It wasn’t the first attempt to deter foreign students, but it could have been the most disruptive. The U.S. Immigration and…

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         It wasn’t the first attempt to deter foreign students, but it could have been the most disruptive. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency sought to bar visas for international students at colleges that offer only virtual instruction. Students on existing visas would have had to transfer to a school that offers at least some in-person teaching if they wanted to remain in the U.S.

     The policy swiftly brought together a broad coalition of colleges, states and businesses that opposed it. “The overwhelming negative reaction to this proposal in a very short period of time shows that the administration really struck a nerve with this,” says Terry Hartle, from the American Council on Education. “It’s unprecedented for that many colleges and universities to file suit against the federal government.”

(Bloomberg Businessweek, 20.07.2020. Adapted.)

The expressions from the first paragraph “could have been” and “would have had” help understand that, as to exclusively virtual instruction in U.S. universities and colleges,