International Issues

NUMBER 51, SPRING 2008

Foreign-Backed Universities: A New Trend

Ute Lanzendorf
Ute Lanzendorf is researcher and manager at the International Center for Higher Education Research, University of Kassel, Germany. E-mail: ulanzend@incher.uni-kassel.de.

In the last decade, discussions about transnational universities concentrated on the branch campus model. In recent years, another type of transnational institutions has expanded rapidly: the foreign-backed university.

Beyond Branch Campuses
In contrast to a branch campus, a foreign-backed university is set up not by a foreign academic institution but rather by (wealthy) local individuals, local governments, or enterprises. The local founders provide or organize the basic financial endowment for a new university but also delegate academic development to one or several "academic mentor" or "patron" universities abroad. Thus, foreign-backed institutions are legally independent local universities that are academically affiliated with one or several universities in another country.

Mentor universities typically take care of the development of curricula and quality assurance measures, support the development of infrastructures, and assist in the training of lecturers. They often send their own teaching staff to the foreign institution and engage in fund-raising in their home country. Foreign-backed universities grant their own national degrees. In some cases, the degrees of mentor institutions are granted in addition to national ones. Mentor universities generally receive remuneration from the founders of the university. They normally do not benefit from the revenue generated from tuition fees.

Mentor universities may withdraw once the new institution is fully operational, although they as well as the governments of their countries are usually permanently represented on the boards of foreign-backed universities. The function of rector or president of foreign-backed universities is sometimes shared, at least during establishment of an institution, by a local person and a scholar from the backing country. Nevertheless, the ultimate responsibility for financial and operational decisions normally rests with the founders.

The Why and Wherefore of Affiliations
From a local perspective, foreign-backed institutions are not only expected to contribute to the expansion of study places, the reduction of study-abroad numbers, and the prevention of brain drain. Primarily, their founders intended to enrich the national higher education system by implementing foreign educational and organizational expertise and innovation. Often, the goal of introducing labor-market-oriented programs plays a major role. In some cases, foreign academic affiliation is seen as an opportunity to introduce research-based study programs.

Without foreign ownership, the founders of foreign-backed universities can determine and easily limit the degree of foreign influence on the academic development of their institutions. In comparison to branch campuses, foreign-backed provisions draw upon the expertise of well-developed institutions while at the same time maintaining local ownership and ensuring full adherence to national higher education legislation and quality-assurance regulations. Many countries with foreign-backed provisions explicitly do not allow the establishment of branch campuses (notably Egypt, Nigeria, and Indonesia). Only the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia host both types of transnational institutions.

From the perspective of foreign-patron institutions, the academic support of new institutions abroad constitutes a relatively weak form of involvement in transnational higher education. For them, it is an attractive way to strengthen their international presence with limited organizational and financial risks but with a rather large development potential.

Overview of Foreign-Backed Provisions
A recent report for the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (www.obhe.ac.uk, February 2008) identified 24 foreign-backed universities in different parts of the world. Among the countries setting up foreign-backed universities, those in the Arab world (especially Egypt, but also the Gulf states and the Middle East), eastern Europe, and central Asia stand out. In the Arab world, private capital or government resources aid the establishment of foreign-backed universities. In eastern Europe and central Asia, local university founders usually draw upon international development funds for basic institutional endowment. At present, Egypt has the most-diverse foreign-backed provisions in the world, with institutions backed by German, British, French, and Canadian universities. The US-backed Jacobs University in Germany illustrates that the foreign backing of newly set-up universities is not only of interest for developing higher education systems but also for mature systems under modernization. A further expansion of the foreign-backed university sector is under way: Pakistan, a country that has always been cautious to maintain tight control over foreign provisions, has recently requested several countries to back the establishment of new universities in the country.

The most significant home countries of mentor universities are Germany and the United States, followed by the United Kingdom. Interestingly, Australia, a leading provider of branch campuses, is not represented. The Swiss-German University in Indonesia is the only foreign-backed university that receives academic support from mentors located in more than one foreign country. Currently, the three by far largest foreign-backed universities (3,000 to 5,000 students) are the American University of Sharjah (first enrollments in 1997) in the United Arab Emirates, the US-backed Gulf University for Science and Technology (first enrollments in 2002) in Kuwait, and the German University in Cairo (first enrollments in 2003).

All types of universities represent mentor institutions of foreign-backed universities: from internationally renowned research-intensive universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Malaysia University of Science and Technology) or RWTH Aachen University (Oman-German University of Technology) to small, highly specialized institutions with a focus on teaching. Selection by founders is often based on the universities' specific teaching models. Some founders of academically affiliated universities select different foreign partners for each faculty, to ensure particular strength.

Generally, foreign-backed institutions receive accreditation or are licensed by the country where they are located. US-backed universities tend to strive for additional US accreditation. German-backed universities plan to have their programs accredited by German agencies; institutional accreditation does not exist in Germany.

With few exceptions, foreign-backed universities offer programs up to or at the master's level or plan to do so in the near future. The British University in Egypt and the Malaysia University of Science and Technology were designed as postgraduate universities. Several foreign-backed universities plan to offer (joint) PhD programs. Most institutions plan to engage in applied research and consultancy, which provide access to external funding.

Conclusion
Developing and running a foreign-backed university constitutes a complex challenge. It requires close cooperation between local founders and foreign academic mentors. An intensive dialogue is necessary for the integration of a foreign-modeled institution into a national higher education system. Two national quality approaches to the programs offered have to be respected. The expectations of stakeholders with respect to success factors of a foreign-backed institution need to be coordinated. Whereas the founders may tend to favor high enrollment as well as the involvement of industry, applied research, and consultancy, the academic patrons may rather be interested in high teaching standards and academic rather than entrepreneurial ownership of institutional development. If foreign-backed provision works well, however, it offers an opportunity for amalgamation and adaptation of different national types of teaching and higher education organization to engender truly "transnational" higher education.

[Online] Available: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/newsletter/Number51/p3_Lanzendorf.htm