The “phenomenon” of international branch campuses shows no signs of slowing down despite geopolitical tensions, with Russian and American universities among those continuing to extend their presence abroad.

According to new research from  (C-BERT), there were 384 overseas branch campuses across 85 different host countries, as of November 2025.

This was a 15 per cent increase from the 333 branches recorded when the research was last conducted in March 2023 – although a number of these institutions were discovered through new methods and are not necessarily new. 

Kevin Kinser, co-founder of C-BERT and professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, told 51�Թ� that the data shows that “this phenomenon” of branch campuses has continued, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and other pressures.

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“I think that it’s also representative of this growing scope, and that more and more institutions are seeing international expansion is something that’s in their national interest.”

A quarter (97) of the campuses come from 59 separate institutions in the US – including seven from City University of Seattle (CityU) alone.

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The number from the US was almost twice as many as the next largest exporters, the UK with 51, and Russia with 43.

Kinser said the current political dynamics around internationalisation under president Donald Trump might constrain future growth a little in the short term. Some US institutions have also shut campuses in China as relations between the two countries become increasingly frayed.

But he predicted longer term growth will remain strong, particularly as many of the Russian campuses are relatively new with Moscow increasingly focused on universities as an instrument of soft power.

“We see from a policy perspective that they are quite invested in extending their influence into other areas, particularly as their influence is getting constrained because of the Ukraine war,” he added.

Of the Russian campuses, 35 are based in former Soviet states, including eight in Armenia and seven in Uzbekistan, which demonstrate its geopolitical alliances.

Like CityU, Lomonosov Moscow State University and Plekhanov Russian University of Economics each have seven branch campuses. Only France’s ESMOD had more, with 11 across China, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, South Korea, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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The other biggest exporters were France (39) and Australia (24) – meaning the largest five source countries are responsible for two-thirds of the global total.

Kinser said in future campuses will cover a wider geographical area, but the dominance of a few big players in exporting will continue, particularly from places like the UK and Australia which have “strong footprints”.

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“I think there is going to be growth in branch campuses, particularly in locations where the countries are really actively seeking those new campuses. Twenty years ago, it was the Middle East that was really seeking these new campuses, so we saw an uptick in places there.”

He added that now India has finally figured out a method for bringing in branch campuses, with 19 in the data, it is an “area ripe for expansion”.

China has just 13 international campuses abroad, but with 50 inside China and Hong Kong, it is the largest importer in the data – including 17 from the US, eight from the UK and five from France.

The research team found that branch campuses in some countries are being repurposed as national universities by host countries to build capacity of their own, and that Beijing may begin to think this way.

In terms of imports, China was followed by the UAE (39), Uzbekistan (17), Malaysia (16), and Singapore (16).

While the UAE and Uzbekistan appear to have increased their numbers quite quickly in recent years, Kinser said Malaysia and Singapore may be reaching a “saturation point”.

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The database defines a branch campus as an entity that is at least partly owned by a foreign higher education provider; operated in the name of the foreign education provider; and provides an entire academic programme, substantially on site, leading to a degree awarded by the foreign education provider.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com