The number of international branch campuses globally has skyrocketed in the last fifteen years, rising from 183 to 232 between 2011 and 2015 alone. This case study looks at the ways that two highly selective American universities adapted their educational policies, programs, and practices at international branch campuses in a Persian Gulf country using a data gathered through interviews with faculty, administrators and students, classroom observations, and documents about the two campuses. The study found that the campus implementation at both universities involved two stages -- one guided primarily by the intention of closely replicating the home campus schools and another that was more open to adaptation and innovation. Even in the more replicative stage, however, the universities altered their policies and programs, either because they were unable to implement them all or they recognized the need to adapt to their students and local conditions. They adapted firstly to the educational and cultural backgrounds of their students by responding to different gender norms or difficulties with writing and English and by creating heritage Arabic classes. They also had to adjust to conditions in the local environment, such as greater restrictions on press freedom or the proximity of other American universities with whom they strove to coordinate cross-registration. Just as importantly, the campuses needed to adapt to internal organizational changes such as the smaller scale of their branch campuses or the fact that one of the campuses combined two independent schools. These adaptations continued under evolving circumstances, such as a demand from the local sponsor for greater research output and shifting identifications with the branch campus, the home university as a whole, or the particular home campus school that founded the campuses, which influenced how personnel viewed their mission and scope. In all these adaptations demonstrate the importance of learning from experience and from other members in a community of practice and the need to be flexible in implementation but also to try to anticipate the subtle details of practice in the planning stages. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]