Harvard University announced contingency plans for some of its thousands of international students, whom the Trump administration is trying to bar from entering the country.
Borrowing from lessons learned during the Covid pandemic, both the Kennedy School of Government and the Harvard Business School have said that some of their international students will be able to take advantage of online and remote learning options to finish their Harvard degrees, should they be barred from entering the country.
The Kennedy School plans, announced this week on a new website for international students, said that the students may be permitted to study online.
Students will engage in online coursework led by Kennedy School faculty, while also attending up to three “in-person convenings in cities across the world,” the website says. The meetings will feature “intensive, credit-bearing sessions taught by HKS faculty.”
Returning Kennedy School students can finish their Harvard degrees at the University of Toronto, where the students may be based if they’re unable to enter the United States. More than half of Kennedy School students are international.
“We hope to see you on campus in the fall, but if that is not possible, we will bring HKS to you,” Jeremy M. Weinstein, the dean of the Kennedy School, wrote in an email to school affiliates. The plan was first reported by The Harvard Crimson.
Srikant Datar, the dean of the Business School, announced that the school would use a hybrid model that began during the pandemic, to accommodate international students.
“Should foreign students not be allowed to enroll, we will need to draw on the creativity of our community, as we did during the pandemic, to reimagine an M.B.A. program that both embraces and overcomes a geographically dispersed class,” Dr. Datar said in an interview the school posted on its alumni web page.
He also said the school would leverage its international research centers and alumni network across the world to allow in-person learning experiences. International students make up 35 percent of enrollment in the school’s master’s program and 40 percent in its doctoral programs.
The dispute over international students at Harvard erupted on May 22, when the Department of Homeland Security said it was rescinding Harvard’s right to participate in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, through which Harvard hosts about 7,000 international students and recent graduates each year.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said the action was necessary because Harvard had failed to comply with requests for information on misconduct by the university’s international students — a charge Harvard denied.
After Harvard sued the Trump administration in May, the Trump administration countered by issuing a White House proclamation blocking international students at Harvard, invoking a 70-year law that has been used against foreign enemies, but never a domestic entity.
Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court in Boston issued a preliminary injunction last week barring enforcement of the Trump administration orders while the case is pending.
Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.
The post Harvard Announces a Contingency Plan for Some of Its International Students appeared first on New York Times.
