Dive Brief:
- A professor and a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education have been working with colleagues in Kazakhstan to develop a graduate program in education with a Western-style design since Nazarbayev University opened there in 2010.
- The Daily Pennsylvanian reports Nazarbayev University represents a shift from the former national model of tightly controlling university curriculum from the Ministry of Education to one in which schools have more control — and therefore more freedom to innovate.
- While the team from the University of Pennsylvania works with leaders at Nazarbayev, a new program allows for doctoral students from the university in Kazakhstan to come to Penn for a semester of study.
Dive Insight:
Many universities in the United States have fostered an international presence in recent years. Qatar’s Education City alone hosts six U.S. universities, all of which benefit from a chance to develop a global brand as well as tap into new student populations. The Qatari ruling family spends $320 million per year to support the branch campuses.
Other international campuses include NYU’s locations in Florence and Abu Dhabi, Temple University’s campuses in Rome and Japan, and Rochester Institute of Technology’s campus in Dubai. More often, of course, U.S. universities recruit international students to come to their campuses here rather than meet them in their home countries.
