Transnational education (TNE) refers to higher education programs where students are located in a different country than the institution providing the education. TNE takes various forms, including distance learning, international branch campuses, franchising, and validation. TNE is an important and growing phenomenon for UK universities as it allows them to recruit more international students. However, TNE also poses challenges for UCAS in terms of how international students enter UK higher education programs and providing market data, as TNE pathways are changing and classifications can be unclear.

1. Transnational education: what is it
and why should UCAS care?
Professor Nigel Healey, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International)Professor Nigel Healey, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International)
Nottingham Trent UniversityNottingham Trent University
16 February 201616 February 2016

2. Overview
• What is TNE?
• Why is TNE important for UK universities?
• Why is TNE important for UCAS?
• How is TNE changing?
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3. What is TNE?
• “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)
• “All types of higher education study programmes, sets of study
courses, or educational services (including those of distance
education) in which the learners are located in a country different
from the one where the awarding institution is based” (Council of
Europe, 2002)
University
(country A)
Students
(country B)
‘Principle of transnationality’ 3

4. Types of TNE (1): by activity
1. Distance-learning
2. International branch campus
3. Franchise (collaborative
provision, twinning)
4. Validation
4

5. Types of TNE (2): by mode of delivery (GATS)
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GATS terminology Transnational education variant
Mode 1 — Cross border
supply
Programme mobility: distance or on-
line education
Mode 2 — Consumption
abroad
Student mobility: export education*
Mode 3 — Commercial
presence
Institutional mobility:
•international branch campus
•franchise
•validated partner
Mode 4 — Presence of
natural persons
Staff mobility: ‘flying faculty’
programmes
*not TNE

6. Why is TNE important for UK universities?
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Source: UNESCO, OECD
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%

7. How big is TNE for the UK (1)?
7
663,915
Source: HESA

8. How big is TNE for the UK (2)?
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, including
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 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 8

9. Why is TNE important for UCAS?
• UCAS: at the heart of connecting people to (UK) higher
education
• UCAS: provides an applications system…
• …and market intelligence to higher education institutions
• Two problems:
• More international students are entering UK higher education
through TNE pathways
• The HESA data on TNE enrolments are neither timely nor
very meaningful
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10. Problem 1: TNE pathways
10
Published by HEFCE,
June 2015
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/media/HEF
CE,2014/Content/Pubs/2015/2015
08/HEFCE2015_08.pdf

11. Key headlines
• 33% of all international first degree entrants in 2013-14
began their first degree in a TNE pathway
– 55% for China and 61% for Malaysia
– 49% for business, management and administrative studies
• Students starting their first degree through transnational
pathways have much higher progression rates into
postgraduate study than other international students
• 64% of the Chinese transnational students who commenced
their first degree programme in 2011-12 were in
postgraduate programmes in 2013-14
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12. Implications
• TNE may be changing the way that UK universities recruit
international students into both undergraduate and
postgraduate degrees
• These new channels allow universities to compete differently,
bypassing UCAS and direct recruitment
• Examples include: 1+2, 2+1, 3+1, 3+1+1
• Trend may be accelerated by:
– changes in Tier 4 visas (eg, IELTS)
– embedded colleges moving offshore
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13. Problem 2: data quality
The limitations of HESA data:
• no data yet available for 2014/15 by type of TNE (eg, overseas
campus)
• student headcount not full-time equivalent
• enrolments not active engagement
• the Oxford Brookes effect (43% of 2014/15 enrolments are ACCA
students or graduates)
• inconsistent reporting of students at validated centres
• no indication of gross or net revenue
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14. The value of transnational education to the UK
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https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transnational-education-value-to-the-uk

15. Key headlines
• 250,000 (circa 90%) of Oxford Brookes ACCA enrolments are
inactive
• Higher education institutions find it difficult to allocate TNE
programmes to the HESA categories
• HESA data does not capture articulation routes (see TNE pathways)
or fully capture validation
• 72% of reported TNE was at undergraduate level
• The average annual fee per active enrolment is £1,530
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16. Estimated active enrolments and revenue
Active Enrolments Revenue Average Revenue
Undergraduate registered with
UK institution
90,790 £42,700,000 £470.32
Undergraduate registered with
overseas partner
48,460 £22,800,000 £470.49
Undergraduate distance learning 9,345 £28,100,000 £3,006.96
Taught postgraduate registered
with UK institution
14,955 £54,300,000 £3,630.89
Taught postgraduate registered
with overseas partner
20,080 £72,900,000 £3,630.48
Postgraduate distance learning 43,440 £184,200,000 £4,240.33
Postgraduate research 3,960 £20,500,000 £5,176.77
University of London and Open
University
92,700 £70,300,000 £758.36
Total 323,730 £495,800,000 £1,531.52
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17. Why are TNE programmes so hard to classify?
• Analysis of TNE case studies gathered from around the world
through www.linkedin.com
• Analysis of QAA reports of TNE partnerships in UAE (2014),
China (2012), Singapore (2011), Malaysia (2010), India
(2009)
• Key findings:
–Most TNE partnerships involve more than one TNE activity
and/or more than one mode of delivery
–A number of “TNE partnerships” are not strictly TNE at all
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18. 18
Part 1: franchise
Part 2: flying faculty
VLE + summer school

19. 19
Quality DistanceQuality Distance
Learning GhanaLearning Ghana
Distance-learning
Local partner
Flying faculty
Campus study option

20. February 18, 2016 20
University of Southampton
No local partner
2+2 engineering
Flying faculty

21. 21
All local faculty, including provost
Local partner
Degrees identical to London

22. 22
All local staff
Local partner
Overseas campus or
franchise?

23. 23
Overseas campus?
…or private Malaysian
university in which the
University of
Nottingham has a
minority stake?

24. Conclusions
• TNE is a growing phenomenon
• TNE is changing the way that UK universities recruit
international students
• TNE poses problems for UCAS in terms of:
– the way international students enter UK higher education
– Providing timely market intelligence to UK higher education
institutions
• TNE is evolving and blurring boundaries in ways which
make it difficult to classify and measure
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25. For more information:
• E-mail: nigel.healey@ntu.ac.uk
• Website: http://nottinghamtrent.academia.edu/NigelHealey
• Website includes conferences presentations, papers and
resources on transnational education
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