In an initiative to extend its global footprint, reports The Chronicle in an article entitled, “College ‘Embassies’ Advance Their Interests Abroad,” Ohio State University has opened its first of many “global gateway” offices. The first office, which opened in February, is located in Shanghai and is part of a growing effort to “jump-start partnerships between Ohio State and Chinese universities and expand existing ones, encourage international-student recruitment and study-abroad placement, and reconnect overseas alumni to the institution, among other purpose.”
“Global gateways,” “liaison offices,” and “college embassies” are becoming an increasingly popular element to a global strategy.
Ohio State plans to open additional gateway offices in Brazil and India and is considering further expansion to cities in Europe, Turkey, and sub-Saharan Africa.
These offices differ from university partnerships, in that they serve as a work-place for university administrators, rather than simply as a study abroad locale. For example, Ohio State’s China gateway office is the school’s first off-shore office, which is completely unconnected to the 35-40 university partners that Ohio State has in China.
The University of Southern California describes their six international offices, or “embassies,” as the school’s public face abroad.
A few problems universities encounter with running international offices include the expense of operating abroad (i.e. managing buildings and grounds), the isolation felt by those working abroad, and the lack of visibility—in other words, a great deal of effort goes into setting up base abroad and little attention is given to these efforts, both at home and abroad.
Many universities give their liaison offices a time limit—if the international establishment is not self-sufficient in, say, three years, then the efforts will be discontinued.
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