Vice-chancellor Professor Christopher Snowden of the University of Surrey, seen here, believes expansion into China and beyond is the last frontier.
He said, ‘We are about internationalisation. Higher education is a global activity. So we have the Surrey International Institute in Dalian in north-east China, which is a partnership with Dongbei University of Finance and Economics.
‘The students there are studying for degrees awarded by the University of Surrey.
‘We’re only the second university to get Chinese governmental approval to set up an institution there. That means we are getting better access to high-quality students.’
Christopher Snowden argues that the changes in modern academia mean that the once very separate worlds of university and commerce are now not so far apart.
He said, ‘Universities are not normally geared to making large surpluses but they cannot operate at a loss, either. If you get one area that is going badly wrong and costing the university a great deal of money, everyone suffers. People may not have got that point at first, but I think they do now.’
Source: Daily Telegraph London