Universities across the country are experiencing the initial effects of the Trump administration. From budget cuts to changes in tax status and uncertainty for international students, these sweeping changes are affecting higher education like never before. But what do these actions mean for American universities in different countries? Phil Deans, the President of Richmond American University London, explains what this may mean for the future of the school and a message for the current Richmond students.
Funding
Phil states that the biggest concern for the school at the moment is the uncertainty towards federal support. As of a few months ago, there were no proposed changes to student funding. However, with recent attacks on higher education institutions with high proportions of international students, like Harvard and Columbia, these assurances are less certain.
They are even less certain for international American Universities abroad, like Richmond, which tend to accept high rates of international students but get much of their funding from the US. On the first day of his presidency, Trump issued Executive Order 14169, which halted all federal funding for the organisation USAID and its affiliated programs, including research and student funding for over 100 students at the American University in Cairo (AUC). So concerns are high at the American University in London, which is even smaller than its Egyptian counterpart.
Project 2025 and the DOE
There are new issues facing higher education from Project 2025, a conservative plan for American policy from the controversial think tank, The Heritage Foundation. Trump has repeatedly stated that he has not read, nor has anything to do with, Project 2025. But the first few months of policy action do appear to follow the document. He also recently placed several key architects of the project in charge of various features of the federal branch.
He officially ordered to dismantle the Department of Education on March 20th, which is in line with proposals in Project 2025. This would put key funding for international students like Title IV of the Higher Education Act in uncertain waters. Most students are familiar with Title IV through Federal Loans. It manages the student financial aid programs and assesses university eligibility. Title IV may eventually be transferred to the Treasury, but as of now, it is in limbo.
This ambiguity, Phil Deans says, is the biggest issue. They can’t adjust to what they don’t know.
What Deans does know is that the university will do everything in its power to support its students should federal funding get cut.
“We are ready for the worst. And the worst is the Department of Education saying no federal aid goes overseas. And then we will sit down and work with every student to work out their individual circumstances.”
Phil Deans, President of Richmond the American University in London
Deans says that the university has already begun talks with its partner institutions in Cairo, Paris, and Beirut to lobby in Congress, where the universities have some sympathy. They would also contact alternative funding providers and the Board of Trustees to see what they could do to help people through.
Deans stresses, “It will be a challenge for the university because we’re not awash with cash. We haven’t got Harvard amounts of money in our endowment and all the rest of it, but one of the things I love about Richmond is that we really do care about our students.”
With a total student body of around 1,300 students, the University is nowhere near the scale and influence of Harvard or Columbia. This could adeptly position it to avoid some scrutiny and the worst of the Trump attacks. But it could also make funding for the students more difficult as it lacks the calibre of resources available to larger universities.
Despite this, Deans emphasises that the school remains committed to supporting its students, especially those reliant on FAFSA and other loans.
“We wouldn’t want to see that segment of our student body left high and dry because of a whim.”
DEI
The next issue for the school is the potential for restrictions on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies (DEI, previously known as Affirmative Action) and monitoring of ‘ leftist ideologies’ present in the University. Deans says the school has had much more correspondence with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) since the Trump Administration came into office.
“Middle States is the body that looks at the quality of the university, the quality of their teaching, the state of our finances, and it effectively approves our license. So accreditation is very important.”
Indeed, for a university that recruits many of its students because of its dual accreditation in both the UK and the US, keeping in line with US regulations is a priority for the university. As expected, Deans says the biggest issues have been around DEI policies in application and admission processes, but it’s unclear how far the new policies will reach.
“It appears from the Trump administration, it covers everything.” Deans says, “The most controversial area has been with regard to admissions and whether admissions policies have been designed to improve opportunities for black, Asian, and other minority students in the US.”
It’s important to note that since the University is located in the United Kingdom, it follows UK law. And the UK outlawed practices of ‘positive discrimination’ more than a decade ago in the Equality Act of 2010. But the legislation does allow for “positive action to widen opportunities in a way that is consistent with equalities legislation”, which provides some room for what the US administration could consider DEI policies.
Marxist Professors?
The bigger issue, Deans says, is the ideas thrown around by those in the administration that universities are filled with ‘liberal-woke propaganda’ and ‘Marxist radical ideology’, perpetuated by professors.
Trump has repeatedly expressed that higher education is a place of radical left ideology that fuels anti-semitism. This is largely in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests and encampments on college campuses in the US that criticised the military involvement with Israel in the Gaza genocide. There have also been reports that these demonstrations have created hostile environments for Jewish students and faculty on campuses and increased anti-semitic discrimination from more radical groups.
Deans main concern is over the ‘liberal ideology’ that Trump says is present in the educators in higher education.He recognises that many within the educational atmosphere tend to be left-leaning, or at least further left than Trump.
“Does that mean we’re out there indoctrinating everybody? Probably not. And the rule book, what we’re trying to do, is teach people how to think. Right. We’re not trying to give people the answers.”
Deans reaffirms that this is the core of a liberal arts education. He maintains the importance of learning how to ask questions and find those answers, not of having the answers to begin with.
“You question the media, you question the government, you question everything that comes to you, and you say, ‘Is this true?’ And education gives you the tools to make those questions.”
Phil Deans on the value of a Liberal Arts Education
The actions by the Trump administration to restructure higher education and provide a “pro-American” view of its history are indicative of a certain type of mentality. Removing anti-American themes from the Smithsonian, partnering with PragerU to teach children, as opposed to PBS or other public media, and other more drastic cuts to Federal research funding. It looks like a removal of nuance and debate. The cornerstones of a meaningful education. To rewrite the history and take away any debate that arises from it.
As a Liberal Arts University, Richmond exists in direct opposition to this mentality.
Deans reaffirms, “Some might argue that there are people in politics who don’t like the questions, who don’t like being examined and questioned and challenged all the time because it gets in the way.”
So far, the extent to which the Administration will involve itself in curriculum and classrooms is unclear. And that is the hardest thing for the university to prepare for.
Ownership
Rising tensions with China over trade deals also present an issue for the university because of its connection with the China Education Group (CEG), which invested heavily in the University after its separation from its American founders in 2020.
The CEG is a Hong Kong-based private education group with over 1 million students in the country, spread over multiple cities. They are the largest education provider in the country. The CEO, Dr. Yu Kai, was educated in the UK, and Deans says the interest from the group was to invest in the University as an opportunity for correspondence between the two universities for mutual improvement.
“They helped us move into this building, they’ve provided money to help with marketing and recruitment, they’ve supported the new student record system that they’re developing at the moment, and they are interested in increasing their stake of the University, which is really important because a combination of COVID and Brexit and immigration policy has made it really hard for a small university to get by. So we’ve got a great relationship with them.”
Deans also says that he brought up the issue of censorship and educational control with the group, well aware of the potential implications of getting involved with a foreign company. He says they’ve never tried to interfere with the school’s academics or freedom, despite China’s reputation for state education initiatives.
Deans was awarded a PhD in Chinese politics, so he affirms that the first conversation he had with them was about academic freedom.
“I said, ‘Look, this relationship will never work if you try to interfere. It would be illegal, and you know, professors and students would be up in arms.’ They said, ‘No problem. You’re in charge of what happens in the UK. That’s your business. You teach what you teach, we teach what we teach, and we work things out that way.’ And they’ve been superb.”
Phil Deans on Richmond’s relationship with China Education Group.
He adds, “They’ve been much better than our previous strategic partners, who were always interfering, saying, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t do that, you must do this.’ They were a study abroad organisation, and they effectively tried to control another university.”
Deans is referring to the American Institute for Foreign Study, based in the US, which got Richmond into trouble in 2020 with Middle States because they interfered in the university’s academics and campus life. Since 2020, the CEG has helped Richmond with fundraising, recruitment, and marketing in an effort to expand the school to pre-COVID numbers.
Despite this, there is concern within the university that the Trump administration could take the funding from the CEG as a ‘soft-power move’ from the CCP and attempt to invalidate the university as an American institution. A distant concern, but a concern nonetheless.
a Message to students
So what is the message for the students at Richmond?
“Hang in there. I think that’s the message”, Deans says with a chuckle.
“We get it. I’m anxious. Everybody is concerned because we don’t know what’s happening, and we don’t know what’s coming next. And it’s unpredictable, it’s uncertain. That said, I’ve got a brilliant team around me at the top of the university, and we’re going to do everything we can to plan. You know, plan for the worst, hope for the best, and that’s what we’re doing.”
While no one knows what ‘the worst’ will look like, educators around the globe are certainly preparing for it. Universities like Richmond are standing with their students in the face of these sweeping changes and getting creative in their problem-solving. Richmond is no stranger to change and adversity. It comes with the territory as a small international university in the wake of a global pandemic, as any current Richmond student will tell you. But there are a good few lessons to be learned in this uncertainty.
As Deans adeptly puts it, “[Richmond] is really an extraordinary university, and that gives it resilience, and it gives it strength. And we will keep fighting, and we will be here. It might get scary, but when you graduate and you leave, and you’re out there, it’s scary.”
The final message for Richmond students?
“We’re doing everything we can for you. We don’t have all the answers… But people try so hard here. There’s so much love and concern for the students. That’s why people stay. It’s a fantastic, if a little bit strange, place. But you always know a Richmond student.”
It’s in this moment that the university’s motto strikes a chord with special relevance.
“Unity in Diversity”
Richmond the American University in London motto