Professor Denis Simon of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School said running a campus in China has become increasingly difficult due to shifting bilateral ties, altered political climate, academic freedom concerns, and pandemic chaos.
Professor Denis Simon of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School said running a campus in China has become increasingly difficult due to shifting bilateral ties, altered political climate, academic freedom concerns, and pandemic chaos.
American campuses in China face a combination of logistical, geopolitical, and economic challenges, raising questions about the balance of risk and reward.
Professor Denis Simon of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School said running a campus in China has become increasingly difficult due to shifting bilateral ties, altered political climate, academic freedom concerns, and pandemic chaos. He noted that universities must make significant investments in their campuses to manage joint venture schools, “which are only going to get more complex.”
Kyle Long, founder and director of Global American Higher Education, a coalition of researchers studying American institutions abroad, noted the growing hostility in domestic political discourse toward internationalization and operations in China. He questioned whether college presidents have the will to fight these battles, when “internationalization often finds itself at the bottom of the list, if it’s on the list at all.”
In May 2006, Kean University in the US hosted future Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He signed an agreement with Dawood Farahi, then Kean’s president (retired 2020), to create the first public American institution with a Chinese branch campus.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has moved away from its once-promising exchanges with the West. In June, a law was passed to curb foreign influence, and the US warned citizens against visiting due to deteriorating diplomatic relations. Internal politics, espionage fears, censorship enforcement, and anti-Western rhetoric have all dimmed academic partnerships between the two countries.
Beijing’s zero-COVID policy, which required quarantine and limited mobility for American faculty, students, and administrators in the country, exacerbated pre-existing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese authorities’ harsh treatment of student protesters during demonstrations against lockdown policies sparked outrage among American students and faculty, raising ethical questions about dealing with Chinese campuses.
Johns Hopkins opened the first American branch campus in China since the Cultural Revolution in 1986. Since then, partnerships between American institutions and China have grown due to an increase in international student enrollment from China in the US, according to Kyle Long, founder and director of Global American Higher Education. The rise of branch campuses around the world has also helped fuel this growth.
China leads in American higher ed activity abroad, with 59 programs and institutions listed in the Global American Higher Education database — more than double the 12 in the United Arab Emirates, the next most active country.
Portland State University and Juilliard School opened campuses in China last year, undeterred by the challenges of doing business there. The former partnered with Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, while the latter set up a comprehensive branch campus in Tianjin.
American universities in China, especially for-profit ones, are expected to close down in the coming years, according to Long. However, he remains optimistic about American higher education’s long-term prospects if their presence is driven by objectives other than revenue: research collaboration, talent recruitment, and intellectual exchange.
