Job Discussion Forums

[veiledsentiments]

Another one bites the dust... leaving with $1.6 million debt.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100706/NEWS01/307060031/MSU-to-close-programs-at-Dubai-campus

[007]

So, what will happen to the fate of those poor students? Are they going to be transferred to MSU campus in USA, or left to their fate?
It is a sad story with a university which proclaim to be one of the top 100 universities in the world!

[johnslat]

Dear 007,

"So, what will happen to the fate of those poor students? Are they going to be transferred to MSU campus in USA, or left to their fate?

You did read the article, right?

"The 85 undergraduate students who have been attending classes there will have the chance to finish their degrees in East Lansing if they choose. The single graduate program, in human resources and labor relations, will remain."

"It is a sad story with a university which proclaim to be one of the top 100 universities in the world!"

Umm, what has it's being proclaimed "to be one of the top 100 universities in the world" got to do with anything?

"He could not immediately say how much money MSU had lost, but The National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, quoted MSU Dean of International Studies Jeffrey Riedinger saying that the losses had been in the millions, largely because the campus opened just as the worldwide financial crisis was beginning.

"The enterprise was financed mostly through grants from the Dubai government and loans from the Dubai government-owned TECOM Investments. As of last fall, MSU owed TECOM approximately $1.6 million."

Regards,
John

[007]

[johnslat]

Dear 007,

Perhaps MSU should be praised instead - for getting out while the getting is still (relatively) good.

By the way, I hope I lessened your apprehensions about the "fate of those poor students? Are they going to be transferred to MSU campus in USA, or left to their fate?"

Their "fate" would appear to be in their hands.

Regards,
John

[redsnapper]

[veiledsentiments]

Perhaps... but I suspect that they were realizing that 85 students does not a undergrad program make. Their tuition income would barely cover the rent, no less hiring faculty and staff. After the appr two years that the program had been running, they had likely figured out that numbers were not ever going to expand to much more. Pretty much because of the many other private universities listed above... and there are more... who are also limping along with small student numbers.

VS

[Sheikh N Bake]

Eighty-five students in Dubai does not replicate any kind of MSU experience, that's for sure, and I said that two years ago. Which, again, is why MIT is wise in coming to the UAE only in an advisory capacity.

The reader comments back in Michigan are germane (I like the "dog and pony show" reference:

WOW! Who would have predicted this??

see: Comment on: MSU can succeed with Dubai venture at 1/11/2010 11:48 AM EST on lansingstatejournal.com
Pure waste of Michigan Tax Payer money.....MSU spends too much money on projects/buildings at a time when all of us are having to do more with less.

What are the real costs for this boon-dogle? MSU should publish the costs for planning, manpower, security, etc. to set this campus up and to keep it running. I would not be suprised if the $7M start-up cost were half of what was really spent for this campus.

Sounds like the unemployed of Dubai and Michigan will occupy this campus. Irresponsible MSU leadership!


7/6/2010 6:41:12 PM WOW! Who would have predicted this??<br /><br />see: Comment on: MSU can succeed with Dubai venture at 1/11/2010 11:48 AM EST on lansingstatejournal.com<br />Pure waste of Michigan Tax Payer money.....MSU spends too much money on projects/buildings at a time when all of us are having to do more with less.<br /><br />What are the real costs for this boon-dogle? MSU should publish the costs for planning, manpower, security, etc. to set this campus up and to keep it running. I would not be suprised if the $7M start-up cost were half of what was really spent for this campus.<br /><br />Sounds like the unemployed of Dubai and Michigan will occupy this campus. Irresponsible MSU leadership!<br /> Glucophage
Recommend(2)New Post
Reply to this Post
Report Abuse
DoUliveinLans wrote:

The really sad thing is that again, for the sake of profit, the students from this country will now suffer with higher tuition rates because the PUBLIC school lost money to educate a foreign population.

And yet they claim it is because the state and federal gov't are cutting their funding. hmmmmmmmm

7/6/2010 10:52:03 AM The really sad thing is that again, for the sake of profit, the students from this country will now suffer with higher tuition rates because the PUBLIC school lost money to educate a foreign population.<br /><br />And yet they claim it is because the state and federal gov't are cutting their funding. hmmmmmmmm DoUliveinLans
Recommend(1)New Post
Reply to this Post
Report Abuse
Abulafia wrote:

Unfortunately, administrators fell into the "if you build it (they) will come" model. Infrastructure does not define a university.

7/6/2010 10:39:28 AM Unfortunately, administrators fell into the "if you build it (they) will come" model. Infrastructure does not define a university. Abulafia
RecommendNew Post
Reply to this Post
Report Abuse
noyoucant wrote:

The East Lansing campus is bleeding support jobs and yet there always seems to be enough money to waste on dog and pony shows like this one. Short- sighted management strikes again.

[helenl]

As for the Canadian University in Dubai - their only "campus" in Canada (or anywhere else in the world that I know of) consists of an office in a shopping centre complex.

[Sheikh N Bake]

Everyone here except a few newbies knows the value of James Bond's posts. Except now and then when he copies and pastes some useful items on Arab culture.

Here is the reason as reported by The Chronicle Of Higher Education that MSU failed while the others hang on:

What set Michigan State's Dubai campus apart from the branch campuses that many other prominent Western universities have opened in the Persian Gulf region was that the campus was eventually required to break even: Student tuition had to cover its operating costs.

For Western universities that have opened branch campuses in much wealthier locales than Dubai�New York University in Abu Dhabi or Texas A&M University in Qatar, for example�local governments underwrite everything from the cost of campus construction to faculty salaries to research. Student tuition is almost a bonus.

Not so in Dubai, which has minimal oil reserves and a local government that is unable to simply underwrite the costs of first-class higher education.

So Michigan State had entered into a partnership with Dubai Holding, a government-owned company that oversees a collection of foreign branch campuses called Dubai International Academic City. Dubai Holding loaned Michigan State $2.7-million to cover initial operating costs and also gave the university a grant to establish its campus, for which it pays rent to a subsidiary of the company.

Tuition-generated revenue was even more crucial to the success of the Dubai campus because it promised not be a financial drain on the taxpayer-supported home camps in East Lansing.

[Incedere]

[Sheikh N Bake]

Interesting info, thanks. The college vs. university appellations are why Canadians say "I went to university at..." in the same way as continental Europeans and Brits.

The US is the only western country where "college" is interchangeable with "university." Boston College and Dartmouth College, for example, are major Ph.D.-granting universities, while almost any accredited four-year college that offers only bachelor's degrees can take on the name "university" if it wishes. (In the case of state-owned colleges, though, that is a state government decision.) So--"I went to college at the University of Virginia" is the common type of parlance; nobody says "I went to university at..." That's for undergraduates. Graduate students, e.g., doctoral students, seldom say "I'm a doctoral student" unless specifically asked. They say "I go to school" to avoid sounding pompous.

All this tends to cause confusion with some of the 600,000+ foreign students. Some new applicants are misinformed, thinking a world-class institution such as Swarthmore must be inferior because it's called Swarthmore College. Same goes for "Polytechnic." I knew a student from India who'd been steered away from the Rensellaer Polytechnic Insitute (a first-class engineering university) by his adviser in India because in Britain, polytechnics were considered inferior to universities. So the student wound up in a third or fourth-tier engineering school that happened to have the name "university."

[helenl]

Sorry, but UNB's affilation (and I suspect all the other Canadian colleges mentioned) is limited to

"With a motive to reach the International students faster, the University of New Brunswick is the first Canadian University to establish a representative office in Dubai to assist students applying from the Gulf area for higher education in Canada. The UNB representative office, with educational consultant Ms. Mariam Shaikh, will help future students with the UNB application process and with choosing the right educational path for each individual.

Below is a listing of the services currently offered at our Dubai location:

On-spot evaluation
Free educational consultation
Application assistance
Aid in locating housing (Off and on Campus)
For more information on the Dubai recruiting office, use the information below to contact one of our highly qualified personnel."

This is not the same as offering Canadian University level courses in Dubai, it is merely a screening process for students interested in studying in Canada.

[007]

[Sheikh N Bake]

How come the most arrogant of certain kinds of people always say "wake up"? Is that supposed to impress us with your wisdom and knowledge..."wake up"? Where'd you get that--Wikipedia?