About.

International branch campuses. Independent overseas colleges. International joint universities, microcampuses, and more. Foreign outposts of American higher education afford the United States an unparalleled opportunity to reach audiences abroad. Learn about the global landscape of American higher education here.

Global American Higher Education is ...

• a concept that refers to the global landscape for American higher education outside the United States. Global American Higher Education draws attention to the presence and significance of overseas American higher education institutions from 1860 to the present.
• ​a research initiative that identifies, analyzes, and visualizes American higher education institutions outside the United States. Products include a database with information on 300+ institutions, a worldwide map displayed in an interactive dashboard, and papers that utilize the database/dashboard.
• a resource for educators, students, university administrators, researchers, policy analysts, government officials, journalists, entrepreneurs, and anyone else seeking information on American higher education institutions abroad.
• ​a team of dedicated individuals from around the world who study American higher education institutions outside the United States. Team members are located in the United States, Canada, India, and China.

Introduction

American higher education is generally regarded as the greatest in the world. Its universities dominate global rankings, its faculty earn the most Nobel Prizes, and more of its students come from outside its borders than any other country’s higher education system. But American higher education does not take place solely in the United States. There are hundreds of American higher education institutions abroad. Some have roots stretching back to the middle of the 19th century. Others started only this year. They take different forms and their ties to stateside higher education vary. But together they make American higher education larger and more diverse.

When practiced in foreign lands, American higher education has the capacity to influence and change the way people think about a university education. Instruction in English, student-centered pedagogy, vibrant student life, and other customary features of American higher education can find their way into the regular practice of neighboring institutions. Because higher education is such an important economic, social, and political institution, what goes on inside universities matters a great deal. An American business administration program can advance ideas favorable to capitalism. An American liberal arts curriculum can encourage democratic citizenship.
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The potential for American institutions to disseminate values makes them a flashpoint for critics and proponents alike. Is the preponderance of American universities abroad evidence of American imperialism or neo-colonialism? Or do these institutions represent the best of what America has to offer the world? Regardless of one’s orientation to these and other concerns, Global American Higher Education can facilitate the ability to investigate them.

​The Global American Higher Education database is a singular resource. No equivalent data set exists. It contains information for 345 institutions in 90 countries over 189 years. We encourage you to explore the dashboard and supplemental resources. Please contact us if you have questions.