Category: Top News

IBL News | New York

Harvard University and the University of Southern California (USC) advised newly admitted international students who require F-1 visa sponsorship not to come to the U.S. mostly due to the “unpredictability” of the Trump administration.

Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College, wrote in a letter: “At present, any incoming student who received a Form I-20 to begin their studies this fall will be unable to enter the U.S. in F-1 status as course instruction is fully remote.”

As we reported, last week, the Trump Administration lifted the travel ban to European and UK students who already had study F-1 and M-1 visas. However, students awaiting interviews at U.S. Embassies and Consulates and researchers and teachers with J-1 visas were not included in the U.S. exemptions.

Harvard University disclosed that it is “working closely with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to extend the online exemption to newly admitted students”, although “we don’t anticipate any change to the policy in time for the fall semester.”

The fact that classes could be delivered through a hybrid model that includes some in-person instruction as a way to obtain an F-1 visa doesn’t convince Harvard officials, “given the unpredictability of current government policies and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis,” said Rakesh Khurana.

The institution advised students to take courses remotely from home, or, alternatively, defer the start of the classes on-campus.

USC recommended all undergraduates to take their courses online and reconsider living on or close to campus this semester. “We are building vibrant platforms, including a new student portal that will serve as a virtual quad and promote social engagement,” wrote Charles F. Zukoski, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at USC. “We also will be providing a host of experiences for our entering first-year and transfer students from across the world, so that they feel part of our community, and can seamlessly transition in person as soon as possible.”

Dealing with confusion about international students’ status, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a FAQ document, noting that “due to the fluid nature of this COVID-19 situation, the answers in this document may be subject to change.”

IBL News | New York

Stanford Emergency Medicine and Digital MEdIC released this week on Coursera and edX an open, evidence-based course for training physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers.

“COVID-19 Training for Healthcare Workers” covers symptoms and signs in sick patients, preventing the need for intubation, and ventilation management for patients.

This 5-hour, self-paced, visual course, comes with a certificate upon completion. It is also available via iOS and Google Play through an app designed for users with low data environments. It will allow students to follow the learning modules in offline mode.

IBL News | New York

The Trump Administration lifted the travel ban to European and UK students who already had study F-1 and M-1 visas.

“Students traveling from the Schengen Area, the U.K., and Ireland with valid F-1 and M-1 visas, do not need to seek a national interest exception to travel,” the U.S. State Department claimed on its website and told Congress late last week. “Students from those areas who are traveling on a J-1 may contact the nearest embassy or consulate to initiate an exception request.”

“We appreciate the transparency and concerted efforts of our European partners and allies to combat this pandemic and welcome the EU’s reciprocal action to allow key categories of essential travel to continue,” added the U.S. Department of State.

Students awaiting interviews at U.S. Embassies and Consulates and researchers and teachers with J-1 visas were not included in the U.S. exemptions.

IBL News | New York

Google Meet –part of G Suite for Education, with 140 million users–revealed yesterday, several of the features that it will be launching later this year. Some of which are similar to improvements made by Zoom.

“New moderation features for G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education users will give educators more control over how to run their virtual classes,” announced Arpit Guglani, Product Manager at Google Meet.

This is a summary of the new features:

• Joining a meeting (or “knocking”) with just one knock.
• Functionality allowing moderators to end the meeting for all participants, ensuring no students linger after the teacher has left.
• Block of anonymous attendees from joining any Education meetings by default.
• Ability to blur out their surroundings or replace their background, with presets or uploaded images.
• Ability to mute all participants at the same time, disable in-meeting chat for participants, and restrict who can present.
• Hand raising feature to make meetings flow more smoothly.
• Integrated collaborative whiteboard to help teachers and students share ideas.
• A larger tiled view will allow you to display up to 49 participants at once.
• Closed captions in additional languages to make lessons more accessible.

IBL News | New York

Total reversal for the Trump administration on the ban on the international students’ issue affecting over 1 million students–who generate 40 billion business for the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security rescinded the July 6 policy directive that would have required foreign students on F-1 and M-1 visas to take in-person college coursework in order to remain in the country –a judge announced in Boston this Tuesday.

The decision comes a week after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that students at schools offering only online courses, such as MIT, Harvard and Princeton, would need to either leave the U.S. or transfer schools. These schools, along with 20 states and dozens of universities, filed a suit against the Trump administration to block the policy change from going into effect.

Now, the Federal Government agrees to rescind the guidance to resolve the lawsuit filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The rescission of the directive means the government reverts back to a March guidance that allowed international students to remain in the U.S. while taking a fully online course load.

Before it agreed to rescind the new guidance, the Homeland Security Department filed a motion Monday in which it justified its decision due to “significant national security concerns.”

The government argued in a court filing, “A solely online program of study provides a nonimmigrant student with enormous flexibility to be present anywhere in the United States for up to an entire academic term, whether that location has been reported to the government … Additionally, such programs could allow a nonimmigrant student to conduct activities other than full-time studying.”

The government maintained in that same filing that “students choosing a 100% online learning program do not need to be physically present in the United States.”

Declarations from Harvard and MIT students submitted into the court record argued to the contrary that the students have compelling academic, personal and professional reasons to stay in the U.S. — or in some cases to re-enter the U.S. — even if their coursework would be online.