Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) recently welcomed to Makati City a team of students from Harvard Business School (HBS) to Makati for a week-long collaboration under the prestigious FIELD Global Capstone program, a semester-long course that requires students to build on what they’ve learned so far and apply it to real-world business problems.

HBS is part of the Ivy League institution Harvard University, which is under pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump had defended his administration’s move to block foreign students at Harvard after a judge suspended the action, which the top university branded unlawful.

“Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31 percent of their students are from foreign lands, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay nothing toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

“We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard billions of dollars, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign nationals.

She had threatened last month to block international students at the school unless it turned over records on visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities.”

But a judge quickly suspended the move after the university sued to “stop the government’s arbitrary, capricious, unlawful, and unconstitutional action.”

The White House is cracking down on US universities on several fronts, justified as a reaction to what the administration says is uncontrolled anti-Semitism and a need to reverse diversity programs aimed at addressing historical oppression of minorities.

Network hosts 900 students

As one of only 156 project partners selected worldwide, ALI joined a global network spanning 14 cities and countries, collectively hosting over 900 HBS students, alongside Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the banking arm of the Ayala Group.