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First Thought

Insights drawn weekly from Karin Fischer’s global-education newsletter, latitude(s). Subscribe here.

The U.S. House is stepping on the gas when it comes to legislation aimed at bolstering American competitiveness in science and research. Lawmakers approved the America Competes Act on Friday, in a largely party-line vote.

Last week’s latitude(s) ran through what’s in the bill for international education, including research-disclosure requirements, area-studies reauthorization, and a U.S.-government alternative to Confucius Institutes. It’s also a shot in the arm for federal research spending, much of which could benefit U.S. universities.

But there are a couple of additional provisions that were added to the legislation in the amendment process that you’ll want to know about.

Read more from Karin in this week’s latitude(s).

The Reading List

• Some 100,000 international students might choose to stay in the U.S. if visa rules were eased, potentially cutting STEM talent shortages by a quarter, an immigration advocacy group estimates.
• A lifting of caps on how much time international students in Australia can work could hurt their studies, universities are warning.
• In a crackdown on dissent, Nicaragua’s authoritarian government has stripped several universities of their permission to operate.

Featured on Chronicle.com

“The next time GW is faced with censorship demands, it should first look to its free-speech commitments, not how it can suppress speech.”

—Sarah McLaughlin, director of targeted advocacy for FIRE, after posters that satirize the 2022 Olympic Games by calling attention to the Chinese government’s human-rights abuses sparked a free-speech firestorm at George Washington University.

Mark S. Wrighton, GW’s interim president, first called the posters personally offensive and vowed to identify those responsible for putting them up. Then, after accusations of censorship, Wrighton reversed course, saying the posters were protected speech. Read more in The Chronicle.