The U.S. government's latest decision that will bar foreign students from staying in the country to attend U.S. colleges that operate entirely online, will be the latest in a series of moves that will result in a loss of global talent for the country, an academic said today.

The latest regulations released Monday by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement meant that international students who are pursuing degrees in the U.S. will have to leave the country or risk deportation if their universities switch to online-only courses this fall.

Wang Yan, associate research fellow at the National Institute of Educational Sciences, said the move, coupled with several other factors, not only spells trouble for America's efforts to attract international talent, but also the higher education industry overall that has already been squeezed by a debilitating pandemic.

"Actually if you look at the statistics data, the annual growth rate of international students last year has dropped to the lowest level over the past decade. Also enrollment of new international students in the U.S. fell by seven percent in 2017-2018, and declined 0.9 percent is 2018-2019," Wang told CGTN.

Wang added that the U.S. has recently issued a policy limiting the number of students and scholars from China, on top of temporarily freezing certain categories of work visas and the ban of travelers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

"All these will actually potentially lead to the loss of global talent. I think this would jeopardize America's ability to attract global talent," said Wang.

Wang said that the U.S. higher education system must also be compared to the policies of other countries such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"They (other OECD countries) are developing various policies and measures to tap into the global pool of talents, and to attract the international students in their countries."

"For example, enacting appropriate policies to build and attract research environments so that it could play a leading role in scientific innovation," she said, citing countries like Australia, Italy, Switzerland, and also Canada, Italy.

Asked if she saw the U.S. latest move as being potentially discriminatory, Wang said that while the policy in itself is not directed at any particular group, the majority of students in tertiary education in the U.S. are from Asia.

"This approach would have a chilling effect on willingness to study in the U.S., because the majority of the students are from Asia. Although it is not called a discriminatory policy, the end result is that Asian students will be excluded from studying in the U.S. because of this new policy," she said.

Wan also said having a diverse pool of students is actually critical to the U.S. higher education system. "They not only bring diverse experiences to coursework and research, more importantly, they are a vital source of tuition and vital to research."

The Trump administration's visa decision on international students will force universities to brace for bigger declines in enrollment for tight university budgets already pressured by COVID-19.

The number of international students in America totaled almost 1.1 million last year, an all-time high according to the Institute of International Education. However, the American Council on Education has estimated that international enrollment will drop 25 percent in the next academic year due to the pandemic.

The anticipated decline is expected to cost the American education sector 23 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. According to the Association of Foreign Student Affairs, international students in the U.S. contributed 41 billion dollars and supported nearly half a million jobs during the 2018-19 academic year.

Meanwhile, Wang said that online learning has so far not been proven to be an easy transition or alternative for many learning institutions.

"Almost all countries around the world are approaching remote learning, hybrid learning, offline and online learning, it is not an easy job at all: It involves infrastructure, revised curriculum, and also other support… including psycho-social support," she said, adding that the U.S., similar to other countries, will find it hard to realize and manage a fully-online system.