Compared to other major research universities, Tufts boasts a modest list of satellite schools abroad, with just a single foreign campus: the facility in Talloires, France, which hosts an annual summer abroad program.
That may not accord Tufts the international cachet of, say, New York University, which currently operates satellite campuses in 13 cities worldwide, including Buenos Aires, Argentina; Paris; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). But it has saved Tufts from pouring millions of dollars into foreign campuses that end up getting shut down, a fate that a growing number of universities have shared since the start of the global economic crisis.
Too often, the development of a satellite campus does little to enrich the university other than by bringing in additional revenue — and even that is far from guaranteed. Nearby Suffolk University recently closed its campus in Dakar, Senegal, which cost the university $10 million during its 12−year existence. Schools throughout the United States have closed satellite campuses over the last four years after suffering similar losses, sometimes — as in the case of George Mason University's campus in Ras al Khayamah, UAE — less than a year into the program's inauguration.
Even when these campuses work out, it's hard to see how they translate into direct benefits for students on the home campus. Opening satellite campuses requires the risky investment of millions of dollars, but in practice, they usually amount to little more than beefed−up study abroad facilities.
Tufts, whose study abroad programs are routinely ranked among the nation's best, is proof that living on a satellite campus is not necessary for a successful experience studying in a foreign country. In fact, studying at a foreign university and living among foreign students is likely a more valuable experience because it leads to more immersion in a foreign culture.
The disadvantage is that not operating satellite campuses prevents Tufts from enrolling students in foreign countries, as some universities do. Still, enrolling an entire graduating class of students abroad is not necessary to becoming a "global" university. That goal is better reached by enticing foreign students to come to the United States to study at Tufts and by funding research trips abroad for undergraduate students.
Tufts is successful on both these fronts. Around 170 students — or 13 percent — of the Class of 2015 came from foreign nations. And the Tufts Institute for Global Leadership sponsors students to travel all over the world on research trips. Recent destinations have included North Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, Kuwait, China, Sri Lanka and many others.
The money for these trips might not exist if Tufts had chosen to invest in foreign satellite campuses in search of global prestige, and the trips benefit the student body far more than would an abandoned campus on the other side of the world.
