European Demand for UK Transnational Education - Opportunities and Challenges

Our latest report on EU demand for UK Transnational Education has just been released. The report, commissioned by the British Council EU Higher Education team, was based on two primary sources: focus-group and survey research with TNE students from six EU countries, regarding their background, satisfaction with their TNE programme and how the programme prepared them for the future; and interviews with decision-makers from EU and UK HEIs, complemented by in-depth analysis of two structured TNE programmes led by British Council Education teams in Spain and Greece, leading to mini case studies and recommendations for  UK HE sector decision-makers.

Some key findings in terms of student profile and perceptions were as follows:

• Overall satisfaction with the TNE programme was high, with particularly strong feedback on the impact the programme has had on their future professional lives
• The TNE programmes under study attracted a high proportion of International students, with 45% of the surveyed TNE students being from outside the country of study
• TNE students bring significant language capital to their institutions of study, with over a third of those interviewed speaking three or more languages besides their native language
• TNE programmes  had a high impact on enhancing students’ skill sets and deepening their knowledge and expertise (87 per cent of students agreed with both propositions).

The policy-based strand of the research produced a number of high-level recommendations for Policy-makers, The British Council and UK HEIs, based on in-depth conversations with EU and UK HE decision-makers and government representatives. The study's specific recommendations for UK HEIs included calls to consider the development of dedicated delivery teams for EU strategic partnerships work, ramping up influence and network-building efforts with the same level of resourcing as other major international markets, and working to leverage research and other networks to rebuild trust following the UK leaving the EU.

The report, written by Janet Ilieva, Pat Killingley, Vangelis Tsiligiris and Rebecca Finlayson is available now, free to our registered users.