ones that are selective and serve as middle-class magnets, only a handful of domestic universities after Oxbridge are worth a candle. Durham, St Andrews, Edinburgh, and some London colleges, they believe, are up there.
After that, in the narrow eyes of parents, teachers and, sadly, brain-washed pupils – and, too often, employers – it quickly falls away. Members of the Russell Group, the self-appointed association that likes to think it comes second following Oxbridge, may claim elitism, but really, for many, they are just that: second division. As for the rest, they barely register.
In 2023-24, the US hosted 1.1 million overseas students, of which 10,000 were from Britain. That total generated $43.8bn through tuition, housing and living expenses, according to the organisation Nafsa: Association of International Educators. Some of that money is lost to the UK, not to mention the brains and talent, which may never return home, preferring to settle in the US.
For US universities, this business – for that is what it has become – is a lucrative money-spinner, a vital earner. This is a chance for Britain to restate its case, precisely at the point where the supply of students from abroad and their higher fees is drying up. Competition is fierce – already China has said it is willing to take those who find their US entry barred.
It's true that Britain’s universities only have themselves to blame for this drain. Our colleges have grown crazily during the past few decades, and some bodies and the courses they offer do not pass muster. Likewise, though, we should not lose sight of the sheer prejudice that also works against them.
Neither does it help that our government has targeted universities for spending cuts. Theirs is a largely battered, bruised and deeply demoralised sector. If they are going to raise their game, as they should, to exploit this sudden opening the emboldened, belligerent US president has afforded them, they require financial support and a show of confidence from the centre.
It should be a mutual partnership, one that operates to put Britain first, to dissuade students from heading overseas. The beneficiary here will be the economy. It will be to our national benefit if they are encouraged to stay, to complete their education, and with that, start their careers in the UK.
There may be woe and doubtless tears in some quarters, but by slamming shut one door, Trump has opened another.
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