2019 and 2020 have seen historically high numbers of UK’s HEIs providing Transnational Education (TNE). According to a report from the Universities UK for this period, 156 HEIs (82.9%) have delivered TNE degree programmes, reaching a total of 453,350 students.

Out of those, more than a third (39.1%) were studying through collaborative provision, followed by distance, flexible or distributed learning (31.2%), registered at an overseas partner organisation (21.7%), and overseas campus (6.9%). Distance, flexible or distributed learning experienced the greatest proportional growth from the 2018/19 period (17.5%). 

68.3% of students were studying at undergraduate level in all types of provision, while half of distance learning student were on the postgraduate level (50.2%).

Regionally, half of the countries where TNE was provided were in Asia, followed by the EU (16.6%), Middle East (13.1%) and Africa (10.7%). When it comes to overseas campuses, most students were in Asia (63.2%) and the Middle East (26.3%). Top countries for UK distance and online learning included Singapore, Cyprus, Pakistan, US and Hong Kong.

As the referenced period predates the pandemic, it will be interesting to read about its effect on the overall TNE numbers in 2020/21 and, especially, the types of delivery where online provisions are expected to increase in numbers.

Full report is available here.