Trump administration seeks to restrict internships for international students
· World · The Hindu, Reuters
The Trump administration has issued a federal memo dated August 24 directing universities to restrict the issuance of Curricular Practical Training (CPT) work authorisations for international students, citing a rise in CPT approvals that allegedly violate regulatory requirements permitting such training only as an integral part of an established curriculum. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), warned that colleges failing to comply could lose certification to enrol foreign students. UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley have paused certain CPT authorisations while reviewing the new guidance, with UC Berkeley's international office describing the memo as more narrow, direct and restrictive than an earlier mid-August communication. The CPT memo is part of a broader Trump administration push against universities over pro-Palestinian protests, diversity initiatives, climate programmes and transgender policies.
Why it matters
Hundreds of thousands of international students, including a large Indian cohort that forms the single biggest foreign student group in the US, depend on CPT to take paid internships that count toward their degrees. Tightening or revoking CPT authorisations could disrupt career pipelines, force students to defer or abandon US programmes, and push more Indian applicants toward competing destinations such as Canada, the UK, Australia and Germany.
Read the original report — The Hindu
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