Edinburgh – Scotland has become an increasingly popular destination for students from the United States in the wake President Donald Trump’s interventions in higher education. RFI spoke to Americans enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, where one in 10 students is now from the US.

Issued on: 09/11/2025 - 14:19

3 min Reading time

Universities have been among Trump’s favourite targets since his return to the White House. Between cutting funding for certain degrees, demonising individual institutions and arresting students from immigrant backgrounds on campus, the college dream has soured for many in the US.

With the administration making visas harder to secure, the number of international students arriving in the US fell by 19 percent compared to the last academic year, according to the *New York Times. *Americans, too, are increasingly looking elsewhere.

A record number applied this year to universities in the United Kingdom – which itself has been actively pursuing foreign students post-Brexit – according to figures from the UK’s higher education application body Ucas.

It received nearly 8,000 American undergraduate applications, marking a rise of almost 14 percent on the previous year.

Scotland is particularly popular, with three of its universities in the UK’s top 10 for the highest number of US students.

Scotland’s oldest university, St Andrews – long popular with Americans thanks to its starring role in the love story of Prince William and Kate Middleton – takes the top spot, with one in five students now coming from the US.

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‘It feels like a way of escaping’

Edinburgh University is second on the list, with the University of Glasgow in fifth place.

Gabby arrived at Edinburgh this year. “I’m doing a master’s degree in comparative public policy. My husband was accepted into the university first, and I wanted to do a master’s degree, so this was the easiest way to get a visa and join him,” she told RFI.

“But now that I’m here, it feels a bit like a way of escaping what’s happening at home: the defunding of university research, students being arrested just for voicing opposition... It’s concerning,” she added.

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John Rappa, from New Jersey, came to study in Edinburgh in 2019.

“I could have found an affordable university in the United States, but an institution as prestigious as Edinburgh would have been beyond my means. Including visa and tuition fees, studying here costs the same as a public university in my state... Why the hell would I not?”

While cost was his main motivation for choosing to study outside the US at that time, he notes that the change in political climate since then has only convinced him he made the right choice.

“My friends who stayed behind are seeing their course budgets cut. My brother is a PhD student in pharmacology, but the Trump administration has stopped funding his research, so he can’t graduate. The future looks bleak.”

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‘Quality of life’

In terms of his own future, Rappa also sees advantages to staying in Scotland.

“The quality of life is much better here, starting with social security for all. If I have children, I want them to have access to education, and that’s not the direction the United States is taking.”

Edinburgh University students have revived the defunct North American Society, thanks to growing demand. Freddie Pusch – a native Scot – is its treasurer. “It had ceased to exist since the pandemic, so we revived it.”

He jokes: “[The American] students are particularly noisy... No, they bring an enthusiasm that we locals don’t have. They remind us that we live in a great city.”

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This article was adapted from a report in French by Emeline Vin.