U.S. Universities Rush to Set Up Outposts Abroad

The American system of higher education, long the envy of the world, is starting to become an important export. In a kind of educational gold rush, American universities are competing to set up outposts in countries with limited higher education opportunities. American universities — not to mention Australian and British ones, which also offer instruction in English, the lingua franca of academia — are starting, or expanding, hundreds of programs and partnerships in booming markets like China, India and Singapore. And many are now considering full-fledged foreign branch campuses, particularly in the oil-rich Middle East. Already, students in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar can attend an American university without the expense, culture shock or post-9/11 visa problems of traveling to America.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/education/10global.html?ex=1360386000&en=c21edee5e3b27df1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink