This presentation considers the benefits of transnational education (TNE) to host countries and to TNE partners in the host country. It reviews the scale and the benefits of ‘traditional’ TNE, which is generally understood to entail a university in one country (eg, the UK) providing educational services to students in another (eg, Thailand). It argues that although this tends to be an ‘unbalanced’ partnership, nonetheless traditional TNE does provide tangible benefits to the host country in terms of technology transfer (including curriculum, pedagogy and quality assurance) and faculty development, as witnessed by the way in which the private sector in Malaysia has used TNE to develop its higher education sector. It goes on to look at emerging forms of TNE, which are more explicitly based on a genuine partnerships of equals, arguing that these new forms hold out the best prospects of building lasting partnerships.

1. Enhancing the value of transnational
education
UK-Thailand Transnational Education
Development Project
Professor Dr Nigel Healey
Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(International)
Nottingham Trent University
18 January 2016

2. Overview
• Traditional forms of transnational
education
• The benefits of traditional transnational
education:
– to host countries
– to partner institutions
• New forms of transnational education
• The enhanced benefits of new forms of
transnational education
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3. The traditional view of transnational education
• TNE is ‘any teaching or learning activity in which the students are in
a different country to that in which the institutional providing the
education is based’ (Global Alliance for Transnational Education
1997)
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The principle of transnationality

4. Traditional types of transnational education
1. Distance-learning
2. International branch campus
3. Franchise (twinning)
4. Validation
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5. The UK’s TNE by traditional type
2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
Registered at HEI:
• overseas campus 7,120 9,885 11,410 12,305 15,140 17,525 19,230
• distance learning 100,345 112,345 114,985 113,065 116,520 123,635 119,700
• other collaborative
provision
59,895 68,595 74,360 86,630 96,060 103,795 116,035
Not registered at HEI
but studying for HEI’s
award:
• overseas partner
organisation
29,240 197,185 207,790 291,575 342,910 353,375 374,430
• other (validation) 70 35 50 125 345 600 7,270
Total
196,670 388,045 408,595 503,700 570,925 598,930 636,675
Source: HESA

6. The value of traditional TNE
• The growth in internationally mobile students is dramatic since 1980
• …but it mirrors the growth in global tertiary enrolments
• 98% of students are not internationally mobile and can only be
reached by TNE
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1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2013
Internationally-mobile students
(m)
1.1 1.1 1.3 1.7 2.1 3.0 4.1 4.5
Global tertiary enrolments (m) 51.2 60.3 68.7 81.7 99.9 139.0 181.7 198.6
Internationally mobile as % total 2.1% 1.8% 1.9% 2.1% 2.1% 2.2% 2.3% 2.3%
Source: UNESCO, OECD

7. The value of traditional TNE for Thailand: gross
tertiary enrolment (%)
• Thailand has increased tertiary enrolment since 2000
• …in line with the growth in global enrolments
• But there may be unsatisfied demand which could be reached by
facilitating TNE
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2000 2005 2010 2013
Thailand 34.9 44.2 50.2 51.4
World 19.1 24.1 29.3 32.9
Developed countries 54.9 66.6 73.6 73.6
Source: UNESCO

8. The value of traditional TNE to Thai higher
education
• Demand absorption:
– meets demand from students who cannot travel abroad for study
(substitutes for domestic HE)
– may meet unsatisfied demand for students who cannot access higher
education (supplements domestic HE)
• Technology transfer / developmental support to local partners:
– Curriculum
– Pedagogy
– Quality assurance
• Professional development of local staff employed by partners
• Student mobility (especially branch campuses and franchises)
• Demonstration effect to local higher education institutions
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9. • Key to success in a TNE
partnership:
• Do things together that
each partner could not
do on their own eg:
– Field trips
– Fashion shows
– Internships
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10. The value of traditional TNE to Thai higher
education – example from Malaysia
• Many private colleges set up to franchise early years of UK and
Australian degrees in mid-1990s (1+2, 2+1)
• Malaysian students had to go to UK / Australia for complete their
degrees
• Asian financial crisis 1997 – the 3+0 model
• TNE enabled Malaysian colleges to develop into private universities
• Clear developmental framework: Malaysian Qualifications
Framework (MQF), Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA)
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11. New forms of TNE
• TNE which blurs the traditional boundaries
• Partnership-based TNE between universities
• TNE which creates new institutions
• New forms of TNE potentially offer even greater value to host
countries in terms of:
– developing local staff
– institutional capacity building
– enhancing national research base
– strengthening links between local and foreign universities
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12. 12
Quality Distance
Learning Ghana
Distance-learning
Local partner
Flying faculty
Campus study option

13. 13
Part 1: franchise
Part 2: flying faculty
VLE + summer school

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15. 15

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22. An alternative way to classify TNE
• Independent TNE provision
– ‘pure’ distance learning
– ‘University of Imperialism’ – international
branch campus
– McDonalds franchise
• Collaborative TNE provision
– Distance-learning with local tuition /
partner support
– ‘University of Localisation’ – international
branch campus operated with one or more
local partner
– Joint degrees
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23. Conclusions
• Traditional (independent) TNE offers host
countries tangible benefits in terms of
demand absorption, technology transfer /
development capacity building and staff
development
• Newer forms of collaborative TNE offer
enhanced benefits in terms of:
– Accelerating the development of the domestic
higher education sector
– Adapting curricula and research to local
needs
– Strengthening local research capacity
– Building lasting, sustainable partnerships
between the home and host countries
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24. For more information:
• E-mail: nigel.healey@ntu.ac.uk
• Website: http://nottinghamtrent.academia.edu/NigelHealey
• Website includes conferences presentations, papers and
resources on TNE developed for the Higher Education
Academy
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