ABSTRACT
Ministers of education in developing economies around the globe are trying to make sense of the growth of university branch campuses. Should they be in the market, too? There are more than 150 operating and 50 more or so forecasted by the Observatory of Borderless Higher Education to open in 2013 and 2014. And there are legitimate and subjective pressures behind the trend. First, there are major supply-demand imbalances. Growing incomes are driving up demand for higher education, but often there are not enough local seats for those who want degrees. There is also peer pressure: Some regional neighbors and economic competitors have prestigious brand-name branch campuses and some have more than one. Local citizens seem to want them as an alternative to sending their children abroad a particular attraction if cultural norms limit mobility, for example, for girls. Economically, there is the possibility that a branch campus might be cheaper in the medium term than large-scale scholarships for international qualifications through programs like the King Abdullah grants in Saudi Arabia, which are a significant recurring cost. More importantly, branch campuses, if coupled with a significant investment in laboratories and related infrastructure, could underpin the growth of an innovation hub or science park, which could attract knowledge-based industrial development. On paper, branch campuses of established universities seem to policymakers to be a good investment, although the evidence is still being amassed.
