The Case of UNLV Singapore: Lessons Learned from an International Branch Campus Closure

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday VI)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Planning, legitimacy, and sustainability in international branch campuses

Proposal

From its inception in 2006, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Singapore - an institution that offered undergraduate and graduate degrees in hospitality management and executive education for nearly ten years - suffered from low visibility, student enrollment issues, financial difficulties, and an unstable series of institutional partnerships. This paper fills a unique gap in our understanding of IBC’s by drawing upon the experiences of key individuals at UNLV Singapore. Qualitative data include 32 survey responses and 11 semi-structured interviews with students, the reflections of faculty and administrative staff, and the author’s insider perspective as a former administrator on the campus.

The findings highlight the fact that, since IBC’s do not receive continuous state funding, they must develop an operating model that acknowledges financial realities and is justifiable to multiple constituencies. The successful components of this model include a clear campus rationale for stakeholder buy-in, an attractive value proposition for the host country, and a realistic sense of the IBC’s value proposition regarding student recruitment and revenue.

Component No. 1 – Be clear about the campus rationale.
Common IBC justifications - like revenue generation, internationalization expansion, and market cultivation - are usually expected to have a much faster turnaround than reality allows. This situation causes fatigued faculty and staff to question, “Why are we opening this campus?” “What is our purpose?” Leaders must be clear on the short and long term gains, particularly when cultivating buy-in from constituents.

Component No. 2 – Be objective on the value proposition to the host country
Leaders should perform their due diligence and review the motivation(s) behind foreign campus invitation. Foreign policy, trade policy, and human development are all critical influences in assessing the host country’s motivations for an IBC. Leaders should also look beyond the initial grace period to examine the host country’s higher education strategic design and trade relations. Sometimes, contracts will determine longevity for an institution, being quite clear on value and a positivity yield after five years. Without such a long-term perspective, the IBC is unlikely to survive economic or political changes in the host country.

Component No. 3 – Be realistic about student recruitment and revenue
It is easy for institutions to be swayed by red carpet rollouts, greenfield sites, and promises of new buildings - envisioning thousands of students in five years. Nevertheless, such visions can introduce bias to market research. This is potentially disastrous for IBC’s, as they are frequently reliant on tuition revenue. Therefore, leaders should invest in market research relevant to the IBC’s target student population, look to their historical enrollment, consider their tuition pricing model, and be clear on their brand value in the host country market. In short, “if you build it, they will come” is not a strategy! Moreover, to attain scalability and/or permanence, constant adjustment and review of the budgetary model is vital.

Author

• Jennifer S Weinman, University of the Pacific