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4 Number 95: Fall 2018 INTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION

and exchange, or a call for a more responsible process of in- of all independent American universities abroad appear to
ternationalization in reaction to the current political climate be impostors, neither possessing nor actively pursuing US
and the increased commercialization of internationaliza- regional accreditation.
tion? Who could have forecasted that internationalization
would transform from what has been traditionally consid- A Quality Brand
ered a process based on values of cooperation, partnership, Much of the interest in American universities abroad, in
exchange, mutual benefits, and capacity building to one the Middle East and elsewhere, can be attributed to brand-
that is increasingly characterized by competition, commer- ing. A former president of the American University of Bei-
cialization, self-interest, and status building? rut once observed that the word “American” is to education
As we look backward and forward, it is thus important what “Swiss” is to watches. With limited legal protections
to ask, what are the core principles and values underpin- on the highly valued “American” name in many countries
ning internationalization of higher education that in 10 or undergoing privatization, entrepreneurs have found its
20 years from now will make us look back and be proud of use an increasingly attractive option. Some serial entrepre-
the track record and contribution that international higher neurs have even established multiple American universi-
education has made to the more interdependent world we ties abroad. Serhat Akpınar has created American-labeled
live in, the next generation of citizens, and the bottom bil- higher education institutions in Cyprus and Moldova. Alex
lion people living in poverty on our planet? Lahlou has done so in Algeria and Libya. Manmadhan Nair
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2018.95.10679

The median institution enrolls between

Battle of the Brand: Indepen- 1,000 and 2,000 students on a $20 mil-
lion operating budget.
dent “American” Universities

Abroad has taken the “American” brand to several Caribbean coun-
tries. While academics, clerics, and politicians have set up
Kyle A. Long American universities abroad, the more dubious operations
are associated with those from business backgrounds. The
Kyle A. Long is an independent researcher in New York City, US. E-mail: chairman of a Kuwaiti consulting company attempted to es-
longkylea@gmail.com. tablish an “American University” in Maribor (Slovenia), but
was forced to abandon the project when the town’s mayor
arlier this year, Iraq’s ministry of higher education an- was presented with criminal charges for selling the campus
Enounced the opening of a new university for the aca- land significantly under market value. A similar controver-
demic year 2018–2019. The American University of Iraq– sy is unfolding in Malta, where the prime minister rezoned
Baghdad will be the country’s third “American” university. a protected beach to persuade a Jordanian hotelier to launch
This latest undertaking exemplifies a trend that has gripped his American university project.
the region and reverberated around the world over the past When founders of these “American” universities abroad
quarter century: the establishment of higher education in- do get their campuses up and running, they too often fall
stitutions located outside the United States using the name short of the mark of educational quality the label is meant to
“American” and issuing degrees at the bachelor’s level or signal. Among the most egregious examples is the Ameri-
higher, entities referred to here as “American universities can University for Humanities in Tbilisi, Georgia, which
abroad.” There are now 80 such institutions in more than 55 was exposed as a degree mill during the mid-2000s. The
countries around the globe—from Nicaragua to Nigeria to episode led the US department of education to suspend and
Vietnam—with an estimated combined enrollment exceed- eventually revoke the authority of the American program-
ing 150,000 students. While some American universities matic accreditor that had validated it. It is more common,
abroad can trace their histories as far back as the American however, for bad faith American universities abroad to fly
Civil War, more than two-thirds have been established in under the radar. The “American” brand is strong enough in
the past three decades. Unfortunately, many of these new- many locales that it obviates the need to engage US accredi-
er enterprises offer only the name and not the content of tors at all. Students continue to enroll regardless of external
American higher education. Indeed, slightly more than half quality assurances. And when there are limited checks on

IHE #95 Sept. 11 2018 SK update.indd 4 9/11/18 8:22 AM