New York University plans to open a satellite campus in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior faculty member who leaked the information to the press under the condition of anonymity.
"Everything we do at NYU in New York City in theory would be done on a much smaller scale (in Abu Dhabi)," the faculty member told Inside Higher Ed, a higher-education news Web site, in an Aug. 31 article.
The campus would be most comparable to the American University in Cairo or the American University of Beirut, a full undergraduate college with divisions in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences, according to the article. It would have a research component as well as graduate programs some time after, the faculty member said.
Students in Abu Dhabi, a wealthy Persian Gulf emirate with large reserves of petroleum, would be encouraged to take classes in New York but would be able to receive a degree on the Abu Dhabi campus.
The faculty member told Inside Higher Ed that the university hoped that several faculty members currently at NYU would teach on exchange at the new campus, or would instruct intensive classes held between semesters.
Faculty members in NYU's Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Department told The Herald they currently know little about the project.
A source involved in the university's negotiations with government officials told the New York Times in an Aug. 31 article that university representatives are insisting that the school follow the same non-discrimination policy in place at the New York campus.
Representatives also expressed concerns about whether academic freedom comparable to that on the New York campus could exist in Abu Dhabi, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The new college would be headed by Mariet Westermann, currently the director of the NYU Institute of Fine Arts. "She's a brilliant scholar, an impressive, polished person, and she's a woman, which makes a statement," a senior faculty member told the Times.
Though the campus will bear the NYU name, it will be funded by the Abu Dhabi government.
NYU's Abu Dhabi campus is the latest in a string of international satellite campuses that U.S. universities have set up across the globe. The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education - a London-based research unit of the Association of Commonwealth Universities in the United Kingdom - reports that, in 2006, 82 branch campuses had been set up worldwide, up from 24 in 2002, according to Inside Higher Ed. Over half of those were established by U.S. institutions.
Yale University is currently in talks with the Abu Dhabi government to set up an art institution in Abu Dhabi, according to United Press International.
Though Brown has not opened any branch campuses overseas, the University has recently made internationalization one of its chief priorities. A major report on internationalization was released by a University committee Monday, focusing on increasing international engagement in areas already strong at Brown.
Provost David Kertzer '69 P'95 P'98 told The Herald that Brown's internationalization effort will likely focus on building partnerships abroad rather than satellite campuses.
