Governments ‘want branch campuses to support development’

Transnational education ventures including branch campuses are likely to be steered towards closer alignment with host nations’ economic and social development, a report says.

The paper produced by Times Higher Education’s consultancy arm says that while transnational education started as a means by which governments looked to foreign universities to increase the supply of higher education places locally, and later evolved to display more differentiation in response to growing competition and technological innovation, it is now heading towards “TNE 3.0”.

The report, launched at an event at the University of Birmingham’s Dubai campus, says that transnational education now faces demands to deliver not just high-quality teaching but also high-quality research, industry partnerships and support for entrepreneurship.

“TNE 3.0 places foreign universities at the centre of a dynamic ecosystem of innovation, research and entrepreneurship, empowering local growth and stimulating the internationalisation of commerce and industry,” the report says.

“TNE 3.0 centres the development of workforce skills, sustainability, and prosperity at the core of its rationale and purpose.”

Alongside branch campuses, transnational education can encompass franchised and validated programmes, joint degrees and online learning.

As well as offering universities financial benefits and opportunities to extend the reach of their student recruitment activities, the THE report notes that many host nations are now taking a more strategic approach to transnational education.

For example, Egypt and India’s recent embraces of branch campuses have been placed in the context of enhancing global research collaboration and supporting national economic and development.

Many branch campuses in Malaysia now boast a significant research output in their own right and contribute to a growing number of patents.

And the work of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Senegal has included the development of new syllabuses for use by local higher education institutions, and efforts to strengthen ties between vocational colleges and industry.

Ishan Cader, a director of consultancy at THE, said transnational education was witnessing “radical change”.

“While the quality of education offered through TNE remains a core concern, we find that host governments are increasingly looking to foreign universities to bolster domestic research capacity, create links to the global economy and develop workforce skills and entrepreneurship – to have a broader economic or developmental impact,” he said.

“The TNE 3.0 framework allows both universities and governments alike to monitor and evaluate this impact over time.”

The THE report is titled TNE 3.0: How transnational education can support sustainability and national economic development.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com