ABSTRACT
As the worldwide demand for higher education continues to grow, developing nations are keen on upgrading their country’s ability to compete in the new knowledge economy. In many nations, domestic institutions of higher education cannot provide enough seats (Wende 2003) and increasingly use “transnational” or “cross-border” higher education as a means of satisfying the otherwise unmet demand. While some institutions are experimenting with such arrangements as twinning or “bookend” programs, in which a student completes a portion of the curriculum at a home country institution and a portion at the partner institution abroad, others are going a step further and opening full masters or undergraduate programs abroad. Students attending such campuses located in a host country (such as Singapore) may never set foot on the soil of the source country (such as the United States). International branch campuses typically target nationals of the host country, and in some cases, international students from the larger world region. Decisions to expand overseas oen involve working with some kind of partner in the host country, such as a private investment group or government-related entity. e degree of institutional investment in international branch campuses varies depending on the scope of vision and what resources the partner and home institution bring to the table. Indeed, the partnership relationship itself is a key factor in establishing and sustaining many, if not most, branch campus relationships. In many countries, such as India, an in-country partner is
required (Green, Kinser, & Eckel 2008; Neelakantan 2008) in order to oer higher education programs on the ground at all. In nearly every case, a strong partner can help the source country institution navigate the local bureaucracy, establish facilities, identify suppliers and sta, create relationships with companies, and recruit students. While the potential benets of partnership may seem obvious, the long-term needs and importance of identifying the right partner may at times be underestimated or oversimplied. In some ways, such international partnerships can resemble a marriage, in that the initial romance, optimism, desire, and focus on the “wedding” (in this case announcement and campus launch) can hinder a hard-line assessment of long-term risks and interests. Over time, however, the realities of continuing the partnership and managing the ongoing adjustments to changing circumstances can strain even strong partnerships. A former instructor who lived through several changes in partners for Temple University’s campus in Japan during its early years noted that each time a partnership failed and another partner took over it was like going through a divorce. Like divorce, a failed partnership can also be expensive to an institution’s pocketbook and even reputation. For example, the University of New South Wales closed its campus in Singapore just one semester aer opening, creating “huge egg on their faces as a provider in SouthEast Asia,” according to New South Wales Greens Party education spokesperson John Kaye (Alexander 2007). UNSW Asia, as the institution was called, expected to enroll 500 students the rst year and eventually reach an enrollment of 10,000 students as a research-based institution (Cohen 2007a). Despite signicant investment from the Singapore government, the institution was unable to break even, and reportedly agreed to repay Singapore as much as $22 million (Cohen 2007b). A short time earlier, Johns Hopkins University closed its biomedical research center in Singapore Center amid considerable controversy aer it was also not able to meet targets for faculty and doctoral students (Jaschik 2006). As these examples show, even with signicant partner support, such agreements can have nancial and non-nancial impacts if the arrangement does not go as planned. is chapter examines the critical role of partnership in opening and sustaining an international branch campus. e chapter reviews the Japanese branch campus partnership experiences from the 1980s and 1990s to establish a lens for considering branch campus partnerships in other areas of the world today. e chapter then focuses on contrasting arrangements for institutional partners in Qatar’s Education City and Dubai International Academic City, and concludes by considering the
implications for institutions considering such arrangements in the future.
