25 March 2015 
Jen Summerton, Executive Director
Stanford University in California will, from September, be offering an entrepreneurship course to students in London. The institution renowned for turning research projects into successful businesses, has decided to take a different approach to those other universities setting out to teach in places beyond their own classrooms. Rather than using an overseas campus or Mooc, Stanford is taking one of its courses on a global tour.
An article by the BBC stated that: “For Stanford, last week rated in the top five of the world's mostly highly regarded universities, this is a quietly radical experiment. It means doing without the trappings that come with such a blue-chip institution - the historic buildings, the campus, the physical location in California.”
Bethany Coates, the assistant dean in charge of the project, said: "It's been a fundamental insight for us. It meant that we could replicate the Stanford culture and Stanford approach in a room in an office block that doesn't belong to us...This has much larger implications for higher education.”
Nick Hillman of the Higher Education Policy Institute said it would remain to be seen whether the course will be of sufficient appeal to employers, but that this new idea certainly offers a new and more affordable model for outer-campus teaching. There is also some concern that ‘roadshows’ such as these will markedly increase competition on home ground.
