The very different approaches Australian universities are presently pursuing to establish overseas branch campuses have been on my mind for some weeks.
Speaking at this year’s Australian International Education Conference, the Minister of Education praised Australia’s long history of offshore delivery and said, specifically in relation to the opportunities Australian universities were pursuing in India and Indonesia, that they were “two economic super-powers in the making, both making a big push in education. And they are asking for our help in educating their young people. I am keen for us to be a part of that.”
As I have noted previously, the ‘for-profit’ model available to universities such as Deakin University and the University of Wollongong in India’s GIFT City (the Gujarat Free Trade Zone) contrasts sharply with the ‘Yayasan’ non-profit model, which must be used in Indonesia – where Monash University was the first overseas university to establish a branch campus, with Western Sydney University soon to follow and Central Queensland University also looking to do the same.
In her 2015 PhD dissertation, Megan Clifford found that establishing an international branch campus “is not an entirely rational process… typically the result of several chance events and influenced by non-rational factors such as idiosyncratic leadership preferences” and that it is important for universities to “consider the unique social, cultural, political, economic, and academic factors relevant to each country.”
Deakin and Wollongong universities have decades of experience in offshore delivery and will be well placed to manage the “dangers” of establishing their campuses in Gujarat (as explained to me by a very senior education official recently who also expressed concerns about the very high risks he saw for institutions in GIFT City).
Likewise, Monash University brings substantial overseas experience to managing the specific challenges of establishing their Indonesian branch campus through a Yayasan, which they are not able to control and which, as a non-profit, is unable to repatriate funds to Australia.
The University of Limerick’s Nigel Healy argues that successful international branch campuses can be characterised by:
- an honest and critical business case
- a long-term commitment to the offshore campus
- broad-based stakeholder support, and
- an alignment with the university’s core objectives.
It is the third of these points that I think could be most important to the success of Western Sydney University, CQU and others looking at Indonesian branch campuses.
As the Minister explained, of course, Australia “should be a part of” helping Indonesia educate its young people – but with no revenues from the Indonesian branch campus able to be repatriated back to the parent Australian university – will there still be stakeholder support for these endeavours if funding remains tight for domestic university students in Australia?
And if there is government and stakeholder support for Australia doing what I think it should (ie operating non-profit offshore campuses to help our neighbours), when can we expect to see greater involvement by Australian universities in the Pacific?
Claire Field is a consultant and podcast host. She recently spoke with Marnie Watson, from Acumen, on the challenges and opportunities of transnational education.
