Like many US business school deans, Rao Unnava is keeping a close eye on statements from the White House as he watches for any further changes to immigration policy by President Donald Trump’s new administration.
His University of California: Davis Graduate School of Management and its peers could be significantly affected if Trump follows through on the “America first” rhetoric and the stigmatisation of immigrants that were central to his election campaign last year. “We are going through a very uncertain period regarding international student admissions and enrolments,” says Unnava.
During Trump’s first term, restrictions on immigration and a slowdown in visa processing — which continued late into Joe Biden’s presidential term — hit student admissions. Since then, Republican sentiments have further hardened towards universities, with fresh scrutiny of curricula, campus policies, and the value for money that degrees offer graduates in their job hunting.
“As with any new US presidential administration, there is uncertainty in terms of priorities, appointments and processes,” says Sharon Matusik, dean of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. These add to “technology, a shifting geopolitical landscape, the changing labour market, environmental challenges and social issues we have already been collectively grappling with”.
For the country’s business schools, resurgent “anti-woke” and “culture war” actions could lead to increased nervousness about offering — or at least publicising — courses on politically charged topics such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.
Judy Samuelson, executive director of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program, expects relatively little impact because of modest take up of these themes in the US. “I’m not so sure how much was being done to begin with,” she says. “A lot of business schools’ finance classes are still teaching shareholder primacy.”
But Matthew Slaughter, dean of Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, in New Hampshire, argues that DEI and ESG, when grounded in rigorous research, are already taught and will be retained. “It is really important to bring together students, faculty and staff of diverse backgrounds, and harness the power of diversity.”
He adds: “ESG will not be going away. It shouldn’t. The evidence continues to mount on the human impact on climate. We need to think about what research shows and how to bring it into our classrooms.”
Trump’s other campaign pledges included a review of the US accreditation system for universities, with a focus on “return on investment” and job placement. That is one topic around which many business schools can feel more sanguine than rival faculties: at least at undergraduate level, demand for their courses continues to rise.
Of greater concern is the threat to visas for students coming to study from abroad, and what rights they will have to work in the US after graduating. Many business schools have increased recruitment from India, China and the emerging countries of Asia, including Vietnam. These students typically receive F-1 visas for study, but often seek to remain and switch to H-1B status for longer term employment in the country.
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Some “Maga” Republicans have called for a cull of H-1B visas, claiming that they allow employers to hire cheap foreign labour in place of US workers. By contrast, tech barons led by Elon Musk have defended this form of immigration as a source of future global talent — and reports suggest Trump himself supports this view.
Whatever the outcome of that spat, business school leaders are watching what happens to the intervening year-long period of “optional practical training” (OPT) for students after graduation, before they receive H-1Bs. That can be extended by a further two years on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) related courses — an incentive that has led an increasing number of universities to seek Stem classification, including recently Harvard for its MBA.
“The value of a US degree is not just in the degree, but in the return it provides in the form of future earnings,” says Unnava, at UC Davis. “If OPT is removed, and H-1B is not given to new graduates, demand will go down significantly for international students.” To remain competitive in such circumstances, he argues that some business schools would have to cut their fees to compensate for the reduced prospects of longer term US employment.
Others remain hopeful. Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, says: “While there are fears of restrictions, some members of the incoming administration have indicated that the US would welcome highly skilled workers. I believe that the commitment to business and innovation will endure.”
However, any fresh clampdown by the US could benefit rivals elsewhere. Julian Birkinshaw, the dean of Ivey Business School in Canada, recently told colleagues: “We can expect Trump ‘season two’ to feature a strong anti-immigrant narrative, which will make higher education institutions in the US less attractive to overseas applicants . . . To the extent that the US turns in on itself, that creates an opportunity or even a necessity for Canadian business schools to be more outwardly focused.”
In practice, Canada — as well as the UK, Australia and other countries that have turned to international students — have also been clamping down on visas. Furthermore, pre-US election surveys by both GMAC, which administers the GMAT test, and StudyPortals, a consultancy, showed that relatively few international students said a Trump victory would be dissuade them from studying in the US.
Back in the US, Andrew Karolyi, dean of Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, in New York state, says: “I keep my focus on actual things that might happen. Our goal is to make sure we are focused on the relevance and impact of our research and our teaching, to make sure students are absolutely market-ready.”
