Branch campuses - how they go wrong

An article in the New Republic on Crazy College of Qatar is a great example of how branch campus efforts go wrong. Whether the article is fair or not isn't the point; the point is that the way the "Crazy College of Qatar" (the nickname given to the Community College of Qatar by those in Qatar) so graphically demonstrates how not to pursue internationalization:

• Start with the sponsoring/donor institution (Houston Community College) primarily being motivated by economic gain and enhancing its own reputation.
• Couple it with a weak and quickly endorsed agreement.
• Add to that unrealistic expectations on the part of both the host and donor, and
• Extravagant spending that added little value to the initiative, and
• Top it all off with assigning academics with little awareness of their privilege and even lower motivation to learn and pursue a mutual journey.

These factors are a recipe for failure and Houston Community College called it quits earlier this year, walking away with only a consulting relationship with Community College of Qatar, little in revenue, and even less in relation to reputational benefit.

Innovation Partnerships in the new Enhancing Student Learning and Development in Cross-Border Higher Education (Roberts/Komives, 2016) offers recommendations on how to build positive and mutually beneficial partnerships for internationalization.