By: Megan Shand
The principal of the University of Aberdeen has defended transnational campuses, with critics saying that the business model is “profound stupidity”.
In a recent exclusive interview with The Gaudie, Principal Pete Edwards praised the success of Aberdeen University’s growing group of transnational campuses, despite the decreasing numbers of international students enrolling at the home campus.
The University of Aberdeen currently has transnational campuses in Qatar and South China, with a new campus opening in Mumbai in September.
Edwards claimed that if they didn’t offer campuses overseas then international students “don’t come here [Aberdeen]”.
He stated: “If they can’t come to us, we will come to them.”
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Last year, the number of international students enrolling at Scottish universities fell by 6%, with the number consistently falling since before Brexit. Many have cited the recent changes to VISA restrictions and immigration policy as a potential reason why.
Other UK universities, such as Heriot Watt University, have been investing in campuses overseas with the number of transnational students studying for UK qualifications abroad increasing by 8% in 2024/25.
Edwards said: “when we saw the first dip in international students, Aberdeen University immediately took steps,” referencing the university’s transnational campuses.
He said that the campuses have provided “a source of income to the university that has been incredibly helpful to us over the past few years.”
Currently, the university offers courses such as technology, economics, and business in their campuses abroad.
The new Mumbai campus will make Aberdeen the only Scottish university to currently have a campus in India, although not the first to have had a presence there.
In the 2010s, Strathclyde University’s business school had an unsuccessful venture in India that reportedly failed due to a lack of student recruitment, with Times Higher Education reporting that they only recruited six students out of their 1,200 student capacity in 2011-12.
Aberdeen has yet to make public its recruitment success for their incoming class at Mumbai.
With every ten international students studying in the UK generating £1 million in net economic benefit, the university has faced some criticism for their choice to export its education out of the country.
SNP MSP Stephen Flynn told The Press and Journal in March that, “What we now have is a situation where the likes of the Aberdeen University are putting campuses elsewhere in the world in order to educate these people – but we’re losing out on domestic revenue from their studies which is verging on profound stupidity.”
Former principal George Boyne cited that the transnational campuses in Qatar and China, which were established during his tenure, were to “expand our revenue to cope” with the lack of public funding.
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The Higher Education Policy Institute says that “the economic activity generated by international students in the 2024/25 cohort supported approximately 28,300 FTE jobs in the UK”.
Edwards insisted that the transnational campuses are meant to reach prospective students who would otherwise not be able to come to Aberdeen’s historic campus, telling The Gaudie: “if an international student, for whatever reason, can’t come to us, we’ll come to them.
“Us providing a transnational education offer, which does generate income for us, is far better than accepting the alternative, which would be the students don’t come here.”
The Gaudie’s full exclusive interview with the principle can be found on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bLJtQJhoOP76NPPmygwPx?si=RmU6O5l_TRWjAUaS8M3-Dw
