TNE can diversify risk, but it can also amplify it
Last summer, a survey found that 76 per cent of Russell Group universities had seen declines in international postgraduate applications, with an average decline of 16 per cent. This, of course, followed the UK government’s 2023 ban on master’s students bringing dependants: a major contributing factor to a financial crisis that has seen tens of thousands of job losses.
The weaker international affordability of UK degrees, rising geopolitical instability and the disruptions in the job market wrought by AI have only increased the difficulties of recruiting international students onshore – and enhanced the rationale to pivot to teaching them where they live through transnational education (TNE).
There are several types of TNE, from full overseas campuses to distance learning, collaborative provision and franchising arrangements. Collectively, more than 600,000 students were taught in this way in 2023 – 448,145 in-person and 158,335 via distance provision.
UK TNE student numbers by type of provision (2023)
