This insights brief sets out how UK universities can take practical steps to build equitable and sustainable partnerships as they grow their transnational education (TNE) provisions, using case studies from three UK institutions and their TNE partners.
UK TNE is expanding rapidly across complex, uneven global contexts, with a 7% student increase between 2023–24 and 2024–2025. There has been particularly strong growth across Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East – regions where population growth, labour market needs and limited university places mean that demand for higher education is rising faster than national systems can expand. In these contexts, TNE can help widen access and support national priorities, including skills and workforce development
Building on UUKi’s Developing equitable TNE partnerships (2024), this brief examines experiences across three models:
Based on interviews with staff managing partnerships, governance and academic oversight on both sides, the findings explore what is working well, what supports these approaches in practice, and where institutions are still working through challenges.
