The Student Experiences of Teaching and Learning in Transnational Higher Education: A Phenomenographic Study from a British-Qatari Partnership

Transnational higher education (TNHE) of UK universities has been noticeably expanding during the last two decades in the Arab Gulf region, but few studies investigated qualitatively the different ways in which students in that region experience both teaching and learning. The aim of this study is to understand the ways that students conceptualise their learning and educational experiences at a British TNHE in Qatar. Employing a phenomenographic approach, we interviewed forty students in a TNHE UK programme within a Qatari higher education institution (HEI). The outcomes of our interviews generated three hierarchically related categories as follows: developing academic skills, acquiring self-learning skills, and acquiring employability skills. Our findings also suggest themes of interdependence in learning and transferability of skills developed by students. This study offers HEIs a better understanding and insight into the design of TNHE programmes that would respond to the students’ learning experiences and educational development.

European Universities Initiative: How Universities May Contribute to a More Sustainable Society

The European Universities initiative, launched by the European Commission in 2018, has its origin in the concept of Civic Universities (CivUs) and consists of transnational higher education alliances throughout the European Union that share long-term strategies. They are expected to become universities of the future, to promote European ideals and character, and to revolutionize the competitiveness and excellence of European higher education. European universities add 41 alliances, involving 31 different countries. This article presents an early quantitative evaluation of this initiative. This paper addresses the coverage of the 41 alliances and selects five of the most advanced for a deeper evaluation of their best practices and their contribution to the realization of CivUs. This paper also outlines the criteria for evaluating the extent to which good practices implemented by these alliances are aligned and can contribute to the attributes of CivUs, based upon state-of-the-art educational standards. A quantitative framework, based on application of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), is also provided to rank the good practices developed by these alliances against the previous evaluation criteria. Furthermore, by applying a sensitivity analysis, this paper also addresses the robustness of this approach.

The Transnationalization of Business Education

Recent decades have witnessed the emergence and growth of transnational higher education, a specific form of internationalization which considers education as a product which can be packaged and sold abroad. This transnationalization of higher education is especially prominent in the discipline of business, which has wide student appeal. The purpose of this chapter is to review the transnationalization of business education. The chapter begins by situating transnational higher education within the internationalization of higher education more broadly. It then characterises transnational higher education, enumerating various definitions and transnationalization modes. Finally, it rationalizes transnational higher education from a geo-political/economic perspective.

Academic Careers in Transnational Higher Education: The Rewards and Challenges of Teaching at International Branch Campuses

This research investigates the attitudes, working conditions, experiences, and job satisfaction of academic staff employed at offshore campuses. An online survey questionnaire was completed by 72 academic staff in 10 different countries, which included China, Malaysia, Qatar, the UAE, and Vietnam. It was found that the desire for adventure and travel, and to experience a foreign culture, were the most popular motivations for working at an offshore campus. Common challenges and disadvantages of teaching at an offshore campus are the lack of job security, support for research, academic freedom, and opportunities for development and advancement. However, such academics often have motivated students, smaller class sizes, greater autonomy at work, fewer meetings, higher disposable income, and less of the ‘publish or perish’ culture. Almost three-quarters of our research participants believe that it is possible to have an attractive career teaching in transnational education, at offshore campuses.

Advancing Transnational Higher Education in Ethiopia: Policy Promises and Realities

Ethiopia boasts more than a million students in its burgeoning higher education sector which has witnessed phenomenal growth over the last two decades. In this context, transnational higher education (TNHE) has been widely touted as a viable means of addressing human resource capacity building needs and quality educational provisions. Using documentary analysis, survey questionnaire and structured interviews as principal data sources, this study explored the major rationales, policy directions and gaps in the provision of TNHE in Ethiopia. The findings of the study indicate that despite policy directions informed by the theories of human capital development and social inclusion which are widely advanced by multilateral agents like the World Bank and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the gains so far have been marginal and fraught with a plethora of challenges. The study proposes mechanisms for addressing these challenges and enhancing the contribution of TNHE in the context of developing countries.

Dancing K-Pop with Chinese and “English in Class Please”: Policy Negotiations as Relational-Languaging Episodes

Pointing out that language policy negotiations in classroom discourse are an understudied kind of “language-related episode”, and proposing that Tim Ingold’s notion of “meshwork” dissolves a boundary that typically encloses their analysis, this paper examines how a rich and indicative example of student group interaction on a British university campus in China becomes interwoven with multiple threads, including: different languages, Korean pop dance moves, coffee from the campus Starbucks, and the teacher’s repeated attempts at English-Medium Instruction policy enforcement. Our example was discovered in corpus recordings of group activities during classes in English for Academic Purposes, then transcribed for embodied activity (primarily speech and gesture) and further explored in relation to the multiple threads which visibly and audibly became involved. Analysis of the episode shows how students’ relational-languaging behaviours must negotiate, respond, and adapt to the policy enforcement, illustrating some of the tensions immanent to the transnational higher education experience.

The E’s of TNHE and EMI

Questions asked as part of phenomenographic research are used to critically synthesize findings from the case studies in this issue of English-medium instruction (EMI) in transnational higher education (TNHE). With respect to whether EMI in TNHE can be considered a phenomenon, it is suggested that the phenomenon is more discursive than empirical. Student and instructor perceptions of the phenomenon reveal a critical awareness of the policies that structure the learning environment and agency that takes advantage of the policies’ discursive nature to create alternative, multilingual language practices and improve learning. A gap between policy and practice that allows for negotiation of the E’s in EMI and TNHE, English and education, is hence called for.

Embracing Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Access in EMI-TNHE: Towards a Social Justice-Centered Reframing of English Language Teaching

This editorial piece is the introduction of our special issue on English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and transnational higher education (TNHE). In this piece, we argue for a centering of diversity, inclusion, equity and access in EMI-TMHE as part of a larger agenda to create a more socially just field of English language teaching.