Abdulah: Trump's student visa restriction can benefit local institutions

MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah believes Trinidad and Tobago can use US President Donald Trump's move to pause student visas to its benefit by providing a viable alternative through local institutions.

Speaking at a media conference on June 1, the MSJ leader said the situation provided greater opportunities for regional and local institutions like the University of the West Indies (UWI), the University of TT (UTT) and several private facilities.

"So we have an opportunity to first of all, say to TT nationals, students, 'Don't fight up to go to the United States and face all kinds of problems with your visa, etc, and the high cost of education there given the exchange rate being what it is.'

"Let us utilise our own institutions. Our own institutions are good quality tertiary institutions and let us ramp up our programmes."

Abdulah said that would especially help since there had been a dwindling of enrolments since the covid19 pandemic and the retooling of the GATE programme which only saw 100 per cent financing provided upon the passing of a means test.

"Let us look at seizing this opportunity, making use of our comparative advantage. Not only TT, TT and Jamaica, and so on. Let us now maximise, as a region, with TT taking a lead role in this because we have more physical assets than any other Caribbean island.

"Let us take a lead to turn these assets and the investments we have made over the years into income-earning institutions and establishing us as a place of excellence for education."

Abdulah argued the Alma Jordan Library of the UWI housed works of iconic national heroes such as Dr Eric Williams, CLR James and Sam Selvon making it a major location for researchers.

"So instead of us quarrelling about Debe and St Augustine and what faculty could be there, why don't we think forward about seizing the opportunity and making sure that we can provide our institution a place of choice for international students to come and engage in learning and research."

If successful, he said the country could generate much-needed foreign exchange and sustain the educational institutions.

In a similar vein, he endorsed four-time TT Olympic medallist Ato Boldon's belief that the student visa issue highlighted the need for more local programmes for athlete development.

Last week, President Trump ordered embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for interviews for student visas as the administration prepared to ramp up the social media screening of applicants. According to international media, the pause does not have a set expiration date but would last until "further guidance is issued."

Trump's move came amidst an escalating crackdown on US universities believed to be too lenient on anti-Semitism and allowing pro-Palestinian protests by students. Hundreds of international students have had their visas revoked and were detained. A May 28 statement from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said Chinese students were under scrutiny.

"Under President Trump’s leadership, the US State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

"We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong."