According to new data, more students worldwide are taking advantage of the UK transnational education options due to collaborative provision, distance, flexible, distributed learning, and studies at abroad partner organizations.
The scale of the UK higher education transnational education report, from Universities UK International and the British Council, found that in the 2020/21 academic year 510,835 students in 228 countries and territories studied via UK TNE.Researchers noted the 12.7% increase from the previous year meant UK TNE numbers have grown across all regions at an “overall higher growth rate than ever before”.
Some 162 UK higher education providers indicated that the number has been the highest in history, up from 156 in the previous year. According to Joana Westphal, head of TNE at UUKi, “Transnational education enables cultural interchange and diversity for students and employees and greatly contributes to the UK’s economy, thus it is excellent to see the strong demand for UK TNE across the world.”
The Covid-19 pandemic, according to the study, “does not seem to have had a substantial impact on the split of types of UK TNE service,” although Asia continues to be the leading host region, accounting for 49.5% of all driving numbers with 252,845 students.Collaborative provision “had the highest growth in numbers, with 52,775 (+36.2%) more students” between 2016–17 and 2020–21, it was discovered.
The number of students enrolled in distance, flexible, or distributed learning climbed by 29.1% to 34,070, and the number of students at international partner organizations increased by 8.1% to 8,680. The number of students at international campuses increased significantly by 40.4%, but because of the lower starting rate, the growth was equivalent to 10,355 additional students. In contrast, the number of students in “other arrangements” decreased by 18.4% (1,420 students), despite an increase of 1,140 (+22.1%) the year before.
The locations of the TNE students were also included in the sixth version of the report.