Branch campuses can be established by institutions either in another city in their own location, or in an international location. Establishing an international branch campus is an increasingly popular way for institutions to expand their offering to students.
For students, international branch campuses give them the opportunity to gain a degree at an internationally ranked university, in a location where this was not previously possible.
For institutions, international branch campuses allow them to attract more students and create stronger ties with other countries.
For the host nation, international branch campuses can be an efficient way of boosting higher education standards and attracting more students, both local and international.
QS has several rules for how different types of branch campuses are considered in the context of the rankings.
Autonomous Branch Campus
A branch campus is considered autonomous if it possesses all of the following traits:
- The branch campus has its own university principal (e.g. president, chancellor or vice-chancellor) that does NOT report into the leadership of the main campus.
- The branch campus issues degree certificates under a different and distinct name to the parent institution.
- Researchers at the branch campus publish in Scopus under a distinct identifier that can be isolated and has no common parent identifier.
- The branch campus has its own distinct name/brand/identity/domain.
If an international or domestic branch campus is considered autonomous, it will be evaluated and analysed as a separate institution, and its data will not contribute to the evaluation and analysis of the parent institution.
Non-autonomous Branch Campus - Domestic
If a branch campus that is in the same location as its parent institution is not considered to be autonomous, its data (reputation, staff/student, research, sustainability etc.) will be evaluated and analysed as part of its parent institution.
Non-autonomous Branch Campus - International
If a branch campus in a different international location from its parent is not considered to be autonomous, its data will not be considered for the rankings.
