Three academics on the future of higher education and research in the U.S.: "We are all worried"

"We are all worried about the future of higher education and research in the U.S. We all know, including the current administration, that the best universities are incubators for research discoveries that fuel the U.S. economy, that research universities work with businesses to create new industries and anytime you compromise one, you compromise the entire ecosystem", says Caroline Levander, Professor and Vice President for Global Strategy at Rice University (U.S.), to News Tank on 17/06/2025.

She is reacting to the first months of Donald Trump's second administration, marked by budget cuts and frozen funding for research organisations like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), suspended grants for scientists, and elite universities being investigated for antisemitism or non-compliance with Title IX (gender discrimination law), leading to many universities loosing federal funding, grants and accreditation to welcome international students.

"The current policy of restricting research, preventing researchers from going into the field, blocking their data, etc., is destroying the…