Trans-National Education (TNE) entails the delivery of University of Lincoln awards in partnership with other international institutions delivered at their campus. The benefits of TNE are significant, but so too are the risks and potential liabilities. The University International Strategy highlights the following two key points:
a) The University will facilitate joint teaching and dual awards across all Colleges, balancing a flexible approach with rigorous quality assurance.
b) The University is committed to expanding its TNE, in scale and reach, to enhance Lincoln’s global profile, provide additional opportunities for students and staff, and contribute towards income diversification and institutional growth. Recognising that successful TNE is a long-term and resource-intensive process, reliant upon quality assurance, transparency, shared objectives and expectations, the University will adopt a phased approach, developing a small number of high-quality, sustainable TNE partnerships in strategic markets.
To grow our TNE activity we must either locate additional, new partnerships or grow our existing partnerships. For those considering a TNE partnership it is sensible to see first if one of our existing partners can provide a pathway.
Existing partnerships
- In Hong Kong we have already grown the portfolio of programmes and there are opportunities to add new titles to the VTC provision. Some additional recruitment e.g. offering part-time to supplement full-time provision in current programmes is possible.
- Working with the University of Latvia, we plan to deliver a dual award focussing initially on programmes in Computer Science. Once established, we expect there will be scope to broaden that portfolio to other subjects over the medium term.
- In China, if we succeed in providing a good student experience with Guizhou University we will be well placed to bid for further international programmes or to set up new international colleges in China over the medium to longer term.
- Given their portfolio of programmes, there is currently no scope of putting on new titles at UoWM-KDU although we can continue to increase recruitment to the current portfolio.
New partnerships
Locating new partnerships can be a very speculative and often serendipitous process. Often partnerships can arise from personal connections, research collaborations etc. Many Universities use agents or consultants in this process.
The University has outlined criteria for the selection of TNE partnerships (emboldened above). These can be further expanded to be clearer about the expected thresholds:
A small number: For a University of our size it would be appropriate to target 3-5 multi-subject, cross-College, significant sized TNE partnerships. We currently have two candidates in VTC and UoWM KDU with our partnership in China providing a pathway to a third. Alongside these strategic partners, we would consider introducing other of TNE partnerships of smaller size. These opportunities might involve just one school or even just one programme rather than the larger, multi-disciplinary, cross-departmental type
High-quality: if we are to preserve our top 40 agenda then we need to maintain a high threshold here. Certainly in the selection of partners we will look closely at world and national ranking. We might want to look at new opportunities (either branch campus, or new faculty/department being created within an existing provider) as being developmental or supportive to national interests and therefore have objectives that prioritise capacity building alongside academic excellence.
Sustainable: financial thresholds are essential. The financial model developed to support the venture must fully capture the costs, and include an element of reinvestment to sustain the partnership and provide a contribution to the University. For a new partnership it is important to be realistic about the costs in the period preceding the launch i.e. to consider the costs incurred in “Year zero”.
Strategic markets: it is desired that strategic TNE hubs are geographically located appropriately. We might be happy to see our sphere of TNE influence clustered in a particular region (South East Asia being the most likely) but a broad distribution of strategic hubs spread around the world will provide a bigger footprint and wider outreach. A presence in each of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas would give the University global outreach. Any TNE proposal needs to be considered not just on its own merit but with respect to other existing or putative proposals.
Proposing a New TNE Partnership
Global Opportunities can provide further guidance for colleagues to take forward a TNE partnership (i.e. those where the international partner will deliver part or all of a University of Lincoln programme OR that involves creation of an overseas presence such as a branch campus). Proposals for new partnerships need to be completed on the form provided by OQSP https://universityoflincoln.sharepoint.com/sites/registry/QualityUnit/Partnerships/Partnerships%20Policies%20and%20Proc/Document%20Library/New%20Partnership%20Proposal%20Form%20final.docx and following the advice provided by them and documented here https://oqsp.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2019/07/07-QAM-Academic-Partnerships-Approved-AAC-24-10-18.pdf .
Proposal are considered and approved at Senior Leadership Group. To reach that point, a collaborative proposal must cover aspects such as due diligence, financial modelling, curriculum mapping, workload planning, resource requirements including library etc. The extent of these will vary according to the type of partnership. Both Global Opportunities and OQSP can support colleagues in this process.
The introduction of new collaborative international provision (“new partnerships”) triggers a reportable event as defined by the Office for Students. For this reason it is essential that the first level of checking is carried out before a proposal is progressed to the later stages of approval.