Transnational education: global location, local innovation: a report produced for UUKi

Transnational education (TNE) is the delivery of an educational award in a country other than that in which the awarding body is based. It can include, but is not limited to, branch campuses, distance learning, joint and dual degree programmes, fly-in faculty, or a mix of these, often referred to as blended learning. The UK’s higher education TNE offer is growing in terms of both scale and strategic importance, and TNE is becoming a core component of many universities’ strategic approach to international growth. The large majority of UK universities (84%) now deliver TNE to over 700,000 students worldwide with this number having increased year on year since 2007/08. This means that the UK higher education sector now provides qualifications to more students overseas than to international students in the UK (approximately 450,000). The increasing scale of activity belies a huge variety in the types of TNE partnerships being developed by UK institutions. Drivers for engagement with international partners are diverse, relating to international strategies, to research priorities and to student and staff mobility. This publication aims to illustrate the breadth of engagement by highlighting 17 examples of TNE partnerships involving UK higher education institutions