Charles Sturt announces Sri Lanka campus in Colombo

Charles Sturt University (CSU) has become the latest Australian institution to announce a South Asian outpost, planning a new campus in Sri Lanka’s capital.

The first intake of students is expected to begin at Charles Sturt University Colombo in the second half of 2026. The campus will offer courses in business and early childhood education before potentially expanding into engineering, health, information technology and psychology.

“Demand for university places in Sri Lanka far exceeds supply so we’re taking action,” the university said. Vice-chancellor Renée Leon said the university was committed to making education more accessible globally and promised that its inland New South Wales heartland would not be disadvantaged.

“The revenue generated from this and Charles Sturt’s other international education ventures directly supports our regional students and research,” she said. “This vital and underfunded regional mission…is why we are here.”

CSU’s partner in the venture, the privately owned Prospects College of Higher Education (PCHE), delivers pathway programmes for CSU and 10 other Australian and UK universities. Typically, students complete diplomas in Colombo before finishing their undergraduate studies offshore.

PCHE, which opened a new campus last June, has harboured ambitions to expand into full degree delivery. “This latest venture will provide opportunities for students to complete a world-class Australian degree [at] a fraction of the cost right here in Sri Lanka,” it said on LinkedIn.

Perth’s Curtin University expanded a longstanding Sri Lankan teaching partnership into a fully fledged offshore campus in late 2024. Edith Cowan University also has a campus in Colombo, offering pathway programmes and degrees.

Australian universities have also rushed to capitalise on new business opportunities in India. Deakin, La Trobe, UNSW Sydney, Victoria, Western Australia, Western Sydney and Wollongong universities have established branch campuses in the world’s most populous country, or are in the process of doing so.

The federal government has encouraged Australian universities to develop offshore educational programmes while limiting the flow of foreign students on to home soil by changing visa processing arrangements. CSU has been the worst-affected university, with its pre-pandemic international education earnings of A$155 million (£78 million) plunging to A$29 million in 2024.

Like many regional universities, CSU has tried to boost its appeal to overseas students – and its access to vitally needed international revenue – by running small campuses in Australia’s large coastal cities. But a regulatory crackdown forced it to suspend operations in Sydney and Melbourne and permanently withdraw from Brisbane.

Recent increases in South Asian countries’ immigration risk ratings pose a new threat to enrolments from the region. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka retains a more favourable rating than its neighbours Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

The island nation, which packs about 80 per cent of Australia’s population into less than 1 per cent of its landmass, is considered a promising target for Australian educational exports. It is the 10th top source country for international enrolments and the fastest-growing major market after Bangladesh.

CSU is offering a 30 per cent fee discount to students who enrol in its Colombo campus this year, likening the “scholarship” to a longstanding fee waiver for master’s students from four Chinese universities.

International education insiders are sceptical about financial windfalls from foreign outposts. “Branch campuses are no magic bullet,” Monash University deputy vice-chancellor Craig Jeffrey warned last year. “They take decades, not years, to become fully successful.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com