It will offer four undergraduate degree courses and one MSc postgraduate programme on the island, which lies to the east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Aberystwyth will be the second UK universities to set up a branch campus in Mauritius ¨C which is seeking to become an education hub for Africa ¨C after Middlesex University opened one in 2010.

Announcing the move today at a conference in London hosted by the Mauritius Board of Investment, vice-chancellor April McMahon said the island was ¡°ideally positioned to attract international students who wish to pursue a high-quality university education but might not be in a position to travel to the UK¡±.

Academic and administrative staff at the Welsh university will ¡°spend time working on the Mauritius campus¡± according to a statement from Aberystwyth.

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Students in Wales and Mauritius will be able to circulate between the two campuses, it also explains.

The undergraduate degree programmes on offer this year will be accounting and finance, business finance, business management, and management with law. The MSc will be in international business.

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The programmes are subject to accreditation by the Mauritius Tertiary Education Commission and approval by the university Senate.

In 2014-15, the university will operate out of premises owned by the Mauritius-based firm Boston Campus Limited.

The university plans to work with the company to build a new, 2,000-student residential campus in time for the 2015-16 academic year.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com