Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
You have full access to this article via your institution.
The University of Hong Kong is among institutions offering to help students transfer from the United States.Credit: Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto via Getty
At least three universities in Hong Kong are inviting international students at Harvard University to join their institutions, following the United States administration’s shock decision last week to ban the prestigious US institution from enrolling foreign students.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is offering international students at Harvard dedicated scholarships, accommodation assistance and guidance on transferring academic credit, according to a letter addressed to them, which was posted on social-media platform X yesterday by Zhigang Suo, a materials engineer at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“We recognize that recent developments in the US may have created significant uncertainties for many international students. HKU stands ready to welcome affected students at Harvard who wish to explore options and pathways for continuing their studies with us,” a spokesperson for HKU told Nature.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has also invited current and prospective international undergraduates and postgraduates at Harvard and other US universities to transfer, and at least one other Hong Kong-based university has offered similar support.
The US Department of Homeland Security terminated Harvard’s ability to enrol and host international students on 22 May. A press release from the department stated that the university had “created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students”.
On Friday, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the government, challenging the decision. A judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the government’s policy.
Harvard hosts more than 7,000 international undergraduate and postgraduate students with visas. “Thousands of international students and scholars have done nothing wrong. It is extreme cruelty for the government to make innocent people collateral damage,” says Suo.
Grants cut
Harvard has become a target of the administration of US President Donald Trump. In April, the government demanded that Harvard grant it greater oversight of university admissions and hiring practices in order to continue receiving federal money. Harvard declined. The government has since cut billions of dollars’ worth of federal funding from the university, in the form of close to 1,000 grants previously given to researchers, according to an analysis by Nature.
Enjoying our latest content?
Login or create an account to continue
Access the most recent journalism from Nature's award-winning team
Explore the latest features & opinion covering groundbreaking research
How Trump’s attack on universities is putting research in peril
US brain drain: the scientists seeking jobs abroad amid Trump’s assault on research
Trump proposes unprecedented budget cuts to US science
Will US science survive Trump 2.0?
How Trump 2.0 is slashing NIH-backed research — in charts
