TNE offers many solutions, but it has to be done properly

Transnational education (TNE) is not a quick solution to address revenue shortfalls because of dwindling public funds and international student recruitment at home. Successful TNE, in its different modalities, is a resource-intensive endeavour requiring long-term commitment. And it should be transformational, not only transactional.

Over the past month I have been involved in a number of transnational education-focused international events, all of which had somehow a common underlying theme. Transnational education (TNE) can be the solution for many countries’ changing strategic priorities, but it needs to move from being a primarily transactional activity to being transformational and underpinned by a commitment to socially responsible internationalisation.

India

At the end of February, the British Council India co-organised with the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration an international seminar on the internationalisation of higher education in Delhi.

It was fascinating to hear how India, one of the main sending countries of international students, is strategically and proactively thinking about how to reverse the flow of students, attracting more international students whilst retaining local talent, and thinking to do so by leveraging inbound TNE.

It was also very interesting to hear Indian colleagues and experts, including Phil Altbach and NV Varghese, critically assess the readiness of India, in terms of both institutional capacity and its broader policy framework, including student visa regulation, to meet the ambitions set out in its 2020 National Education Policy.

The regulatory framework for inbound TNE is still unclear, in particular in its implementation, such as the extent to which the top 100 ranked rule will be interpreted.

Student visa policies are still far from being fit for purpose to position India as a hub. And institutional capacity around international activities and internationalisation needs developing, with relatively few universities having, for example, a central international department or function in place.

But things are clearly happening – Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) being a clear example. The first greenfield smart city in India, operating an international financial services centre, GIFT City oversees a special economic zone where international universities can now open branch campuses that do not have to meet national regulations.

Deakin University is the first international university opening an international branch campus in India, ready to welcome the first cohort of students in July this year. It took just 11 months from idea to realisation. The University of Wollongong will soon open too, and there is active interest from a range of universities in the United Kingdom and United States.

There really seem to be good opportunities for entrepreneurial universities to bring quality international education closer to home to students from India and the region through GIFT City, and more broadly across India.

Malaysia

The event in Delhi was quickly followed by another British Council event in Kuala Lumpur, ThinkTNE, which formed part of East Asia Education Week. Malaysia was one of the first countries to open up to TNE, and for a long while it was the leading host country of UK TNE. As such KL was the ideal location to think about TNE and take stock of its impact and benefits.

These were clearly outlined in the opening keynote address by Professor Datuk Ir Ts Dr Siti Hamisah Binti Tapsir, vice-chancellor of UCSI University and former director-general of the Ministry of Higher Education.

It was particularly interesting to hear her emphasising the role that TNE, and in particular franchised and validated TNE partnerships, have played in raising the capacity of local education providers. Many of these local partners offering foreign education degrees have, over time, been able to obtain their own Malaysian degree-awarding powers and university titles.

In a session with representatives from UK TNE providers in Malaysia, partners of UK TNE providers and policy bodies there was, however, widespread agreement that Malaysia needs to review its policy environment to ensure it remains attractive and competitive as a TNE host country, in particular in the context of growing competition in the region, for instance, from Vietnam and Indonesia. For example, there could be scope to review student visa policies and streamline accreditation requirements for established TNE providers.

Australia

ThinkTNE in Malaysia was closely followed by the Asia Pacific Association for International Education conference in Perth, which could not have taken place at a more timely moment, hot on the heels of the publication by the Australian government of the Australian Universities Accord.

The accord stresses the strategic importance of TNE for Australian higher education as a way to reach international students closer to home, and thus both widen access internationally to Australian education and manage the number of international students going to Australia. As a consequence, Australian universities are being increasingly attentive to what makes TNE operations scalable and successful.

This was a key topic in a session I was involved with where we discussed the importance of providers managing TNE student expectations about the comparability of their studies and their experiences with those of students studying at the home campus, and how the experience of students studying across different locations can be meaningfully compared.

We also looked at the importance of safeguarding the interests of studying when things go wrong, and being able to navigate different policy and cultural environments.

Towards transformational TNE

The following week the British Council held a Deep Dialogue event on sustainable and scalable TNE and internationalisation, organised in partnership with Ecctis and hosted at Edinburgh Napier University.

Stakeholders from ministries and education providers from more than 30 countries across the world engaged over three days in focused discussion on TNE, its benefits and strategic priorities. At the end of the event there was a widespread consensus on the call for a socially responsible approach to internationalisation, with which Hans de Wit concluded his keynote address.

For TNE this meant not only ensuring that academic standards and the student experience are safeguarded, but also that the needs and priorities of partners and receiving countries are taken into account, and that thought is given to how TNE can be made to contribute to the social mission of education institutions and the sustainability agenda.

That TNE should be transformational and not only transactional was one of the main takeaways shared by delegates.

Not a cost-cutting measure

But how to achieve these transformational and socially responsible objectives whilst securing the financial viability and sustainability of TNE, in a context where TNE is generally not supported by public funding (with notable exceptions such as Germany as a sending country and Hong Kong as a receiving location), was a question left largely unanswered.

This was the question addressed in a session I was involved in at Pie Live Europe, organised by Oxford International Education Group, focused on “TNE: An answer or a distraction in a rapidly changing landscape?”

The session stressed how TNE cannot be a quick solution to the need to address revenue shortfalls as a result of dwindling public funds and international student recruitment at the home campus. Successful TNE, in its different modalities, is a resource-intensive endeavour requiring long-term commitment.

It therefore needs to be underpinned by institutional internationalisation strategies setting out the rationale for doing TNE, and for doing it in specific locations, through specific modalities and with specific partners. It also requires the capacity to understand and navigate diverse regulatory environments and a readiness to meet the needs of partners and align with host countries’ priorities.

The current international education landscape is definitely favourable to TNE. We are at a particular historical juncture where both the traditional receiving and sending countries of international students are seeing TNE as the solution for their different and opposite concerns.

The main receiving countries of international students are seeing TNE as a means to alleviate national concerns about high levels of immigration, whilst the main sending countries of international students are seeing TNE as means to halt brain drain and even start attracting international students themselves.

Different TNE models

Whether TNE will be able to deliver on these promises will depend on a number of factors affecting its viability for TNE providers, including, crucially, the broader policy and economic environment in TNE receiving countries. Regulations around modes of TNE delivery are one of these key factors.

Branch campuses and double degrees are generally the models of TNE that are currently being encouraged by receiving countries, but there are only so many international providers who will be willing to consider branch campuses as a realistic TNE option, and there are limits to what double degrees can achieve. Serious consideration should therefore be given to distance learning and other innovative modes of delivery, including validation and franchises involving the non-university sector.

This point has important implications when considering the transformational nature of TNE in conjunction with its financial sustainability. Validation and franchising represent the most common models of TNE for UK providers. One of the reasons is that these models are less resource-intensive than branch campuses or double degrees, and hence generally more financially viable. However, these are the TNE models that encounter the most recognition obstacles internationally, together with online learning.

There is a perception internationally that the quality of higher education degrees cannot possibly be maintained when offered in partnership with colleges without degree-awarding powers. This is an understandable concern at face value, but the UK experience with validation and franchising can provide evidence of their value in enhancing institutional capacity whilst helping to widen access to education, as is also demonstrated by the case of Malaysia. In the UK, validation and franchise models have a long and well-regarded history.

Many of today’s UK universities were former validated colleges of other degree-awarding bodies. And many UK universities partner with a range of local community colleges to broaden the reach of their educational offering to sectors of societies who might otherwise be excluded from higher education.

These international recognition challenges for validation and franchise models seem to boil down to a lack of understanding of their benefits and the underpinning of rigorous internal quality assurance systems, when they are done properly. There might be interesting work to be done here internationally to widen understanding of the potential of validation and franchise models as viable, sustainable and socially responsible types of TNE.

Quality recognition and assurance

Qualification recognition and quality assurance practice will definitely play an important role in the future growth of TNE as different national stakeholders currently adopt different approaches to the recognition and quality assurance of TNE, underpinned by different views about what quality TNE should look like.

Whether the UNESCO Global Recognition Convention, with its emphasis on the need for the international education community to work together to find shared solutions to the recognition of non-traditional modes of learning, such as TNE, will be able to provide a platform to overcome some of the existing regulatory challenges to the expansion of TNE and the realisation of its potential is yet to be seen as well as being something to aspire to.

Dedicated education hubs, providing a range of incentives for international education providers, such as through regulatory exemptions and the provision of shared facilities and other services, are ideally placed to support the delivery of quality international education “closer to home”. And we can expect them to play an increasingly important role in the international TNE landscape.

Transnational education has been growing steadily over the past 20 years, in terms of the number and types of institutions involved, the number of students, models of delivery and the countries involved either as sending or receiving countries or both. TNE is now an integral part of sending and receiving countries’ internationalisation strategies, with the traditional receiving countries of TNE now also starting to proactively export national qualifications.

In the future we can expect TNE to continue to grow in strategic importance for a broader range of countries and institutions across the globe.

As it takes a more central position on the higher education stage, it is possible to imagine that TNE will also attract more attention and expectations across the three traditional missions of education institutions – teaching, research and social outreach – and move beyond its current focus solely on teaching.

Fabrizio Trifiro is the head of stakeholder engagement and international quality reviews at ECCTIS. He is also a board member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE), a member of the British Accreditation Council (BAC) Accreditation Committee and an independent governor of Wrexham University. He would like to thank Dr Nishat Riaz for insightful conversations on TNE and sustainability.