As 8,000 delegates gathered in San Diego for the opening plenary of NAFSA 2025, the sector was hit with the news that the Trump administration was halting the scheduling of student visa interviews as it prepared to expand its social media vetting of prospective students.
Then, on day two of the conference – as friends and colleagues filtered out of the convention centre to drinks receptions across the city – they were rocked by more bad news. This time, that the State Department would “aggressively revoke” visas for Chinese students and enhance scrutiny of future visa applicants.
The unexpected, inflammatory announcements alarmed delegates and immediately set the agenda for discussions across the four-day event.
Concern circulated about the characteristically broad scope and vague language of the announcements – which colleagues have come to expect from the administration. But while all of this could have quite reasonably created panic and confusion, in fact, there was an air of focus and unity.
For Brett Blacker, Duolingo’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, the conference acted “a bit like a group therapy session”. Colleagues from across the globe were simply grateful to be together to process the rapidly changing policy environment and devise strategies for the future.
And while the deliberately disorientating barrage of attacks from the Trump administration demand that stakeholders are continuously adapting and reacting, attendees were also urged to take the long view.
“When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind,” said NAFSA CEO Fanta Aw, telling colleagues to pursue partnerships “not for prestige, but for shared progress”.
Aw extended a special welcome to NAFSA’s international participants – comprising 45% of attendees – whose very presence she said amounted to “an act of hope”.
While xenophobia disguised as nationalism and the politicisation of international students is by no means limited to the US, many of the conference’s most fruitful discussions came from cross-border comparisons.
Rather than remain despondent, NAFSA delegates have taken to LinkedIn with realism and pragmatism, laced with just a little bit of hope
These were most stark when examining student mobility in the ‘big four’ study destinations, with several sessions highlighting the relative attractiveness of the UK amid visa challenges in Canada and Australia, not to mention extreme volatility in the US.
Elsewhere, discussions highlighted the rise of the ‘Asian decade’ and the increasing pull of destinations such as Ireland and Germany, with a sense of the sector at a tipping point as the dominance of traditional destinations and models is increasingly questioned.
This sense of unity continued as colleagues were united over the frustrating lack of detail about the latest policies from the White House. As the conference continued, attendees received no clarity from government about the length of the visa interview freeze, despite the initial cable indicating it would only last several days.
Ten days later, students remain unable to book visa appointments, and the administration has stayed similarly silent on the scope or character of its “aggressive” Chinese visa revocations. It’s a maddening state of affairs, stemming from an increasingly unpredictable administration that seems unable to see that peevish, retaliatory policies made in the spur of the moment are having real-world effects on institutions and students alike.
Sadly, the onslaught shows no sligns of slowing down. Since the close of NAFSA 2025, the Trump administration has barred prospective international students in 19 countries from studying in the US.
And it has also attempted, once again, to strip students around the world of the right to study at America’s oldest institution, signing a proclamation to suspend Harvard’s international enrolments, which has since been temporarily blocked by a federal court.
As uncertainty prevails across much of the sector, emotions are understandably high. But rather than remain despondent, NAFSA delegates have taken to LinkedIn with realism and pragmatism, laced with just a little bit of hope.
As attendees heard from Intead’s Ben Waxman in the final session of the final day in the furthest away room: ““Now is not the time to get angry, now is the time to get focussed”.
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