The report also emphasises the importance of making sure that students fully grasp the value of their feedback in shaping the quality of their education, among other key findings.

The insights come from QAA’s interim report of its Quality Evaluation and Enhancement of UK Transnational Higher Education Scheme.

The QE-TNE Scheme was commissioned by Universities UK and GuildHE and launched in 2021 for an initial five-year duration and has so far evaluated provision across nine countries – Germany, Egypt, UAE, China, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Greece, and Cyprus.

Three years into the five-year run of the initial scheme, Vicki Stott, chief executive, QAA, said the report “clearly shows how the over 75 participating UK higher education institutions – representing about 70% of the UK’s entire higher education TNE student population – have embraced the opportunity to benefit from the sharing of best practice in responding to the opportunities and challenges of transnational provision.”

“The support of overseas institutions, government departments and quality agencies – and, of course, the British Council and network of diplomatic representations of the UK overseas – has also been vital to the success of this work,” she added.

Some 77 UK higher education institutions participate in the scheme, representing about 70% of the sector’s entire TNE student population – more than 400,000 students.

During the first two years of its operation, the total student population engaged in TNE provision among the scheme’s participating institutions increased by 66%.

The most popular mode of provision among QE-TNE participants entails collaborative delivery through consortia, joint awards or franchised/validated programs. These involve around 40% of all students engaged in TNE programs.

Over 75 participating UK higher education institutions have embraced the opportunity to benefit from the sharing of best practice

Vicki Stott, QAA

The report details the key findings of the first three years of the scheme in terms of governance, partnership arrangements, the student experience, and the balance between the need for adjustments to address local contexts and approaches to ensure the comparability of quality and standards.

Among its main findings, the report explored how TNE needs to be embedded in governance structures.

“UK providers increasingly separate the business side of TNE from the academic,” it found.

It went on to note that while the initial scrutiny, approval and ongoing monitoring of partnerships and other arrangements at a strategic level were found to be well managed, there was a “less consistent approach” to examining the impact of expansion of activity – of which the impact on existing staff and structures is not always considered.

Elsewhere in the report, assessing good practice within student experience, the report highlighted the importance of gathering and responding to student feedback effectively, ensuring the student voice knows it is heard.

“Firstly, students need to understand why they are being asked to give feedback. While this may be obvious in the UK, it is less so in other cultures, or students may be used to doing it in different ways,” the report read.

The QE-TNE scheme is set to expand further this year, as the Scottish Funding Council has indicated that participation in the scheme will be a requirement for all Scottish degree awarding bodies engaging in TNE from the 2024-25 academic year, and as it has been agreed that the opportunity to join the scheme is to be re-opened for English institutions.

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales – now Medr – had agreed that all Welsh providers would participate in the scheme from the outset.

The report concludes by outlining details of plans for the next two years of the QE-TNE Scheme with next year’s focus on Malaysia, India and Oman.