TNE expansion: A new frontier in need of stronger regulation

Transnational education (TNE), also referred to as cross-border education, is growing and morphing in all kinds of interesting ways which, while exciting for innovators, surface important policy, regulatory, quality and ethical concerns. It is therefore vital that these developments do not slip around or through policy gaps. This is especially true for online TNE which is less visible than traditional campus-based higher education.

Thus, it is vital that governments take the necessary actions to regulate and quality assure such education and training expansion to inform the sector and broader public. Correspondingly, there is a pressing need for more policy research into the massive transformations shaking global higher education.

TNE and its online variants have been part of international higher education for a few decades. As Hamish Coates et al foreshadowed in 2020, it has seen a rapid increase after the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, TNE operations have grown and diversified substantially.

Stephen Wilkins and Jeroen Huisman identify 11 types of TNE provider and propose the following definition to help handle this diversity: “Transnational education is a form of education that borrows or transfers elements of one country’s higher education, as well as that country’s culture and values, to another country.”

International collaboration and networking have never been more important than at this time of geopolitical and geo-economic disruption and a decline in multilateral mechanisms. But TNE’s expansion is matched by growing risks.

International student mobility

International degree student mobility (when students pursue a bachelor, masters and-or doctoral degree abroad) continues to be dominant, with over six million students studying abroad, double the number of 10 years ago. It is anticipated that this number will further increase in the coming decade to over eight million, but its growth is decreasing, and its geographical path from the Global South to the Global North is shifting towards a more diverse direction.

Geopolitical and nationalist forces as well as concerns about adequate academic services (accommodation in particular) in high-income countries in the Global North are recent factors in the slowing down of the growth in student mobility to Australia, North America and Europe, the leading destinations.

The increased availability and quality of higher education, primarily at the undergraduate level, in middle-income countries in Asia, Latin America and parts of the Middle East, are also shaping the decrease in student mobility towards the Global North.

Several ‘sending countries’, for instance, China, South Korea and Turkey, are also becoming receiving countries. Countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine (until the Russian invasion), Egypt and some of the Caribbean countries have also become study destinations for students from neighbouring low-income countries.

These countries provide them with higher education and other forms of post-secondary education, sometimes in their public sector but mostly in private institutions and through foreign providers.

The shift online

Given the increased competition for international students and the resulting risks of falling numbers and related financial security for universities, TNE has emerged as an alternative source of revenue.

According to a 2023 article by Janet Ilieva and Vangelis Tsiligiris, United Kingdom TNE topped more than 530,000 students in 2021. In the same year, its higher education institutions attracted approximately 680,000 international students. It is likely that TNE will surpass inward student mobility.

As the United Kingdom case makes clear, TNE was originally primarily a ‘North-South’ phenomenon, in which universities from high-income and mostly Anglophone countries offered degree programmes through branch campuses, franchise operations and articulation programmes. Asia was the recipient region of most TNE arrangements, followed by the Middle East. As in student mobility, TNE is more diverse globally both in provision and in reception.

The big trend in TNE is the shift to online education with limited in-person teaching. A 2024 report by Studyportals found over 15,000 English-taught online programmes globally. And, although 92% of these programmes are supplied by the four big Anglophone countries – the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia – the number of programmes offered outside those four has doubled since 2019 from 623 to 1,212, primarily in business and management, computer sciences and IT.

Private higher education

This global growth in online delivery of education goes hand in hand with the growth in various forms of private higher education. Over 50% of the institutions of higher education and over one-third of global enrolment are in private institutions, many of which are commercial in nature.

Private higher education has become the dominant growth area in higher education as a result of the lack of funding for public higher education as well as traditional higher education’s sluggish response to diverse learner needs.

Although most private higher education, in particular for-profit, is taking place in the Global South, it is also present in high-income countries, and one can see a rise in private higher education recently in Western Europe, for instance, Germany and France.

TNE is often a commercial activity. It is increasingly a way for public universities to support international and other operations as public funding wanes. Most for-profit private higher education targets particular fields and education services and tends to be more online than in-person. There is an array of ownership and institutional structures, involving a range of players.

Establishing regulations and standards

TNE, especially online TNE, is likely to become the major form of international delivery of education for local and international students, especially where growing demand cannot be met domestically.

Growth is also increasingly motivated by an institution or country’s financial challenges or strategic priorities – situations that are likely to intensify. This shift could help overcome some of the inequities associated with mobility and address concerns associated with climate change, but online TNE is significantly more difficult to regulate.

A concerning feature of the global TNE market is how learners and countries can easily become victims. Fraud is associated with the exponential rise in the number of fake colleges and accreditors as well as document falsification.

This is partly due to different conceptions and regulatory approaches to accreditation or quality assurance of TNE and the absence of trustworthy information. Indeed, the deficiency in comprehensive and accessible information is partly responsible for ongoing interest in and use of global rankings as a proxy for quality.

The trend in growth of private for-profit higher education, TNE and online delivery is clear and, given its growing presence, it requires more policy attention by national, regional and global agencies. As mentioned, public universities are increasingly active in TNE and online education, targeting countries and learners under-served in their home countries while looking for other sources of income as a result of decreasing public support and other factors.

The Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education makes clear the importance of ensuring there are no differences in quality or standards between learners in the home or host country regardless of whether the delivery of education programmes and learning activities is undertaken in a formal, non-formal or informal setting, in face-to-face, virtual or hybrid formats, traditional or non-traditional modes.

Accordingly, there are growing concerns about insufficient regulation and the multilateral framework covering international education, and especially online TNE.

In response, there is a need for clearer and stronger accreditation, quality assurance and standards by national regulators, regional networks and organisations such as UNESCO, the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education and the International Association of Universities with regard to public and private involvement in TNE and online education. This is an emerging frontier for tertiary education, and much more research is required into this growing phenomenon.

Professor Ellen Hazelkorn is joint managing partner, BH Associates. She is a professor emeritus at Technological University Dublin, Ireland. Hamish Coates is professor of public policy, director of the Higher Education Futures Lab and a global tertiary education expert, based in Australia. Hans de Wit is professor emeritus and distinguished fellow of the Boston College Center for International Higher Education, USA, and a senior fellow of the International Association of Universities. Tessa DeLaquil is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Education at University College Dublin.

Hans de Wit, Ellen Hazelkorn and Hamish Coates are editors and Tessa DeLaquil is associate editor of Policy Reviews in Higher Education. This blog is based on their editorial for issue 1, 2025. The blog was first published by the Society for Research into Higher Education, 4 April 2025.

This article is a commentary. Commentary articles are the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of University World News.