New TNE scheme to meet the challenges of the evolving global HE landscape

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The growing significance of transnational education (TNE) has been highlighted in recent months by UK government's International Education Strategy, the HE emphasis of the Prime Minister's high-profile trade visit to India, and the proliferation of headlines in the sector press about the establishment of new British branch campuses across the world.

The sustainability of this expanding area of provision will of course continue to depend on UK TNE's reputation for world-leading quality.

QAA has worked extensively in supporting the maintenance and enhancement of that quality, and in facilitating cross-border regulatory alignments, promoting the development of high-quality TNE through working in partnership with the British Council, the UK Department for Business and Trade, domestic and international providers, and overseas governments, regulators and quality agencies, as well as key UK sector bodies and public organisations.

Central to this work has been the Quality Evaluation and Enhancement of UK TNE Scheme, which was commissioned by Universities UK and GuildHE in 2021.

Since then, there have of course been extraordinary developments in the economic, technological and political conditions under which UK TNE operates, and in student, employer, regulatory and governmental expectations of that provision.

We are therefore this year launching a new and refreshed iteration of that scheme, the UK TNE Quality Scheme, designed by QAA to meet the needs of contemporary transnational operations, and to future-proof our approaches to the quality of the United Kingdom's transnational provision for years to come, in a fast-growing, fast-changing and dynamic global higher education landscape.

The new iteration of the scheme has been developed through extensive consultation with stakeholders across our sector, and has now been commissioned afresh by Universities UK, GuildHE and Independent HE. It is officially supported by the Department for Education England, and endorsed by the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland and Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research in Wales, and the Scottish Funding Council

This new version of the scheme is designed to be flexible, responsive and cost-effective, to minimise institutional burdens, to be valid for all types of TNE delivered by UK higher education providers, and to be enhancement-led and founded in peer-learning shared across its participants.

It advances three central aims: to enhance the practices of providers and their practices, to support the delivery and management of transnational operations, and to develop and upskill colleagues involved in TNE.

The refreshed scheme will each year be structured around a broad overarching theme, topical and relevant to the interests and concerns of its participants and agreed in consultation with those participants. This theme will inform the focus of regular partnership insight, thematic insight and case study reports generated and shared through the scheme's programme of activities. In addition, training sessions will support staff in managing TNE partnerships, and regulatory digests will give information on local regulatory contexts.

The non-regulatory, enhancement-led Partnership Insight reports will do a deep dive in specific partnerships of participating institutions to understand how TNE works in practice. Based on engagements with providers and students, the collaborative process will identify areas of effective practice and suggestions for further enhancement within the partnership or TNE arrangement.

At the same time, Case Studies will share advice and insights into challenges, expectations and effective approaches from the perspectives of the providers themselves.

The findings of these Partnership Insights reports and Case Studies will determine the focus Thematic Insights reports designed to provide guidance to support the enhancement of TNE practice.

Meanwhile, the scheme's regulatory digest will support member providers in understanding local regulatory landscapes and will be written in collaboration with overseas quality agencies and regulators to share guidance and information on local contexts and frameworks.

And our training opportunities will offer guidance and CPD for participant providers' staff at any level of TNE experience – whether institutional leaders, managers, or academic or professional services colleagues – including those working in such areas as international and partnerships offices, faculty link-tutors, QA and L&T specialists, and registry and student support staff. Our TNE in Practice Symposium will give staff the opportunity to connect and discuss shared challenges and solutions.

In short, it's all about getting together to keep things good and make things even better.

The sustainable success of British TNE will not be achieved through cutthroat competition, but through collaborative working and the sharing of best practices – because the success of one UK provider reflects positively upon the reputation of all UK providers, and the continuing success of all UK TNE operations depends on the sustainability of the UK higher education sector's reputation for the consistently and reliably high quality of its transnational provision.

When the failure of one UK TNE operation would impact detrimentally on the reputation and viability of others across the sector, we believe that this collaborative, constructive, enhancement-led approach is the best and only way to ensure the long-term sustainability of these activities – where it really is a case of all for one and one for all.