The administration of US President Donald Trump has abandoned its attempt to compel foreign students to leave the United States if they are to receive all of their classes online this fall, in a surprising retreat from a policy it announced last week.
Massachusetts District Court Judge Alison Burroughs said the US government, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who have filed lawsuits related to this measure, had reached a settlement that would halt the new rules and restore the former status.
Universities considered that the procedure was illegal and would adversely affect their academic institutions.
A series of lawsuits was filed, including one filed by a coalition of state governments, after the Harvard legal procedure, and major technology companies and dozens of colleges and universities filed notes before the court opposing those rules.
More than a million foreign students study in American colleges and universities, and many colleges depend on their revenues for those students who pay full fees often.