Despite deep financial constraints, major US universities still work aggressively to build global capabilities and reach. Historically, most have done so by: 1) pursuing a series bilateral agreements with peer universities around the world; and/or 2) developing new branch campuses - particularly in the Middle East, South or East Asia. Although questions persist about the real value and sustainability of these primary methods (for example see this recent New York Times article) they will continue to offer important opportunities for universities' international programs.
A new strategy for globalization is emerging which focuses on building global networks of academic excellence. (For more background, see series of excellent posts at GlobalHigherEd and Changing Higher Education).
Recently, Columbia University announced the launch of several global research centers. You can read its media advisory here, but here is a brief excerpt.
While some U.S. universities have built new branch campuses and degree-granting schools abroad, Columbia is taking a different path. Columbia Global Centers will provide flexible regional hubs for a wide range of activities and resources intended to enhance the quality of research and learning at the University and around the world. The goal is to establish a network of regional centers in international capitals to collaboratively address complex global challenges by bringing together scholars, students, public officials, private enterprise, and innovators from a broad range of fields.
“When social challenges are global in their consequences, the intellectual firepower of the world’s great universities must be global in its reach,” said Kenneth Prewitt, vice president of Columbia Global Centers and Carnegie Professor of Public Affairs. “Columbia’s network of Global Centers will bring together some of the world's finest scholars to address some of the world’s most pressing problems.”
