Foreign students who are aspiring to acquire science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States can now breathe easy and look forward to better immigration policies, thanks to US President Joe Biden’s “sweeping overhaul of US immigration law.” Biden, who recently signed an executive order dismantling Trump’s ban on US travel for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, is proposing broad immigration-reform legislation that will allow international graduate students and researchers to join the competitive technology sector in the US.

Canadian Minister of Immigration Marco Mendicino has said that international students are considered essential to the country’s economy as he released a new policy that eases application restrictions for an additional open work permit. With the new policy, international students eligible for a post-graduate work permit (PGWP) can now extend their permit up to 18 months. This will allow international student graduates additional time to remain in Canada while seeking employment and fulfilling their permanent residency requirements. According to the government of Canada, foreign students give back $21 billion to Canada’s economy annually.

The UK has started to lift some travel restrictions as more people have been vaccinated against COVID-19. With this, some universities have opened their campuses for international students for the spring semester. Due to travel restrictions, other freshman international students had to take their first semester courses online. Now that they are back to on-campus learning, some of the foreign enrollees want to get the COVID-19 vaccine shots once it is available to students.

A White House official has stated that the new administration of US president Joe Biden will continue pandemic-related restrictions on travel to the US from Ireland, the UK, Brazil, and 26 countries in Europe. The US will also ban entry to most non-US citizens who have recently been in South Africa in response to the new COVID-19 strain. The US is warily viewing new coronavirus strains that have originated in South Africa and Brazil, as well as one recently identified in the UK.

While the Australian higher education and international student markets are feeling the pinch of travel restrictions amid the ongoing health crisis, various universities are taking proactive steps in working together with federal and state governments to prevent the international education sector from dipping. For instance, an RMIT University spokesperson says it was keenly working together with the Victorian government on a “state-wide approach that will allow international students to enter Victoria.” Currently, the limit to Australia’s arrivals remains reduced while universities experience significant drops in new international student applications.

Universities in New Zealand are experiencing huge drops in the enrollment of international students, with some schools recording zero enrollees of foreign students. While there are some international students in-country who are half-way through in their studies, university officials are hoping a fraction of this would continue studying for post-graduate studies. Most of the foreign students currently in-country with valid study visas are from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In his efforts to unburden one-third of Americans under 30 years old from student-loan debt, the new US President Joe Biden plans to make major adjustments in the country’s loan system. One of Biden’s plans to not let individuals making $25,000 or less a year make loan payments and hold the accruing of interest on the loans. In forgiving student loans, a good portion of the 43 million Americans buried under $1.5 trillion of federal student loan debt may finally see the light at the end of a proverbial financial tunnel.

A student from Dalhousie University takes to TikTok her frustration with what she observes as discrimination against foreign students that are causing them financial stress. Due to strict entry policies for non-Canadians in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, international students who have just gotten back in town are not allowed to live back in their rented apartments but are required to take a 14-day quarantine at the Westin Hotel. Questionable hotel protocols such as preventing those in quarantine to order groceries or meals from the outside have also burdened the international students. To address this, a petition for the hotel to refund to the students the costs incurred during their quarantine has been started.

Amid the rising fears from the new COVID-19 strain in the UK, universities are continuing online lessons but many Indian students are not interested in fully online classes. Overseas education consultants said that students who had earlier opted for a UK degree are now either switching to other countries like the US, Singapore, and Australia or choosing to go back to India. Students who were originally supposed to join in September of 2020 had postponed their plans for February 2021 in the hope of being able to attend physical classes. Considering the new COVID-19 variant, the situation has drastically changed.

The Boston University Shanghai Internship Program is canceled for the Spring semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those accepted into the program were a group of international students living in China. According to a university official, the pandemic has made the program’s planning more complex. The department was unable to decide until early in the new year and students were notified of the cancellation on January 7. With this, many international students were disappointed with the cancellation of the program, without any remedy or backup plan, as it became an unexpected disruption that will affect their graduation.

According to a new Cabinet decision, foreign students in the UAE can sponsor their families provided that they have sufficient income to support the move. Many universities perceive that the decision will give a boost to student enrollment in UAE institutions. Opening Dubai to families of expat university students will play a big role in student enrollments. The move is set to help foster psychological well-being as having their family’s support is critical at the early stages of their overseas studies. UAE universities are currently conducting online classes as a COVID-19 precautionary measure and are expected to start in-person classes by the Spring semester.

Australian Education Minister Alan Tudge has proposed a digital vaccine certification system to make the return of international students to the country easier. Under the proposal, incoming passengers to Australia who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 would not have to quarantine for 14 days. The certificates are viewed as a possible pathway for international students to enter Australia in large numbers. If a vaccine works and stops the spread, then the country can be assured of safety through vaccination certificates.

Located in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Parkland College has six campuses and one training center. It was established in 1973 as Parkland Regional College. The college got its present name in 2008. Currently, it has over 1,650 part-time students and around 600 full-time students. Programs at Parkland include diploma, certificate, apprenticeship, adult basic education, and university transfer. Students can study agriculture, kinesiology, police studies, and more. Parkland is also the only college in Saskatchewan to offer a full-time firefighting program. Parkland College is recognized as a Designated Learning Institution (DLI) that allows students from India, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam to apply for the Student Direct Stream (SDS).