Macro-Environmental Mapping of International Branch Campus Activities of Universities Worldwide by Anna Kosmützky and Georg Krücken

The paper provides an initial international comparative empirical assessment of international branch campuses (IBCs) worldwide. Building on neo-institutional theory and organizational ecology, it sheds light on the new organizational form by analyzing their founding age of the home university and IBC mortality. Furthermore the paper analyzes the organizational form of home institutions that establish such an international branch abroad, in terms of size, age, ranking positions and range of disciplines, and peeks into an educational hub with a high density of international branch campuses. The analysis shows that all forms of universities maintain branch campuses, none is more likely to establish a branch, but the age of the universities that establish a branch campus increases the likelihood of the survival of the branch in times of increased competitive pressures. Additionally, the analysis reveals that educational hubs are very narrow competitive environments of program offers for a diversity of home institutions. These results point to the conclusion that home institutions adopt the strategy of establishing an international branch campus even when the environment is highly competitive and the strategy appears unlikely to succeed.