State Dept. sends mixed messages on recruiting international students : NPR

U.S. State Department employees tasked with advising international students about opportunities to pursue higher-education in the United States can’t get clear answers from the federal government on how to discuss or promote their work or if they’re even allowed to do so.

The confusion at EducationUSA, a State Department program that works with students across 175 countries and territories, comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order on language around diversity in government programs, according to a State Department source who was not authorized to speak to the press. That directive has had a ripple effect across the federal government, particularly when it comes to how employees communicate.

Federal employees are being forced to police the words they use in external and internal messages. In this case, staffers at EducationUSA whose work is tied to studying or promoting diversity are affected.

For EducationUSA employees recruiting international students to come to U.S. schools, the recent lack of clarity about communication provides an important window into the chaos, confusion, and fear across the federal government and has left them hamstrung with little guidance in how to do their jobs.

The confusion could impact recruitment of foreign students who are currently receiving admission letters and weighing where to enroll, a population of pupils that contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy every year, according to public State Department and other nonprofit organizations’ statistics.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the conflicting guidance for EducationUSA staffers.

Attracting students from regionally diverse backgrounds 

It began in late January.

Just prior to Trump’s inauguration, staffers at EducationUSA were told to pause all external communications, the State Department source shared. It was a departure from previous periods where their communication has continued despite a transition between administrations.

That quickly created challenges for staffers at over 430 offices around the globe, who are constantly in touch with international students, answering a wide range of questions from practical ones about student visas or paying for a U.S.-based education to queries about how students might fit into an American classroom or live in an American city, according to EducationUSA’s public statements.

EducationUSA may not be well-known. But the group’s work helps support a significant driver of the U.S. economy. In 2024 alone, over 1.1 million international students studied in U.S. institutions of higher learning, according to data from EducationUSA’s annual Open Doors report. That infuses tens of billions of dollars into communities around the country, according to the same report.

They also do outreach with U.S. schools and student groups, whether that’s linking historically Black colleges up with women of color interested in science, technology, engineering and math, or getting international students from less-advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds into U.S. community colleges, shown in previous social media campaigns from EducationUSA.

‘America First’ guidance 

After a series of conflicting messages about what employees could post publicly about those programs, staffers were recently provided with a since-rescinded document titled “EducationUSA Messaging Guidance: “America First.”

Its stated purpose was to “emphasize that advisers shall serve all clients regardless of background.” In that document, employees were being told to use “neutral and plain language” in internal and promotional messaging, while avoiding terms like “diversity,” “women,” “minority,” or “underrepresented,” among others. The document was provided exclusively to NPR by the State Department employee, who requested anonymity to share internal documentation, fearing reprisal.

In a screenshot of a since-rescinded document, obtained by NPR, titled “EducationUSA Messaging Guidance: “America First,” employees were encouraged to avoid phrases in their external and internal communication that included “women,” “girls” and “underserved.”

Obtained by NPR

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Obtained by NPR

In internal communications with senior officials at the State Department, EducationUSA employees were urged to discuss how their programs “make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” including facilitating innovative national security research and increasing the competitiveness of American institutions, while avoiding providing any specific demographic information about the students EducationUSA has worked with, according to the same messaging guidance document.

The guidance provided similar suggestions for posting on social media and for public messaging. It’s unclear how a new social media strategy could affect outreach with students, recruitment efforts, or work with individual schools. But, as the State Department source pointed out, it could be a challenging time to recruit students from around the world to study in the United States, particularly those who belong to minority groups or identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community and might not feel protected under the current political and legal climate.

That initial guidance document was quickly rescinded, according to the source. Now, staffers are awaiting further guidance on communication, unsure of what is and isn’t allowed.

The impact of being at a loss for words 

EducationUSA isn’t the only government-run program that was told to scrub references to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts following President Trump’s executive orders, nor was it the only department issued guidance to avoid certain keywords.

Across the federal government, websites with references to diversity have been carefully edited or removed entirely. The impact of those changes has been felt far beyond federal human resources policies. At the National Security Agency, the removal of keywords like “bias” and “privilege” from internal documents has caused cascading problems, given they are terms often used by intelligence analysts and mathematicians, according to one former senior NSA official who spoke to current employees and requested anonymity to share sensitive, internal discussions.

At the National Science Foundation, scientists worry their research won’t be funded if their proposals include keywords about diversity or minorities, important components of demographic research, NPR previously reported.

Previous social media campaigns by EducationUSA often focus on the values of diversity. For example, in March of 2022, EducationUSA and the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe posted a video on YouTube about the “unique” opportunities at a women’s college, marking the end of Women’s History Month. EducationUSA Lesotho’s Facebook page shared a video about the “diversity of U.S. Higher Education Institutions,” including Spelman College, a historically Black all women’s college. Those posts haven’t yet been removed, but it’s unclear if similar campaigns will be approved in the future.

If recruitment numbers go down, it won’t just be classroom diversity that suffers.

According to data from the National Association of International Educators, or NAFSA, more than one million international students contributed over $40 billion dollars to the U.S. economy in the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

In the since rescinded internal messaging document, EducationUSA staffers were encouraged to emphasize the economic value of recruiting international students.

Have information you want to share about the ongoing changes at the State Department or across the federal government? Reach out to Jenna McLaughlin, who is available through encrypted communications on Signal at JennaMcLaughlin.54

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