Trump 10-point memo to US universities seeks 15% cap on int'l students, only 5% from one country

A confidential 10-point memo sent by the Trump administration to some of America’s leading universities has come to light, laying out sweeping directives that could reshape admissions, hiring, tuition, and the monitoring of international students.

The document, accessed by the Wall Street Journal and other US-based media outlets, was addressed to institutions including Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, Brown University, and the University of Virginia.

According to the memo, universities have been asked to align with federal expectations in ways that touch nearly every aspect of campus life. The directives include:

1. Capping international undergraduate enrolment at 15%.
2. Limiting students from any single country to no more than 5%.
3. Banning the use of race or sex as factors in hiring and admissions.
4. Freezing tuition fees for the next five years.
5. Requiring all applicants to take the SAT or an equivalent standardised test.
6. Addressing grade inflation across academic courses.
7. Promoting viewpoint diversity among students, faculty, and staff.
8. Revising or removing units considered hostile to conservative ideas.
9. Screening foreign students for alignment with ‘American and Western values’.
10. Sharing information about foreign students, including disciplinary records, with the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

The capping of international undergraduate enrolment at 15%.

And limiting students from a single country to no more than 5% can adversely affect aspiring students from India and China, as these two countries made for a large number of international students in the US.

The administration has framed these steps as necessary to safeguard ‘American values’ in higher education. Critics argue that such measures would undermine academic freedom, limit diversity, and deter international talent.

Universities that received the letters have yet to formally respond.