“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis” — DT, 30 Oct. 2025
“The Green New Scam would have killed America if President Trump had not been elected to implement his commonsense energy agenda – which is focused on utilizing the liquid gold under our feet to strengthen our grid stability and drive down costs for American families and businesses” — Taylor Rogers, White House spokeswoman, 31 Oct
“It’s not that I want [Chinese national students], but I view it as a business. [Draconian cuts to hiring international students could] destroy our entire university and college system.” — DT, 17 Nov. 2025
“The president being frank and open and honest to your faces [by cutting off Catherine Lucey by `Quiet, piggy!´], rather than hiding behind your backs, is, frankly, a lot more respectful than what you saw in the last administration.” — Karoline Leavitt, press secretary, 18 Nov 2025
“You’re mentioning someone [Jamal Khashoggi] that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But [Mohammed bin Salman] knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guests.” — DT, 19 Nov. 2025
“Do you think the French [students in the US] are better [wrt spying and stealing intellectual property], really?… I’m not so sure” — DT, 10 Nov. 2025
“The writer of the [New York Time] story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out,”— DT, 26 Nov. 2025
Archive for foreign students
and it is getting worse… [verbatim]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Travel with tags Agent Orange, America, autoritarian, baby Trump, Brazil, Chinese universities, cliffs, climate change, Cop30, Donald Trump, foreign students, French students, House of Representatives, humanism, intellectual property, Jamal Khashoggi, liberty of press, nationalism, Nobel Peace Prize, populism, quotes, Saudi Arabia, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New York Times, theocracy, unilateral nuclear disarmament, US elections 2024, US politics, xenophobia on December 11, 2025 by xi'an
Nature tidbits [25 Sept 2025]
Posted in Books, Kids, University life with tags Agent Orange, China, cover, foreign students, Hereford, heresy, medieval Europe, Nature, NMITE, NYT, student fees, Trump administration, UK universities, US universities on October 29, 2025 by xi'an
banKrUpt, franc’route
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags bankruptcy, Brexit, college ranking, Coventry, COVID-19, foreign students, French government, French politics, inflation, Labour, Le Monde, Nature, PhD course, Russian invasion, Scotland, Shanghai ranking, student fees, tuition fees, UK Government, UK politics, UK universities, Université Paris Dauphine, University of Coventry, University of Warwick on November 14, 2024 by xi'anRead in both Le Monde (Sept) and Nature (26 Sept) concerning articles about the poor financial state of many higher education institutions in the UK, if not the most prestigious ones… (Warwick being so far preserved from that issue, if not the neighbouring University of Coventry.) Up to 80% of French universities—prestigious and less prestigious alike—are also facing repeated deficits, for several years in a row, if mostly for different reasons besides the after-effects of COVID and the economical crisis amplified by the Russian invasion.
The main difference (between France and Britain—minus bonnie Scotland!) is in the UK government not providing direct support to higher education institutions, treating them as businesses that must make a profit on average to survive. To add insult to injury, the short-sighted Sunak Government has strongly reduced the number of foreign students (that they considered immigrants) when those are a key component of the universities business models since they pay much higher fees compared with the capped fees for UK nationals. Surprisingly (to me), the new Labour government does not intend to change either policy. The more surprising (to me) when the first institutions to fail will be (are?) those concentrating students from less privileged backgrounds. Quite paradoxical for a party with social ideals and socialist roots. Besides, repeated reductions of the attractivity of Britain for higher education may reach a no-return point in terms of its (World first-tier) scientific productivity.
France is financing its universities for 60% of their budget, while tuition fees in national universities (that do no include Paris Dauphine) are nominal for EU students (and special cases like PhD programs). Progressive cuts have led to tighter budgets, more deficit, with limited alternative sources of financing, since raising students fees is completely taboo. Added to academic positions being little attractive (for offering comparatively low salaries), this abides poorly for France keeping being part of top higher education countries. (It already figures very rarely in the country comparisons produced by Nature on an almost weekly basis.) The new higher education minister is known for pushing towards more “autonomy” (read less financing) of universities and the current State deficit may prove the tipping point for cutting further State support for public higher education institutions at large and fundamental research.
the suicidal consequences of the immigration law on research and higher education
Posted in Kids, Travel, University life with tags CNRS, CNRS Silver Medal, discrimination, foreign students, France Universités, French politics, French universities, immigration, Le Monde on December 23, 2023 by xi'an
frankly, I did not read your papers in detail, but…
Posted in Kids, Statistics, University life with tags foreign students, PhD s, PhD topic on October 17, 2014 by xi'anA very refreshing email from a PhD candidate from abroad:
“Franchement j’ai pas lu encore vos papiers en détails, mais j’apprécie vos axes de recherche et j’aimerai bien en faire autant avec votre collaboration, bien sûr. Actuellement, je suis à la recherche d’un sujet de thèse et c’est pour cela que je vous écris. Je suis prêt à négocier sur tout point et de tout coté.”
[Frankly I have not yet read your papers in detail , but I appreciate your research areas and I would love to do the same with your help , of course. Currently, I am looking for a thesis topic and this is why I write to you. I am willing to negotiate on any point and any side.]
