Through the Looking Glass: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed International Branch Campuses’ Academic Experience and Home Campus Relationship

2022/01/10 by Rachael H. Merola, Robert Coelen, Robert J. Coelen +4
Social Sciences · #Higher Education Governance and Development #Higher Education and Employability #International Student and Expatriate Challenges

paper · doi:10.1177/10283153211070112

openalex publication_date 2022/01/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the academic experience at international branch campuses (IBCs) and has changed the relationship between the IBC and the home campus. Semi-structured interviews with 26 leaders, academic staff, and students at seven IBCs in Malaysia revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the experience at IBCs in unique ways, including collaboration and communication with the home campus; increasing campus-specific resources for student wellbeing; and playing a larger role in student enrollment, recruitment, and mobility initiatives. Findings provide useful insights for higher education institutions (HEIs) engaged in transnational education (TNE).

Citations

• Higher education in East Asia and Singapore: rise of the Confucian Model
• Using Formal and Informal Curricula to Improve Interactions Between Home and International Students
• How Many Interviews Are Enough?
• The Difference between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning
• A repeated cross-sectional survey assessing university students' stress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

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