<p>From the New York Times, yesterday: The shape of things to come in higher education. The following is an exerpt. You can read the entire article at the web site below.</p>
<p>"The American system of higher education, long the envy of the world, is becoming an important export as more universities take their programs overseas.
In a kind of educational gold rush, American universities are competing to set up outposts in countries with limited higher education opportunities. American universities not to mention Australian and British ones, which also offer instruction in English, the lingua franca of academia are starting, or expanding, hundreds of programs and partnerships in booming markets like China, India and Singapore.
And many are now considering full-fledged foreign branch campuses, particularly in the oil-rich Middle East. Already, students in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar can attend an American university without the expense, culture shock or post-9/11 visa problems of traveling to America.
At Education City in Doha, Qatars capital, they can study medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, international affairs at Georgetown, computer science and business at Carnegie Mellon, fine arts at Virginia Commonwealth, engineering at Texas A&M, and soon, journalism at Northwestern.
In Dubai, another emirate, Michigan State University and Rochester Institute of Technology will offer classes this fall.
Where universities are heading now is toward becoming global universities, said Howard Rollins, the former director of international programs at Georgia Tech, which has degree programs in France, Singapore, Italy, South Africa and China, and plans for India. Well have more and more universities competing internationally for resources, faculty and the best students.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, internationalization has moved high on the agenda at most universities, to prepare students for a globalized world, and to help faculty members stay up-to-date in their disciplines.
Overseas programs can help American universities raise their profile, build international relationships, attract top research talent who, in turn, may attract grants and produce patents, and gain access to a new pool of tuition-paying students, just as the number of college-age Americans is about to decline.
Even public universities, whose primary mission is to educate in-state students, are trying to establish a global brand in an era of limited state financing.
Partly, it is about prestige. American universities have long worried about their ratings in U.S. News and World Report. These days, they are also mindful of the international rankings published in Britain, by the Times Higher Education Supplement, and in China, by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
The demand from overseas is huge. At the University of Washington, the administrator in charge of overseas programs said she received about a proposal a week. Its almost like spam, said the official, Susan Jeffords, whose position as vice provost for global affairs was created just two years ago.
Traditionally, top universities built their international presence through study-abroad sites, research partnerships, faculty exchanges and joint degree programs offered with foreign universities. Yale has dozens of research collaborations with Chinese universities. Overseas branches, with the same requirements and degrees as the home campuses, are a newer and riskier phenomenon.
I still think the downside is lower than the upside is high, said Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania. The risk is that we couldnt deliver the same quality education that we do here, and that it would mean diluting our faculty strength at home.
While universities with overseas branches insist that the education equals what is offered in the United States, much of the faculty is hired locally, on a short-term basis. And certainly overseas branches raise fundamental questions:
Will the programs reflect American values and culture, or the host countrys? Will American taxpayers end up footing part of the bill for overseas students? What happens if relations between the United States and the host country deteriorate? And will foreign branches that spread American know-how hurt American competitiveness?
A lot of these educators are trying to present themselves as benevolent and altruistic, when in reality, their programs are aimed at making money, said Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who has criticized the rush overseas.
David J. Skorton, the president of Cornell, on the other hand, said the global drive benefited the United States. Higher education is the most important diplomatic asset we have, he said. I believe these programs can actually reduce friction between countries and cultures.</p>