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The Stern School of Business at New York University has just released its deadlines and essay topics for the 2010-2011 MBA admissions season. The deadlines are as follows: 1st Deadline: November 15, 2010 Notification: February 15, 2011 2nd Deadline: January 15, 2011 Notification: April 1, 2011 3rd Deadline: March 15, 2011 Notification: June 1, 2011 [...]

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Two recent NPR stories highlight the efforts American universities have made to expand their college and graduate programs overseas. This time, it’s not to Europe, or even to Asia, as has been popular in the past, but to the Middle East.

Top U.S. institutions, including Texas A&M, Northwestern University, Georgetown University, and Carnegie Mellon University, have established international outposts that enable international students to attend top programs without worrying about student visas or travel to the U.S. These programs offer American degrees in a non-American location.

Carnegie Mellon, for example, whose home-base is in Pittsburgh, PA, has 11 overseas campuses. (Only one of the 11 (the one located in Qatar) offers undergraduate degrees.)

The Qatar establishment, a complex called “Education City,” is a traditional, Qatari-styled building, with floor seating, a fountain, and lots of natural light. Carnegie Mellon shares this space with a number of other top universities that have expanded their institution abroad.

The diploma that students receive after completing their studies at Education City says “Carnegie Mellon University” on it (or whatever other school is attended on the multi-school campus). As CMU Qatar Dean Chuck Thorpe says, “We’re not like Carnegie Mellon, or inspired by Carnegie Mellon, we ARE Carnegie Mellon.”

Each school in Qatar’s Education City offers a different specialty. CMU’s is business; Cornell’s specialty is medicine; and Northwestern focuses on communications and journalism.

Branching out to faraway places has become a common practice among some of the best universities in America. In fact, the United Arab Emirates, “the latest magnet” in the Middle East, has attracted at least 40 “branch campuses” from schools around the world, many of them from the United States.

The Dubai Academic City in the UAE, not unlike Qatar’s Education City, hosts students from across the Middle East, as well as from Asia, for an American educational experience…no travel to the U.S. necessary.

Michigan State University is one of the more popular schools housed in the multi-school complex in Dubai Academic City.

Abu Dhabi, an emirate located next door to Dubai, is another educational oasis, this time located on a little green island in the middle of downtown. This campus is owned by New York University and is funded by the Abu Dhabi government. The campus, which will open this fall, will serve as one of NYU’s 15 international sites.

Much of the material studied in these off-shore universities is equivalent to that taught on the schools’ home universities. But that’s not to say that programs don’t take advantage of their surroundings by implementing region-specific studies.

For example, a second semester NYU Abu Dhabi course will compare universal gardens, Arab gardens, and Indian gardens. Students will travel to India for first-hand experience and, of course, study the Arabic conception of the garden by traveling around the UAE.

While I certainly see the advantages to the universities opening branches in different parts of the world, I see study in these US satellites as a watered-down version of international study for the Middle Eastern students who do NOT experience life outside their home cultures and countries. Admittedly many of the students at these branch universities are not from Qatar or the hosting country, but they usually are from neighboring countries and similar cultures. They are not stretching in the way that students who study abroad are forced to stretch. My year abroad in college was a marvelous experience, and friends who also did a year abroad also speak highly of the experience — not just the coursework. Although the majority of my classes were in English and in a program for foreign students, attending my host university in Los Angeles or anywhere in the United States would not have been nearly as educational.

For more information, see the NPR articles, “Middle East Woos U.S. Colleges” and “Life On An American Campus In The UAE,” and the Accepted.com blog post, “NYU Students Head East…to the Middle East.”

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American high school students are being recruited to attend New York University’s new campus in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, reports a Chronicle article, “NYU Populates a Liberal-Arts Outpost in the Middle East.”

High school seniors who are looking for an adventurous and unique liberal arts experience may consider attending NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus, the “first comprehensive liberal arts college in the Persian Gulf.” According to The Chronicle article NYU is taking a huge risk: “The institution is betting that it can create an academically elite, intellectually vibrant hub in a part of the world where political and social freedoms are limited and cultural opportunities are a work in progress.”

NYU has a lot of question to answer: Will the campus cater to the people in the region? Or will it exist as “an enclave separate and apart from the people who surround it?” Will NYUAD be able to provide the Emirati students with high level training in Arabic? Will there be enough Emirati students graduating from the program to make an impact on their community? Will the American and other international students struggle socially and culturally? How exactly will this “global network university” function?

Students considering the program have been invited to a 48-hour Abu Dhabi experience during which they’ll get a taste of what to expect—living-wise and learning-wise—if they choose to attend NYUAD.

The temporary campus lies near a busy mosque and high-rises. The Abu Dhabi government is responsible for building the permanent state-of-the-art campus on a nearby island that will also house branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre Museums.

The first class of 120 students will start this fall at the temporary campus.

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According to a Chronicle article last week, only 11% of study abroad students choose to study in an Asian county. (Most students choose Europe as their preferred destination.)

In the business and commerce world, Asia is a huge focus, but that attention is not reflected in undergraduate study abroad numbers.

Karen Fischer, author of the Chronicle article “Americans Shy Away From Study in Asia,” gives the following two explanation for the lack of undergraduate interest in Asia:

• It is far more common for undergrads to learn and then become proficient in a European language (or to just stick with English). Students are drawn to countries where they’ll be able to communicate. Therefore, for most American undergraduates, “Asia can seem exotic and a little bit scary.”
• More American university professors have built relationships with professors in Europe than in Asia; therefore, they’ll be more likely to steer students in the direction of their friends and colleagues.

As schools build stronger bonds with Asian countries, Fischer explains, we’ll likely see an upswing in Asian study abroad attendance. For example, Yale has strong roots in China; a quarter of Yale study or intern abroad students head to Asia. University of Buffalo’s China program is also extremely popular.

Also, studying abroad in Asian countries is increasingly popular among students of Asian descent. At UC San Diego. Almost every one of the Asian study abroad students have Asian backgrounds; in NYU these students make up about half of the China program.

Students who plan to enter business-related fields, particularly fields like global finance or international business, are more likely to be attracted to studying Asian languages and studying or interning abroad in Asia. Top US business schools seem to be making a more concerted effort to expand their classrooms over to Asia, and elsewhere.

P.S. While the Asia study abroad numbers are low, they are still now more than 200% more than they were five years ago, and continue to grow.

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