International Branch Campuses Bring Graduate Education to the World

At the invitation of the Qatar Foundation, a non-governmental organization with the mission to turn Qatar into a knowledge-based economy by 2030, Texas A&M University brought a portion of our engineering school to Doha, its capital, to educate future engineers. A major component of that educational experience is responsive research: direct and applicable research that answers the pressing issues that affect Qatar and the region, as well as global grand challenges that will enable broad positive global changes.

Graduate education drives research within a university. One way to reach more potential students is to expand the main campus to accommodate more students. This expansion must include more classrooms in which to teach them, more labs in which to train them and more money with which to fund their studies. While those actions would definitely attract more applicants, there are many potential applicants who cannot leave their part of the world to fulfill their postgraduate goals.

When a university invests in an international branch campus (IBC), it is providing its unique educational experience to a group of students who would otherwise be unrepresented in the research communities. This inherent diversity of students brings a breadth of varied experiences which, combined with fundamental academic rigor, creates an environment that generates new knowledge and advances the application of established research.

In addition to enriching the experience of the graduate student at the branch campus, collaboration between the main campus, graduate students and faculty at the branch campus also broadens the educational experience of those on the main campus. Through programs such as study abroad or yearlong graduate research assistantships, students enrolled at the main campus have a second home at the IBC and gain valuable international and hands-on research experience that help solve issues important to the region. Students enrolled at the IBC likewise can visit the main campus to work or study with fellow graduate students there, bringing their unique perspectives. This international collaboration carries forward as the graduate students receive their graduate degrees and enter industry or academia.

Another value proposition of an IBC is the role of the local industry. Geographic proximity to industry is a critical component of a graduate program to ensure a rich educational experience. Industry and academic experts collaborate to solve practical challenges and produce new ideas toward meaningful regional research issues. The results of these new ideas can be applied throughout the world, which can also contribute to the preeminence of the main campus and the IBC. Graduate students participating in these research activities are better equipped to address the grand challenges of the future and, as a result, will be more marketable to potential employers.

A greater diversity of students, more international collaboration and regionally important research involving local industry all allow for a richer graduate educational experience to the benefit of both campuses.