Higher education institutions worldwide started to feel the rippling effects of the funding shifts and restrictions introduced by the U.S. government under the Trump administration (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, February 2025, March 2025).

A growing number of US-funded researchers in Australia, the European Union and the United Kingdom have been required to declare their institutions’ connections with China. Several universities and university associations in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Finland informed that some of their staff or members received a questionnaire inquiring whether their US-funded projects are connected to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), climate and environmental justice, or what the survey refers to as ‘gender ideology’.

According to associations representing higher education institutions in these regions, such demands threatens academic freedom and undermine scientific progress. In Finland, for example, the University of Helsinki has been asked to exclude terms like climate change, equal society, inclusive society, and women in society from its Finnish-US Fulbright programme’s grant announcements. This sparked a debate that led to an open petition, calling on the leadership of Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences to take a public stand. According to Yle, nearly 900 scientists have signed the petition, urging the Council of Rectors of Finnish Universities (UNIFI), and the Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (Arene), to take action in defending academic freedom in Finland.

While the changes continue to largely affect the U.S. education and research landscape, several European universities, including those based in Belgium, France and the Netherlands, reported to have been looking into opportunities for welcoming U.S. academics directly affected by these policies.