Transnational Education

Transnational education can be defined as all forms of higher education study programs, or sets of studies or educational services (including distance education) in which the learners are located in a country different from the one where the awarding institution is based. Such programs may belong to the educational system of a state different from the state in which it operates, or may operate independently of any national system. Transnational education implies, therefore, crossing the borders of national higher education systems and usually falls into the category of non-official higher education in the host country. Transnational education is often considered in relation with the franchising of institutions and programmes, but it can also take other forms of delivery.

Common forms of TNE are:

• Franchising, whereby a higher education institution from a certain country authorises another institution from the same or another country to provide its educational programs or parts thereof .

• Program articulations, including twinning arrangements, whereby two or more institutions jointly define a study program in terms of credits and credit transfers. These may or may not lead to joint or double degrees.

• Branch Campuses, where a provider opens up a branch in another country than the country of the main campus.

• Off-Shore Institutions, which are autonomous institutions organisationally and content wise part of the education system of a country, but do not necessarily have a campus in that country.

• Corporate Universities, which are usually parts of big transnational corporations providing their own higher education courses, without those being part of a national system of HE.

• International Institutions, which offer international qualifications that are not part of a particular HE system.

• Distance Learning arrangements and virtual universities, where the learner is provided with the course material via post or web-based solutions and self administers the learning process at home.