Trump bans Chinese students as Australian universities stand by for academic refugees

Australian universities ‘stand ready’ to support Chinese students expelled from the US as the Trump administration ‘aggressively revokes visas’.

The Trump administration is ‘aggressively revoking visas’ for Chinese students at American universities.

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Australian universities are on standby to enrol “academic refugees’’ from the United States after the Trump administration banned all students from China.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday that the US will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students’’.

He said the State Department would work with the Department of Homeland Security to revoke the visas of 277,000 Chinese nationals studying at American universities.

“New visa policies put America first, not China,’’ he said in an official statement.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

“We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.’’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a ban on Chinese students in American universities. Picture: AFP

Education Minister Jason Clare says international education ‘makes us friends’. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

Australian universities enrolled 158,664 students from China last year – 30 per cent of all foreign student enrolments.

The Albanese government has ordered Home Affairs to slow the processing of student visas, due to concerns over accommodation shortages.

Responding to the latest Trump edict, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said “we welcome genuine international students who want to study here’’.

“We have some of the best universities in the world,’’ he said on Thursday.

“International education is a valuable national asset to Australia.

“It doesn’t just make us money, it makes us friends.’’

Mr Clare said the federal government is “committed to ensuring the quality, integrity and sustainability of Australia’s international education sector’’.

“We have put in place a range of measures to improve the sustainability and integrity of the sector, which are having an impact,’’ he said.

New visa grants to international students have fallen 30 per cent over the past year, due to Mr Clare’s ministerial directive 111, which he has indicated will stay in place.

On Tuesday the US State Department ordered a pause on the processing of all new international student visas, as President Donald Trump ordered that students’ social media accounts be screened for evidence of protest activity.

A Universities Australia spokesman said it was too early to tell if the Trump crackdown is resulting in more international students applying to study in Australia instead of America.

“Australia’s universities are open to the world,’’ UA chief executive Luke Sheehy said on Thursday.

“If any students are displaced by policy decisions overseas, Australian universities stand ready to support those affected – whether they are Australian citizens or international students seeking continuity in their studies.

“We believe deeply in the value of international education – not only for the students whose lives are changed by it, but for the global collaboration it enables across research, innovation and shared challenges.’’

Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy.

International Education Association of Australia chief executive Phil Honeywood, who is attending an education conference in San Diego, said the American universities are “reeling from daily attacks by their own administration on their global market share of international students’’.

“The United States has for many years been the number one study destination country in the world,’’ he said on Thursday.

“Whether it be the announcement of checking the social media posts of all students intending to study in the USA, and now the targeting of young people from one student source country, this is becoming a very serious human rights issue from the supposed ‘leader of the free world’.’’

Mr Honeywood said most Chinese families who can afford to send their child to American universities are “comparatively wealthy, so a large percentage of affected students … will definitely have links to the ruling (Chinese Communist) party.

“Ironically, Australia will again miss an opportunity to gain greater market share because of our own overall enrolment restrictions, but at least our government will not succumb to punishing young people because of who their parents support politically.’’

Spark Finance, a student loan business for Australians and New Zealanders studying abroad, warned that the Trump “turbulence’’ will redirect students to the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.

Amanda Christie, the company’s head of growth, said she had reached out to Australian students set to commence studies at US universities in August or September.

She said the students had been accepted after “12 to 18 months of arduous preparation – including tests, application process, interviews and financial arrangements’’.

“(They) are now faced with the stress and uncertainty of their study and travel plans,’’ she said.