{"id":7894,"date":"2026-07-19T19:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T18:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/?p=7894"},"modified":"2026-07-19T19:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T18:51:19","slug":"principal-defends-transnational-campuses-despite-decreasing-amounts-of-international-students-enrolling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/uncategorised\/2026\/07\/19\/principal-defends-transnational-campuses-despite-decreasing-amounts-of-international-students-enrolling\/","title":{"rendered":"Principal defends transnational campuses despite decreasing amounts of international students enrolling"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Megan Shand<\/em><\/p>\n

The principal of the University of Aberdeen has defended transnational campuses, with critics saying that the business model is \u201cprofound stupidity\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a recent exclusive interview with <\/span>The Gaudie<\/span><\/i>, Principal Pete Edwards praised the success of Aberdeen University\u2019s growing group of transnational campuses, despite the decreasing numbers of international students enrolling at the home campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

The University of Aberdeen currently has transnational campuses in Qatar and South China, with a new campus opening in Mumbai in September.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Edwards claimed that if they didn\u2019t offer campuses overseas then international students \u201cdon\u2019t come here [Aberdeen]\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He stated: \u201cIf they can’t come to us, we will come to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: Principal defends staff support framework amid \u201chealth and wellbeing crisis\u201d claims<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0 recent changes to VISA restrictions and immigration policy as a potential reason why.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Edwards said: \u201cwhen we saw the first dip in international students, Aberdeen University immediately took steps,\u201d referencing the university\u2019s transnational campuses.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said that the campuses have provided \u201ca source of income to the university that has been incredibly helpful to us over the past few years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, the university offers courses such as technology, economics, and business in their campuses abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 2010s, Strathclyde University\u2019s business school had an unsuccessful venture in India that reportedly failed due to a lack of student recruitment, with <\/span>Times Higher Education<\/span><\/i> reporting that they only recruited six students out of their 1,200 student capacity in 2011-12.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aberdeen has yet to make public its recruitment success for their incoming class at Mumbai.<\/span><\/p>\n

With every ten international students studying in the UK generating \u00a31 million in net economic benefit, the university has faced some criticism for their choice to export its education out of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

SNP MSP Stephen Flynn told <\/span>The Press and Journal<\/span><\/i> in March that, \u201cWhat 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 \u2013 but we\u2019re losing out on domestic revenue from their studies which is verging on profound stupidity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Former principal George Boyne cited that the transnational campuses in Qatar and China, which were established during his tenure, were to<\/span> \u201c<\/span>expand our revenue to cope\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 with the lack of public funding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: Exclusive: Four new university \u201cexecutive dean\u201d positions will earn up to \u00a3140,000 a year<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Higher Education Policy Institute says that \u201cthe economic activity generated by international students in the 2024\/25 cohort supported approximately 28,300 FTE jobs in the UK\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Edwards insisted that the transnational campuses are meant to reach prospective students who would otherwise not be able to come to Aberdeen\u2019s historic campus, telling <\/span>The Gaudie<\/span><\/i>: \u201cif an international student, for whatever reason, can\u2019t come to us, we\u2019ll come to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUs providing a transnational education offer, which does generate income for us, is far better than accepting the alternative, which would be the students don\u2019t come here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gaudie\u2019s<\/span><\/i> full exclusive interview with the principle can be found on Spotify: <\/span>https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/2bLJtQJhoOP76NPPmygwPx?si=RmU6O5l_TRWjAUaS8M3-Dw<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Megan Shand The principal of the University of Aberdeen has defended transnational campuses, with critics saying that the business model is \u201cprofound stupidity\u201d. In a recent exclusive interview with The Gaudie, Principal Pete Edwards praised the success of Aberdeen University\u2019s growing group of transnational campuses, despite the decreasing numbers of international students enrolling at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":7895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":73,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,1],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[181],"class_list":["post-7894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Gaudie Staff","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/gaudie-staff\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Mumbai_agreement_ceremony1_2edit-300x214.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["News<\/a>","Uncategorised<\/a>"],"unlinked":["News<\/span>","Uncategorised<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 months ago","modified":"Updated 2 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 19 July 2026","modified":"Updated on 19 July 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 19 July 2026 19:51","modified":"Updated on 19 July 2026 19:51"},"featured_img_caption":"Principal Pete Edwards officially opened the campus in January - Source: University of Aberdeen ","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7897,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7894\/revisions\/7897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7894"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=7894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}