In this guest blog, Eduardo Ramos (Head of Higher Education and Internationalisation, British Council), with contributions from Rittika Chanda Parruck (Director Education, British Council India) and Jazreel Goh (Country Director, British Council Malaysia and East Asia Education Insights Hub Director), reflects on the claim that ‘TNE is just business’ and why it cannot capture the complexity of offshore higher education provision.
‘Transnational education is just business’. The phrase was part of a private conversation with a high-level diplomat during a recent conference in London. It made me think. UK universities have spent many years developing an entire quality, digital and management infrastructure with teaching, assessment, pastoral support, and other activities building academic capacity for offshore provision of higher education. Despite this, the perception of transnational education (TNE) as primarily a revenue generating activity seems pervasive.
However, data does not seem to support perception. Of the £36.7 billion in UK education exports, only £3.6 billion (less than 10%) are due to TNE. An even lesser proportion (2.2%) are counted as higher education TNE exports, and this despite the number of students studying UK degrees offshore (nearly 670,000) being almost on par with those travelling to the UK to study.
A certain stigma associated with TNE as an ‘extractive activity’ is not new. Understanding its origins would probably require a whole separate study, including historical, cultural, educational and economic perspectives. My own experience, first as a TNE practitioner, then working in policy implementation, indicates that the drivers for developing TNE partnerships defy easy classification. They are complex, layered and dynamic, and strongly context dependent.
Let’s take a look at some major TNE operations: Malaysia and India.
Malaysia initially structured TNE partnerships through the Private Higher Education Institutions Act of 1996, part of wider efforts to retain homegrown talent and widen participation for underrepresented groups including minority ethnic groups.
Since, Malaysia’s higher education participation rate more than doubled to reach 59% in 2024, whilst graduate employment has made strong progress. The government has committed to continue widening access for disadvantaged students, an area that offers new avenues for continued TNE partnerships, with the British Council offering support through initiatives directed to expanding micro-credentials.
Malaysia has today one of the most open higher education sectors in the region, with international students representing around 10% of total enrolment. By contrast, India's international student population is less than 1% of total enrolment, whereas over a million Indian citizens travel overseas for study each year. However, India’s openness to internationalisation changed radically in 2020 with the National Education Policy.
The pace of change has been relentless since, and UK universities have stepped in with the largest number of submissions for approval of foreign branch campuses, no less than nine. The British Council is supporting them through the UK Universities in India Members Programme (UKUIMP), a collaborative network to strengthen India-UK higher education campuses, part of the wider UK Education Hub.
Malaysia and India represent two clear examples of transformation through internationalisation where TNE is playing a crucial role. There are multiple other examples of TNE opening access to global education, supporting internationalisation, enhancing knowledge transfer and reducing brain drain.
The British Council’s TNE Strategy 2025-27 was created collaboratively with the sector to position the UK as a partner of choice for TNE globally, delivering mutual benefit, contributing to sustainable development and fostering intercultural understanding.
Since its launch, over 100 innovative TNE partnerships have been created with seed funding support, research and insights on TNE environments in countries ranging from Iraq to Algeria have been published, and new data on TNE alumni perceptions and outcomes is being collected and analysed.
The maxim ‘TNE is just business’ cannot capture the complexity of transnational education. UK providers are balancing routes that make TNE financially sustainable while generating impact that transforms lives and communities locally.
Through the Transnational Education Strategy and related activities, the British Council, together with UK Government departments, devolved administrations, and sector bodies, remains committed to meeting the ambitions of the UK International Education Strategy: supporting universities’ high-quality offshore education, and making the UK a partner of choice in education globally.
Words by: Eduardo Ramos (Head of Higher Education & Internationalisation, British Council) with contributors Rittika Chanda Parruck (Director Education, British Council India) and Jazreel Goh (Country Director, British Council Malaysia and East Asia Education Insights Hub Director).
The British Council has partnered with UUKi to deliver part of the upcoming TNE Conference 2026. British Council TNE specialists from different countries will be present to debate, inform and share best practice with attendees to the conference. Book your tickets today to join the conversation.
UUKi publishes voices from across the sector to stimulate discussion and share diverse perspectives and expertise. The views expressed in guest blogs are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of UUKi or its members.
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