Expert roundtable explores collaborative promotion of UK transnational education
Representatives from across the UK higher education sector met in London to further explore how UK transnational education (TNE) can most effectively and collaboratively be promoted globally.
The mid-April roundtable workshop brought together delegates from hosting organisation Universities UK International (UUKi), Advance HE, the British Council, UK ENIC, Ecctis, the Office for Students, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, and the UK Government’s Department for Business and Trade and Department for Education.
The first event of its type, organised by UUKi’s Joana Westphal and Annabelle Lee, it provided an introductory exploration into how the sector can work more collaboratively, raising mutual awareness of TNE expertise and interests and identifying the next steps towards collective sectoral engagement.
Chris Lyons, UK ENIC Head of External Engagement, attended. He said: ‘To some extent, the meeting in London was a continuation of discussions from a month earlier at the three-day ‘Deep Dialogues’ conference in Edinburgh. That event’s focus had been on sustainable and scalable TNE, organised by the British Council in partnership with Ecctis, the company which operates UK ENIC on behalf of the UK Government.
‘TNE creates many recognition challenges, and so UK ENIC takes a strong interest in its delivery. As part of the UK delegation to the Global Recognition Convention Bureau – which partly focuses on worldwide recognition of TNE - we are well-placed to share our recognition expertise, as part of collective work to ensure the success and sustainability of the growing number of TNE activities across the globe.’
Recognition is a key component in the success of TNE, yet it is widely understood that the process can become more complex with TNE engagements, due to the combination of different national legislative and jurisdictional interests involved.
‘Being a part of these discussions is really important for UK ENIC,’ added Chris Lyons. ‘It provides the opportunity to remind people of the significant role that recognition plays and how, without it, the success and viability of TNE programmes can be very challenging indeed.’
Ecctis was represented by in-house TNE expert, Fabrizio Trifiro, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and International Quality Reviews.
At the March 2024 ‘Deep Dialogues’ event, representatives from Ministries and education providers from more than 30 countries across the world, engaged over three days in focused discussions about TNE, its benefits and strategic priorities.