Page 50 - EW February 2025_Neat

International News

UNITED STATES 43 percent of its current international student population if
Visas cloud over universities OPT is eliminated. Because it was not created by legislation,
it has always been vulnerable, says Bhandari.
“As with the H-1B visa, eliminating or drastically reduc-
ing the scope of OPT would have far-reaching damaging
consequences, the first of which would be that the num-
ber of international students coming to the US would drop
precipitously and the country will lose the ability to attract
global talent,” she warns.
While visa changes would damage the sector’s interna-
tional recruitment and financial standing, David Hopkins,
a political science professor at Boston College, says there is
still a lot of uncertainty. “Trump has no particular sympathy
for American higher ed, and is unlikely to be warned off a
restrictionist approach by the argument that it would hurt
the educational sector. But if Musk and his other supporters
in the tech industry can prevail in convincing Trump that
Trump & Musk (left): rethinking H-1B visa student and H-1B visas are important to their own interests,
he’s less likely to impose policies that seriously threaten
AMERICA’S HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITU- American universities,” says Hopkins.
TIONS are at risk of being caught in the crossfire
as divisions are revealed in the Trump administra- Rising popularity of CS+X programmes
tion over visas. Opposition to the H-1B work visa has come
from influential right-wing commentator Steve Bannon and
left-wing Democratic senator Bernie Sanders, who have S DIRECTOR OF A FIRST-YEAR WRITING course
criticised the skilled foreign worker programme as “cheap at a midsize public university, Melanie Gagich
labour.” President Donald Trump himself was opposed to it Adoesn’t know a lot about computer science. But
during his first presidency, but thanks to the vocal backing when her institution invited faculty to propose new pro-
of his “first buddy” and billionaire backer Elon Musk, the grammes combining two existing majors, she and another
president has recently voiced support for the visa. writing instructor felt that English and computer science
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a retired professor of immigration would be a perfect fit. “A lot of students worry about being
law practice at Cornell University, told Times Higher Edu- an English major, because they’re always like, ‘Well, can
cation that discussions over H-1B work visas are tied into I get a job with that?’ That was our inspiration,” she says.
a wider debate around immigration in general. “H-1B work Gagich’s proposal will become one of the inaugural
visas are a common pathway for international students to integrated majors at Cleveland State University, which is
work in the United States after they graduate. If the Trump launching 11 such programmes this spring (April). The
administration restricts H-1B visas, international students university is part of a consortium of ten universities ex-
may be less likely to attend US universities,” he says. ploring integrated majors under the guidance of the Center
Although its modernisation and liberalisation are long for Inclusive Computing (CIC), a research centre located at
overdue, Rajika Bhandari, principal of Rajika Bhandari Northeastern University, the birthplace of integrated ma-
Advisors, an international education research and strategy jors. The project is funded by the National Science Foun-
firm, agrees that curtailing or eliminating H-1B visas would dation.
have “dire consequences for US higher education, economy, Northeastern was the first to launch what it called com-
and society of an unimaginable magnitude”. “The H-1B visa bined majors in 2001 with a series of programmes com-
is a critical linchpin in the pathway of educating and em- bining computer science with other majors (often referred
ploying global talent,” she says. to as “CS+X”). Nearly two and a half decades later, it of-
As well as being opposed to H-1B visas, the first Trump fers a whopping 270 combined majors across a variety of
administration also drafted a regulation to restrict optional disciplines, with 8,401 students — approximately half the
practical training (OPT) visas — a temporary form of em- student body – enrolled in them.
ployment that allows foreign graduates to remain in the Two core ideas catalysed the concept, according to Carla
country to work for 12 months to acquire workplace ex- Brodley, director of CIC. The first, she says is that in today’s
perience. world, “every field is a tech field.” That is to say, in every
Stephen Miller, incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, discipline and industry, there are computer science roles
is known to be opposed to the OPT programme. However, a and opportunities available. “Every field needs people that
report published last year found that the US could lose up to can understand the discipline but also know how to create

50 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2025