Universities around the United States are becoming a major export. Many schools are taking their programs overseas, where the American system of higher education has long been the envy of other countries’ higher education systems.

American universities are competing to set up outposts in countries with limited higher-educational opportunities. These schools are starting or expanding hundreds of programs and partnerships in booming markets, such as China, India and Singapore.

Overseas programs can help American universities raise their profile, build international relationships, attract top research talent – who may attract grants and produce patents – and gain access to a new pool of tuition-paying students.

Many are considering full-fledged foreign branches, particularly in the oil-rich Middle East.

Already, students in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar can attend an American university without the expense, culture shock or post-Sept. 11 visa problems of traveling to America.

At Education City in Doha, Qatar’s capital, students can study medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, international affairs at Georgetown, computer science and business at Carnegie Mellon, fine arts at Virginia Commonwealth, engineering at Texas A’M and journalism at Northwestern.

This fall, Michigan State University and the Rochester Institute of Technology will offer classes in Dubai.

New York University has plans for a liberal arts branch campus in the Persian Gulf, set to open in 2010. John Sexton, the president of NYU, has committed to building NYU’s international presence since he met Omar Saif Ghobash, an investor who enticed him to open a branch campus in the United Arab Emirates.

However, the University of Massachusetts does not have any current plans to open an overseas campus.

“The President’s Office and the Board of Trustees are always eager to consider academic and research proposals developed at the campus level,” said University spokesperson Robert Connolly.

Universities with overseas branches say the education equals what is offered in the United States, although much of the faculty is hired locally on a short-term basis.

“Where universities are heading now is toward becoming global universities,” said Howard Rollins, the former director of international programs at Georgia Tech, which has degree programs in France, Singapore, Italy, South Africa and China, as well as plans for India.

“We’ll have more and more universities competing internationally for resources, faculty and the best students,” he added.

Erik Taber can be reached at [email protected].