QAA to expand QE-TNE Scheme

We are pleased to announce that the Quality Evaluation and Enhancement of UK Transnational Higher Education (QE-TNE) Scheme is now open to new participants for the 2024-25 academic year. Providers can join the Scheme for its remaining two years in its current format.

This follows the Scottish Funding Council’s decision to make participation in the Scheme a requirement from 2024-25 for Scottish degree-awarding bodies engaging in TNE. Additionally, HEFCW had agreed with the sector that all Welsh providers would participate in the Scheme from the outset.

Commissioned by Universities UK (UUK) and GuildHE, the five-year QE-TNE Scheme has been designed to provide participating institutions with vital insights into regulatory environments and TNE provision through a schedule of country-based activity. The core purposes of the Scheme are to:

• strengthen the reputation of UK TNE
• provide valued information and insights
• build mutual trust
• deliver benefit for TNE stakeholders.

The number of providers engaging in TNE has continued to grow through the first three years of QAA’s QE-TNE Scheme, as has the number of UK-TNE students worldwide. Strategies to underpin the assurance and enhancement of the quality of this provision, and the ongoing international recognition of this quality, are therefore more crucial than ever.

By expanding the Scheme, we aim to support more institutions to enhance the quality of their TNE provision, gain valuable insights into sector practices and challenges, and optimise the TNE student experience. Continued growth of the Scheme will enhance the wealth of resources generated by the Scheme to benefit all of its participants, and help to reinforce and grow the global reputation of UK TNE.  

In its first three years, the QE-TNE Scheme has delivered unique value for the sector, supporting participants’ international activities and opening new ways of collaborating with partner institutions and authorities globally.

77 institutions across the UK higher education sector are Scheme participants, representing over 420,000 UK-TNE students in 2022-23. This is approximately 70% of the whole UK HE-TNE student population.

The Scheme has evaluated provision across nine countries so far: Germany, Egypt, UAE, China, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Greece and Cyprus. This represents over 187,000 UK HE-TNE students across the Scheme’s participating institutions. The countries on which the Scheme will focus during academic year 2024-25 are Malaysia, India and Oman.

The Scheme has so far produced more than 30 published outputs for its participating institutions, including:

• 10 provider-led case studies
• 9 country guides
• 15 institution evaluation reports
• 4 thematic insights, covering topics such as branch campuses and collaborative provision.

To find out more about joining the QE-TNE Scheme, please complete the Expression of interest form by 2 December 2024. The team will then contact you directly to share more information.

Please contact TNE@qaa.ac.uk with any questions.