ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a brief background to K-12 education in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and looks at the transition to the modern formal system of schooling. Next, it discusses relevant education reforms against the backdrop of market-driven education and provides an overview of the internationalization of higher education in the two countries, which have become model higher education hubs, housing arrange of models of international branch campuses (IBCs). Beyond merely describing the current state of IBCs in the two countries, an examination of the nature of each country's IBCs is provided, highlighting key differences in terms of their stages of development, rationales, priorities, strategies, sponsors, and expectations. The chapter concludes with some criticisms leveled at the deployment, ways of operation, and effect of IBCs, especially in the context of Qatar, the UAE, and the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. The chapter concludes with a discussion of relevant local reactions to IBCs.
