New Delhi: Recent changes to US visa rules and tighter regulations around internships and post-study employment are creating uncertainty for international students, Stephen D. Mull, vice provost for global affairs at the University of Virginia (UVA), told ThePrint. However, he said the changes had not reduced demand for undergraduate study at the university, where applications rose 25 percent this year.
The US has tightened visa scrutiny for international students, including expanded online-presence checks for F-1 applicants and stricter requirements for visa interviews and vetting.
Mull, who was on a two-day visit to Delhi, told ThePrint on Tuesday that UVA had been “very efficient” in providing documentation to newly admitted students and guiding them through the visa application process.
Asked if tighter visa rules were pushing students towards other destinations, Mull said the challenge was being felt across the US as visa requirements and scrutiny increased.
“Once students get visas and show up in the US, regulations governing things such as internships and postgraduate employment are unquestionably making it more challenging. It’s creating a greater air of uncertainty, which I think discourages not only Indian students but other international students,” he said.
Mull said the rise in undergraduate applications offered some confidence, but added that he was “very concerned” about graduate and professional students, for whom he described the picture as “much more mixed”.
UVA plans India office to expand academic ties
UVA is looking to establish a representative office in India as a first step towards expanding its engagement with the country’s higher education system, including student exchanges, faculty collaborations and research partnerships, Mull said.
The office would help the university understand opportunities on the ground, provide information to prospective students and create a platform for UVA faculty to develop research partnerships with Indian institutions, he said.
However, UVA is not currently planning a physical campus in India. “We’re a public university. We don’t really have the resources yet to establish a campus,” Mull said, adding that he was “not ruling it out either.”
UVA currently has partnerships with the Indian School of Business and O.P. Jindal Global University, including an exchange programme with Jindal. Mull said the university wanted to expand its engagement across India’s higher education system, particularly in research.
UVA weighing risks and benefits of AI
On the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academia, Mull said there were growing calls for common rules governing its use both in classrooms and across the economy.
The US does not currently have a national policy governing AI, while debate over whether and how the technology should be regulated is intensifying, he said. Mull said AI regulation remained a major subject of debate in the US, with President Donald Trump opposing greater regulation while opposition lawmakers are pushing for tighter rules.
At UVA, meanwhile, AI is being treated as both a promising tool and a risk. “The university is teaching students about its ethical use while retaining its honour-system requirement that students submit their own work,” he said.
(Edited by Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam)
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