Who teaches the Global University?

Rethinking academic staffing

Nigel Healey, Professor of International Higher Education, and a leading authority on TNE, believes the long-established model of banking extensively on academics from the home campus has reached its limits. “The era of seconded staff and flying faculty is largely over,” he says.

Across the Middle East, expanding education hubs increasingly require permanent research-active faculty rather than rotating visiting academics, reflecting broader ambitions to strengthen research and innovation ecosystems.

Universities typically hire academic staff specifically to teach in their TNE operations – either hiring them directly but on specific terms and conditions, or indirectly through the branch campus or joint institutes. “Seconding permanent staff from the home campus is generally not cost effective and is limited to the most senior staff only,” Professor Healey tells QS Insights.

Contrary to concerns that universities face an absolute global shortage of academics, Professor Healey argues that the challenge is more nuanced.

“While there is no shortage of qualified faculty globally, with most estimates suggesting the world’s universities graduate upwards of 250,000 PhDs a year, positions in branch campuses are mostly unattractive to nationals from the exporting university, meaning that the staff base in the branch campus is usually a mix of local and third-country nationals,” he adds.

Researchers suggest many third-country academics are drawn to the Gulf and other TNE hubs simply because opportunities are more limited at home, particularly for those from lower-ranked universities in their own countries.

“As a general rule, there is a direct trade-off between the cost effectiveness or scalability of the staffing model and the exporting university’s ability to maintain the standards and identity of the home institution,” he says.

The evolution is already visible in mature TNE destinations. China’s long-established joint universities and branch campuses have similarly evolved towards mixed staffing models that combine academics from the home institution with internationally and locally recruited faculty.

This reflects the Chinese state’s dual aim of retaining home-institution faculty and importing top resources while building domestic research capacity and soft power.

Malaysia’s mature branch-campus ecosystem too, illustrates how staffing strategies have evolved. Rather than relying predominantly on expatriate academics, universities increasingly combine local recruitment with international hiring.

David FitzPatrick, Provost and CEO of the University of Nottingham Malaysia, argues that this reflects the development of TNE itself. “TNE has matured considerably over the last decade,” he notes, adding, “The challenge is not simply finding strong disciplinary experts, but academics who can teach across cultures, navigate different regulatory environments, and deliver a consistent student experience across multiple locations.”

That is reflected in Nottingham Malaysia’s own staffing model, where academics from more than 30 countries teach at the campus, and around 90% of academic staff hold doctoral qualifications. Crucially, the university no longer views its campuses in the UK, Malaysia, and China as separate entities. Instead, teaching, curriculum development and research are organised across all three locations, creating an integrated academic community rather than a traditional branch campus supported by its parent institution.

The trade-offs

If universities increasingly agree that locally-recruited academics will play a larger role in TNE, the more difficult question is whether they can do so without diluting the academic culture that made overseas campuses attractive in the first place.

The challenge is not that local recruitment inevitably lowers standards, but that it exposes deep structural frictions. Anthony R. Welch, Professor of Education at the University of Sydney in Australia, believes the shift cannot be understood without recognising the wider financial pressures reshaping higher education. As universities contend with tighter budgets and increasing workloads, expecting academics from the home campus to repeatedly undertake short periods of overseas teaching becomes progressively less attractive.

“Hard pressed academic staff from the ‘mother’ university may not be keen to undertake further duties that involve short periods of intensive fly in, fly out instruction, while still attempting to keep up with demands from home,” says Professor Welch.

Kevin Kinser, Professor of Education Policy Studies at US-based Pennsylvania State University, and co-founder of C-BERT, points to a related set of obstacles specific to moving staff from the home campus abroad.

“The challenges include providing a viable career path that allows return without loss of seniority or job security at the home campus,” he says, adding that spouses and children relocating add another layer of complexity. He also flags that “different cultural norms and legal issues with respect to academic freedom, as well as rights of women, religious minorities and LGBTQ+ staff would pose specific limitations for some faculty.”

Furthermore, Professor Welch points to an uncomfortable reality within the sector’s business model: local teaching staff are often hired on conditions that differ appreciably from those applicable to overseas staff. They frequently carry heavier teaching responsibilities while receiving lower remuneration and fewer opportunities for professional development.

“Universities are very shy in acknowledging such differences,” Professor Welch notes. He adds that while overseas staff may have little understanding of local educational cultures, locally recruited staff may receive insufficient induction into the academic traditions and expectations of the home university.

Professor Healey says these structural divisions contribute to lower morale and higher turnover, with many overseas academics viewing branch-campus appointments as stepping stones because of limited research support and career progression.

“Because branch campuses are typically wholly funded by student tuition fees, the teaching-heavy nature of the operation leaves local staff with minimal time and limited access to external funding to carry out research, making it incredibly difficult for them to integrate as full, equal members of the wider institution,” says Professor Healey.