Wednesday, December 9, 2015

2015 End-of-Year Thoughts on Branch Campuses: The Macro View


I feel as if I should offer an end-of-the-year post, but I don’t see a lot of change in the past twelve months that would affect what I wrote last year.  (See http://branchcampus.blogspot.com/2014/11/a-few-end-of-year-thoughts-on-branch.html  and http://branchcampus.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-few-more-end-of-year-thoughts-about.html)

I do have a couple of suggestions for people interested in branch campuses.  First, in the past I wrote about immersing yourself in data.  It is only by digging into the information available to you that you can confidently identify trends.  It is equally important to take a “macro” view of things that are happening broadly, so that you can see the bigger picture beyond your own situation.

If you are looking for that macro perspective, you might consider using Google Alerts.  I have an alert for “branch campus,” and nearly every afternoon I get an email with one or more hits from the Internet that mention a branch campus.  Most of the alerts are of little or no significance to me, but some fill in information that I wouldn’t have received from the daily electronic newsletters that I receive.

Sometimes I see a newspaper story about a branch campus served by a member of NABCA.  That’s always entertaining, and if a friend is mentioned, I may shoot off an email of congratulations.  In other cases I may learn about plans, or at least ambitions, for a new branch campus, or perhaps I read about plans to expand programs on an existing campus.  Google Alerts doesn’t pick up everything, because my own posts show up sometimes, but not consistently.

Scanning the environment on topics that interest me, including branch campuses, has always been an important tool.  It’s a great way to discover ideas, for one thing, and it keeps me from being too focused on more narrow local concerns.  Newsletters, personal contacts, and Google Alerts all help with that.

Of course, scanning doesn’t replace the need for good research, but it does create impressions.  When I wrote recently about my concern that institutional leaders do not appreciate the full strategic potential of their branch campuses, that view came from my own experience, reinforced by what I read and discuss with others.

Here’s something that my scanning suggests, at least to me:  Even though I am concerned about the mission of existing branches being undermined by both external competition and short-sighted internal decisions, I also see that there is a surprising number of new branches being established in the United States.  Many of these new branches seem to have a narrow, focused mission, but others look like more established campuses, intended to serve a region that needs better access to higher education.  Interesting, especially in a time when most of the conversation is about online education.

My second suggestion is that you attend NABCA next April (see www.nabca.net).  The opportunity to interact with others who work on branch campuses and to attend a wide range of presentations during the conference sessions is invaluable.  My major point is that branches often appear to exist in isolation from one another, and they do, in fact, come in a wide range of forms and missions.  Often I meet people who tell me that they feel very alone in their work.  Attending NABCA, combined with seeking out the research that is available, dwelling in the campus data that are available to you, and continually scanning the environment can go a long ways toward appreciating that your own branch campus is surely part of something bigger.

My third suggestion is more personal:  If you haven’t seen or read my book, Out on a Limb:  A Branch Campus life, please check it out.  It’s available on Amazon, in both electronic and print form.  Feedback has been very positive, and you might find it to be helpful.  You might even want to buy several copies to share with co-workers.  Again, just a suggestion.

Happy holidays!

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The International Branch Campus Trend


Perhaps you’ve seen articles about universities establishing branch campuses in other countries.  Check out this piece, which is the most informative I’ve seen on the subject: http://theconversation.com/universities-that-set-up-branch-campuses-in-other-countries-are-not-colonisers-46289.  It was written by Nigel Healey, at Nottingham Trent University.

Follow the links embedded in the article, and I think you’ll have a good overview of the trend.  Note that quite a few international branches have failed and, if you are associated with what I’ll call “domestic” branch campuses, you’ll also see that there are extra challenges that come with working internationally.

The article mentions that universities in the United States currently have 50 international branches and United Kingdom universities have 27.  Other countries have smaller numbers, yielding a total of well over 200, in all.  Of course, these numbers are probably a tenth of the number of domestic branches in the United States, alone, so the true impact of international branches is likely to be modest, at least in terms of numbers served or net revenue generated.  I suspect the fact that a number of “elite” institutions have gone the international route has done more to draw attention than anything else.

My own experience with international branch campuses is quite modest.  I’ve visited branches in Russia, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Canada, but all of these campuses were domestic, in the sense that the main campus was in the same country.  Still, the experiences were informative.

Ohio University, like most institutions has many international relationships and has offered programs in other countries, but we’ve not had anything I’d call an actual branch campus.  We did have a center in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, based at Hong Kong Baptist University, and that center reported up to me in my years as vice president.  We employed a small on-site staff and local faculty to teach traditional face-to-face classes.  We sent Ohio faculty to teach intensive courses in the summers and during the winter intersession we had at the time.  Hong Kong students also had access to online or correspondence courses.

I loved the Hong Kong center, and we learned a lot through the work we did there.  The center occasionally helped with other relationships in the region, but it was never highly profitable.  Eventually, the center closed, partly because of the emergence of online programs, but mostly because local universities expanded the opportunities they could provide in a way that cut into our enrollment.  I suspect other institutions may find a limited timespan for international branches, as well.  That doesn’t make them a bad idea, but it does suggest being careful about investment in facilities or in permanent local faculty.

Personally, I’m skeptical that international branches will bring the sort of enrollment and financial contributions that domestic branches often achieve, but there may well be other reasons to proceed, even if the branch is likely to survive only for a relatively brief time.  In any case, although the international story is interesting, I wish domestic branches and their good work were receiving as much attention as the international trend.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Branch Campus Quality: Tell Your Story


Years ago, when I was associate dean of the Mansfield Campus of Ohio State, I was talking with a department chair on the main campus who had been especially resistant to allowing one of our tenure track faculty members teach a course for which he appeared to be well qualified.  The chair said, “We have to be sure that the quality of a regional campus course is equivalent to that on the main campus.”

I jumped on his use of the word “equivalent.”  “You mean,” I said, “We should make sure we have 300 or more students in introductory sections and make sure that we have TA’s teaching most of the lower division courses, rather than using full-time faculty?”  The chair was surprised by my directness, but I was tired of the nonsense.  It took some more work, but eventually the faculty member was cleared to teach the course.

At about the same time, a local business leader and main campus alum challenged me on that same issue of quality.  My response was, “The only time we differ from the main campus is when we can do better.”  I repeated the point about class size and described our hiring standards for full-time faculty, as well as our practice of following main campus department requirements for hiring adjuncts.

My point is that branch campus faculty and staff members know that we often engage with students in ways that yield a stronger educational experience than many students have at the main campus.  No, we probably don’t have a climbing wall in a fancy student fitness center, but our students aren’t looking for a climbing wall.  We don’t get a lot of recognition, and the mythologies of higher education will never give us (or our students!) the credit we deserve. 

To be sure, regional and branch campuses differ enormously in their practices and just how closely they work with main campus departments on faculty qualifications.  Sometimes branches emulate the main campus when it makes no sense for the branch mission, and I’m sure that some branches have compromised quality at times in order to get things done.  But branch campuses deserve positive recognition, when positive goals have been attained.

Institutional politics are real, of course, so one shouldn’t react to every insensitive or uninformed comment that comes along.  Nevertheless, I encourage faculty and staff members to speak up in order to tell a positive story that documents an important mission achieved.  Tell your story!

To that end, here is a very positive, polished video from the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit institution with branch campuses.  I should note that I have no experience with this university, so I am simply sharing an impressive message that tells a nice four-minute story about the value of branch campuses:  https://www.youtube.com/embed/M8NZic0lDss?ps=docs&controls=1.
 

Thursday, April 30, 2015

The 2015 National Association of Branch Campus Administrators Conference


The 18th annual conference of the National Association of Branch Campus Administrators (NABCA) was held in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois, on April 15-18.  As perhaps the longest serving member who still attends, I thought it was the best conference yet.  The founders of NABCA should be proud of what they started, and as I told attendees, what NABCA has become is very much what the founders intended.  (I was not a founder, by the way.  I began attending the conference, then known as the Western Association, about five years after the launch.)

This year, especially, I thought there was a spirit and collegiality that was remarkable.   Presentations were excellent, and the organization of the event was spot on.  Everyone involved in planning and executing the conference deserves praise, and I offer special congratulations to joyce gillie gossum (executive director), James McCaslin (president), Allison Fitzpatrick (conference chair), and Joseph Rives (site host).

There were two keynote speakers.  Mary Landon Darden, author of Beyond 2020:  Envisioning the Future of Universities in America, spoke on Thursday offering her thoughts on how branch campuses can thrive in changing times.  I was honored to be the Friday keynote, speaking on the mission and significance of branch campuses. 

If you are not a member of NABCA, I encourage you to visit the web site: www.nabca.net.  NABCA leaders have worked hard to create significant value to membership, even beyond the annual conference.

Please consider becoming a member, and I hope you also consider attending next year’s conference, which will be hosted by Wilmington University, in Wilmington, DE, April 13-16.  If you work on or with branch campuses, I promise you will enjoy and appreciate an opportunity to spend time with people who do what you do!

Update:  I am pleased that you found your way to this blog post, and I hope you check out other posts I’ve made over the years.  In addition, if you find the blog helpful, please take a look at my recently published book, Out on a Limb:  A Branch Campus Life.  The book is available on Amazon, in both print and Kindle versions.  You can find it at http://www.amazon.com/Out-Limb-Branch-Campus-Life/dp/0991498208/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418858536&sr=1-11&keywords=out+on+a+limb.