Resisting neocolonial harm and localising global standards at international branch campuses: a comparative study of two Canadian cases

ABSTRACT Since the beginning of the 21st century, international branch campuses have experienced significant growth worldwide, and most of them are established in the Global South by the Global North, reproducing Western hegemony through education. In this context, we conducted a comparative study to analyse the convergence and divergence of the neocolonial practices at Shanghai Vancouver Film School and Algonquin College-Kuwait, two international branch campuses established by Canadian post-secondary institutions. The results demonstrate the two Canadian international branch campuses modernise and internationalise the post-secondary education system in their importing countries by resisting neocolonial harm and localising global standards. When mimicking their home institutions’ curriculum, they both exercise agency, albeit to different degrees, by resisting Western liberal ideologies and teaching contents irrelevant to the local context, attempting to create a third space for students to engage with multiple perspectives and knowledge systems.