Donald Trump and maga Republicans causing a brain drain of students who are academic refugees in Europe

Politico: The first American ‘scientific refugees’ arrive in France: Aix-Marseille University is wooing researchers who feel targeted by the Trump administration.

From afar, American students in France feel the shockwaves of Trump By Audrey Parmentier Published in Le Monde.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/campus/article/2026/03/24/from-afar-american-students-in-france-feel-the-shockwaves-of-trump_6751786_11.html

While academic freedom declines in the US, some young people are choosing France to pursue master's and doctoral degrees. 

Yet, between delayed scholarships, intrusive questions and stereotypes, their experience remains shaken by the latest developments in their country.

Sitting on the banks of the Saône, phone in hand, Luke, age 20, scrolled through the nonstop flow of news. At the University of Oregon, where he is studying for a degree in history and political science, some of his classmates had been arrested. "They were protesting against Donald Trump's immigration policy. I wish I could have been with them." He himself had demonstrated, in 2025, against the war in Gaza.

Since January, the Boston native – who did not give his last name, like all people cited by their first name in this article – has been taking part in an exchange program at Sciences Po Lyon. From afar, he has watched his country tip into turmoil: aggressive raids by immigration police, calls to boycott the media, military strikes in Iran. "I am worried about the new war in the Middle East, it wasn't necessary," he said quietly. These events have only strengthened his desire to one day enter politics in the United States. Until he returns, scheduled for June, he does not miss a single article on the cultural heritage of the European Union in The New York Times, reading between classes.

In 2024-2025, France welcomed 6,381 American students, according to Campus France (the French government agency promoting higher education abroad), representing a 5% drop compared to 2022. Meanwhile, their presence elsewhere in Europe increased by 6.2% over the same period. "Since 2020, the number of Americans at our university has clearly decreased, and French is being taught less and less in American universities," lamented Lucie De Carvalho, coordinator of the International Student Exchange Program (ISEP) in Lille, France.