U.S. Universities Rush to Set Up Outposts Abroad

Interesting article. I'm at Gonzaga University right now, and they're definitely riding this bandwagon. They've got a campus in Florence and they're working on ramping up another one in the UK and, if rumors hold true, one in Spain. At the moment it's all European, but that's mainly because they've been opening them near areas where there's a ready supply of Jesuits to teach. (GU's a Jesuit university.) I'll be interested to see where this trend goes in the next few years.

Interestingly, it doesn't seem just to be Universities that are reaching abroad in the academic/intellectual realm. A LOT of nations right now seem to be pushing international R&D collaboration. This is especially true for the Middle Eastern and East Asian countries.

Seed magazine has had a several really good articles in the past few issues about various countries looking to forge international research ties.

I've always wondered why we really haven't seen more franchising of U.S. schools among the higher-tiers (beyond ITT Tech, U of Phoenix, etc.). And what's the real reason we see NYU-Qatar but not NYU-Los Angeles?

For example, is it the risk of brand dilution? Local competition relative to int'l--it's relatively easy money out there? That many schools actually operate at a loss (excluding endowment) ex:[1]? Do you think that the lower costs of int'l education (labor, infrastructure) changes that dynamic, since it seems they are outsourcing everything except the name and "curriculum"? Does doing it internationally make it easier since most of the U.S. alumni won't drive by the franchises on the highway? The benefits of international R&D collaboration and the ready supply of customers as TheTarquin mentions? Just curious.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarthmore_College