The UK has been the main exporting country for transnational education (TNE) – that is, for providing higher education to foreign students who study wholly in their own country. In the latest data (2020/21), UK universities reported 488,095 TNE enrolments, up 13% on 2019/20. This compares with 605,130 for international students studying in the UK. Post-Covid, there is growing interest in New Zealand entering the global TNE market. There are several reasons for this interest: - Covid-19 and growing geo-political tensions have blunted the appetite for conventional export education (studying overseas) in key source markets, notably China - While global enrolments in higher education have soared to reach 235.3m by 2020, only 6.1m (2.4%) are internationally mobile, a percentage which has not changed since 1980 - Export education is increasingly seen as exploitative and environmentally unsustainable. TNE, in contrast, reduces the carbon footprint of international education and typically involves building deep partnerships between exporting HEIs and the host countries. This presentation considers what New Zealand universities can learn from past and present global TNE development, and reflects on where Aotearoa’s approach may differ from the UK’s. It examines the need for stringent Quality Assurance processes to ensure students entering TNE pathways are set up for success.

1. Is Transnational Education the Future of
Internationalisation for Higher Education in
Aotearoa? Lessons from the UK
9 May 2022
Professor Nigel Healey
Provost and Deputy President

2. Background: personal TNE journey
• Why is higher education
internationalising? 2008
• Why do UK universities franchise
degrees? 2012
• Is transnational education profitable?
2013
• What are the main forms of TNE? 2014-
15
• What are the challenges of managing
TNE partnerships? 2016-18
• Integration versus localisation in TNE
2017-18
• Drivers of TNE 2019-20
• Benefits of TNE for host countries 2021-
• University of Leicester 1989-96:
• distance-learning MBA
• Manchester Metropolitan University
1996-2004:
• campus in Colombo
• X+Y in Asia, Africa
• Northern Consortium UK IFY
• University of Canterbury 2004-11
• Nottingham Trent University 2011-16
• franchises/validations in Europe / Asia
• distance learning in Middle-East, China
• dual degrees in Europe
• Fiji National University 2016-20
• University of Limerick 2020-
• dual degrees in Europe / Asia – masters
with research objectives

3. Overview
• TNE 101: What? How? Why?
• TNE UK plc: How Big? How
Valuable?
• TNE: Motivations, Risk Factors
• TNE Pathways to Study
• De-risking TNE pathways

4. What?
• “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’

5. How? (HESA)
Distance-learning
International branch
campus
Franchise (collaborative
provision, twinning)
Validation / credit
recognition

6. Blurring and overlap in TNE
Distance
Learning
Int. Branch
Campus
Local
Partner
Flying
Faculty
Rented
Space
Franchise Validation /
Franchise+
Joint
Programme
How?
What?
Own
Programme
Healey, N. and Bordogna, C. (2014). From transnational to multinational education: emerging trends in
international higher education. Internationalisation of Higher Education, 3, 34-56.

7. Distance
Learning
Int. Branch
Campus
Local
Partner
Flying
Faculty
Rented
Space
Franchise Validation /
Franchise+
Joint
Programme
How?
What?
Own
Programme

8. Distance
Learning
Int. Branch
Campus
Local
Partner
Flying
Faculty
Rented
Space
Franchise Validation /
Franchise+
Joint
Programme
How?
What?
Own
Programme

9. Distance
Learning
Int. Branch
Campus
Local
Partner
Flying
Faculty
Rented
Space
Franchise Validation /
Franchise+
Joint
Programme
How?
What?
Own
Programme
Healey, N. and Michael, L. (2015). Towards a new framework for analysing transnational education.
Higher Education Policy, 28(3), 369-391.

10. Why? Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Internationally-
mobile students
(m)
1.1 1.1 1.3 1.7 2.1 3.0 4.1 4.8 6.1
Global tertiary
enrolments (m)
51.2 60.3 68.7 81.7 99.9 139.0 181.7 217.7 235.3
Internationally
mobile as % total
2.1% 1.8% 1.9% 2.1% 2.1% 2.2% 2.3% 2.2% 2.6%

11. UK TNE: How big?
Source: HESA
8
2007/08 2009/10 2011/12 2013/14 2015/16 2017/18 2019/20
Registered at HEI:
• overseas campus 7,120 11,410 15,140 19,230 25,335 28,355 30,960
• distance learning 100,345 114,985 116,520 119,700 113,995 118,210 127,345
• Other, including collaborative provision 59,895 74,360 96,060 116,035 138,110 148,300 174,470
Not registered at HEI but studying for
HEI’s award:
• overseas partner organisation 29,240 207,790 342,910 374,430 416,065 391,985 95,260
• Other (validated) 70 50 345 7,270 7,500 6,840 4,460
Total 196,670 408,595 570,925 636,675 701,010 693,695 432,500
Healey, N. (2020). The end of transnational education? The view from the
UK. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 24(3), 102-112.

12. UK TNE students by level of study 2016/17 – 2020/21:
Postgraduate vs Undergraduate

13. UK universities by TNE enrolments
University TNE enrolments 2020/21
University of London 50,275
Open University 44,930
Coventry 20,530
Liverpool 18,835
Nottingham 17,545
Greenwich 13,980
Middlesex 12,915
Bedfordshire 10,640
Sunderland 9,945
Lancaster 9,820
Staffordshire 9,435
Westminster 8,035
West of England 8,000
London Met 7,925
Liverpool John Moores 7,920

14. TNE: How valuable?
Healey, N. (2013). Is UK transnational education “one of Britain’s great
growth industries of the future”? Higher Education Review, 45(3), 6-35.

15. Motives: what does the university want from TNE?
1. Teaching
2. Research
3. Commercial
4. Developmental
5. Branding and prestige
Healey, N. (2013). Why do English universities really franchise degrees
to overseas providers? Higher Education Quarterly, 67(2), 180-200.

16. Motive 1: Teaching
• Internationalisation of the curriculum: direct
• Structured student exchange
• University of Kent: Brussels School of International
Studies
• Internationalisation of the curriculum: indirect
• Imported curriculum / teaching from TNE partners
• Heriot-Watt University

17. Motive 2: Research
• Access to talent
• UNNC – Tier 1 Gaokao
• New areas of research / new sources of
research income
• Centre for Sustainable Energy
Technologies (CSET)
• Nottingham Ningbo New Materials
Institute
• International Academy for the Marine
Economy and Technology

18. Motive 3: Commercial
• Revenue diversification,
maximisation
• Coventry University, Bolton
University
• Pipeline of online international
enrolments (and induced demand by
raised profile)
• XJTLU 2+2

19. Motive 4: Developmental
• Widen access to higher education internationally
• Glasgow Caledonian University – Transnet Freight
SA
• Support capacity building in third countries
• Manchester Metropolitan University – IIT

20. Motive 5: Branding and prestige
• Global profile
• University of Nottingham
• Reputation by association
• UCL – US National Institute of Mental Health

21. Importance of motive
• Different forms of TNE support different
motives
• Misalignment of motive and form leads to
failure
• Nottingham Trent University
• Need to understand motives of other key
stakeholders
• Local partner
• Host government
• Students
• Misalignment of motives of university and
stakeholders will lead to failure:
• UCLan
• UNSW Asia
Healey, N. (2021). Transnational education: the importance of aligning stakeholders’
motivations with the form of cross-border educational service delivery. Higher
Education Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12371

22. TNE and risk appetite
Low – Financial Risk – High
Validation
Franchise
Distance
Learning
Int. Branch
Campus
Low
–
Reputational
Risk
–
High
Sources of risk:
 Principal-agent
 Financial
 Reputational
 Compliance
 Political
Healey, N. (2016). The challenges of leading an international branch campus:
the ‘lived experience’ of in-country senior managers. Journal of Studies in
International Education, 20(1), 61-78.
Healey, N. (2018). The challenges of managing transnational education
partnerships: the views of “home-based” managers vs “in-country” managers,
International Journal of Educational Management, 32(2), 241-256.

23. TNE risk register
Type of Risk
Financial
Failure to recruit students
Failure to control capital costs
Failure to control operating costs
Reputational
Failure to recruit qualified students
Failure to maintain academic quality
Failure to graduate employable students
Compliance
Failure to gain/maintain Ministry of Education registration
Failure to follow financial regulations
Failure to follow employment legislation
Political
Adverse change in geo-political environment
Adverse change in government policy
Natural Natural shock which disrupts operations (incl. pandemic)
Healey, N. (2015). Towards a risk-based typology for transnational education. Higher Education, 69(1), 1-18.

24. Focus: TNE as a pathway for international students
• 150,000 international students
start bachelors degree in Year 2
from a TNE pathway
• 40% of Malaysian and 38% of
Chinese entrants start Year 2 from
a TNE pathway

25. TNE entrants as % of first degree entrants by country
2018/19
Source: HESA
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Malaysia China Vietnam Qatar Germany France Hong
Kong SAR
Singapore India Spain

26. Major subjects for TNE pathway entry

27. Destination of bachelors graduates from UK IBCs

28. De-risking TNE pathways
Marketing Admissions Curriculum Teaching Assessment Transfer
Quality Assurance - Governance
Which stages does the university control?
Which stages does the university contract to TNE partner?

29. The de-risked delivery model
What are the pressures to localise TNE?
But…

30. Balancing global integration (I) vs local responsiveness
(R) in TNE
Healey, N. (2018). The optimal global integration – local responsiveness trade-off for an
international branch campus. Research in Higher Education, 59(5), 623-649.

31. Conclusions
TNE can be an important means to
achieving the mission of a university
It is important to understand:
The university’s true motive for entering
TNE partnership
Motives of the key stakeholders
• Be objective and honest:
• Need a proper business case
• Factor in full costs of the TNE partnership
– and costs of exiting (if necessary)
• Understand the I-R trade-offs
• Carry out risk analysis / mitigation
• Set and monitor key performance
indicators

32. Final thought: what is the future of inter-
/transnational education?
Healey, N. (2008). Is higher education in really internationalising? Higher Education, 55(3), 333-355.
? or ? or