Are the prospects of university education in the United States of America for global students, including a sizeable segment from India, getting dimmer? An order from the Donald Trump administration, which seeks to halt visa interviews of new students as it considers the possibility of foreign students undergoing a vetting of their social media profiles as part of their applications to enrol in an American university, has heightened anxieties. A cable signed by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the Politico reported, has apparently asked American embassies and consular offices to stop the process of scheduling interviews; this is the latest thrust in a wider assault by Mr Trump’s government on American universities, especially on Harvard, and the country’s much-fêted higher education system with anti-semitism and national security being used as the proverbial fig-leaf. The most likely consequence, if this step were to materialise, would be an immense disruption to the enrolment procedures of these educational institutions. Visa applications and, consequently, enrolments would get delayed. American universities, which are heavily reliant on foreign students to raise funds, would find themselves crippled when it comes to raising money for their functioning. Moreover, the existing screening process for students’ visa applications is quite robust. An additional criterion — that of the scrutiny of social media profiles — raises ethical questions as well as the fear of curbs on free speech.

The developments must also goad the world in general and America in particular to examine the rhetoric and the motives that are being used to legitimise Mr Trump’s infringements on higher education. Foreign students are more likely to pay full tuition fees, enabling US universities to generate additional funds that are, in turn, spent on American citizens and their welfare. Moreover, while international students benefit immensely from quality education in the US, their absence in the face of obstacles would greatly rob American educational centres of their global pre-eminence and campus diversity. Mr Trump’s witch-hunt against this constituency therefore goes against the interests of the US that he claims to protect. It must be asked whether Mr Trump’s real motive to wage this battle, as is the wont of authoritarian leaders, is to demolish the university as a citadel of free thought and fearless opinion. Indian students constitute a high percentage of applicants to American universities. The Indian government must take up the issue with its US counterpart to alleviate the plight of Indian students keen on an American education.