How Murdoch University Dubai led students and staff through months of regional disruption

Universities delivering transnational education (TNE) can no longer treat disruption as a remote possibility, according to speakers at a recent Advance HE webinar. 

Faiza Qureshi, a TNE specialist at Murdoch University Dubai, and Professor Michael Gallimore, Dean and Academic President at the same institution, set out why leading through crisis is as much a question of governance and judgement as it is of keeping teaching running. 

Drawing on a small survey of sector practitioners and Murdoch Dubai’s own recent experience of operating a branch campus through months of regional conflict, the two speakers argued that confidence in decision-making during a crisis often outpaces the formal structures institutions have in place to support it. Below is a summary of their main points. 

Faiza Qureshi: framing the governance challenge 

Faiza opened by setting out why TNE has moved from a peripheral activity to a strategic priority for many institutions, driven by factors such as internationalisation goals and tightening immigration policies in home countries. She was careful to note that TNE should not be viewed as a quick financial fix, as it requires sustained investment in quality assurance, student support and governance capacity. 

Her central argument was that when TNE is disrupted by events such as conflict or geopolitical instability, the real challenge is not simply whether teaching can continue, but whether an institution can make timely, ethical and defensible decisions across borders and multiple stakeholder groups simultaneously. 

To ground this, Faiza drew on a small pulse survey of 17 TNE leaders and practitioners, mostly Gulf-based. She was clear this was a directional signal rather than a sector benchmark, but the findings were striking. No respondent rated their exposure to regional disruption below three out of five, confirming that disruption is now viewed as a live operating condition rather than a remote possibility. Student wellbeing and engagement emerged as the most exposed area of risk, cited by fifteen of the seventeen respondents, ahead of academic continuity and communication. 

The most significant finding was what Faiza termed the readiness paradox. Confidence in decision-making during disruption was high, with fifteen of seventeen respondents rating their confidence at four out of five, yet only five reported having a formal framework for assessing TNE-related risk, and only four had a dedicated TNE governance structure. 

This gap between confidence and formal governance was presented as the central issue facing the sector, alongside what she called the governance gap: the distance between where situational awareness sits, typically at the local campus, and where formal decision-making authority resides, often at the home institution. 

Faiza proposed five capabilities for TNE leaders navigating disruption: sensing the right signals, deciding through clear authority and thresholds, communicating as a control function rather than an afterthought, adapting delivery while protecting standards, and learning by updating policy and practice once the disruption has passed. 

Professor Michael Gallimore: the Murdoch University Dubai case study

Michael brought these themes to life through Murdoch University Dubai’s experience of leading a branch campus of around 1,200 students through several months of regional conflict, working alongside the main campus in Perth, Australia and a further campus in Singapore. 

He described two primary drivers behind every decision taken: student wellbeing and academic continuity, which he argued cannot be treated as separate concerns during a crisis. Regular, visible communication was identified as essential to providing reassurance even when definitive answers were not yet available, and the institution deliberately moved away from treating attendance as a proxy for engagement, given the practical difficulties international students faced with time zones and connectivity while travelling. 

A notable early decision was to move all final examinations online well in advance, removing the dilemma some students faced between prioritising their safety and maintaining academic continuity. Michael was clear that academic standards and academic processes are not the same thing: the integrity of the curriculum could be preserved even as the manner of its delivery changed. 

On technology, an AI-based e-proctoring platform, Respondus, proved central to maintaining assessment integrity at scale, though it required a robust triage process to distinguish genuine misconduct from procedural flags, and staff needed dedicated training and support to use it effectively and confidently. 

Michael echoed Faiza’s governance gap, describing the different perspectives held by branch and home campuses, and noting that a four-hour time difference between Dubai and Perth added a further practical complication to escalation and decision-making. He closed by reflecting those delaying decisions or remaining silent generates more uncertainty than acting on imperfect information, and that regular communication, including dedicated webinars for international students and their parents, was among the most effective tools for building trust throughout the disruption.

Access the full recording to hear how Faiza Qureshi and Professor Michael Gallimore navigated complex, real-time disruption and led with clarity and purpose across borders here.