With the global financial crisis taking hold, the landscape for recruiting international students to the UK is changing. One fast-growing market, however, is UK trans-national education (TNE), which has seen approximately a 100 per cent growth rate over the last ten years. Recent research by DIUS (2007) indicates that there are around 270,000 students on UK TNE programmes globally and there are now more non-EU students taking UK qualifications outside the UK than within.

In response to this, the Education UK Partnership has commissioned a major piece of research for members evaluating collaborative opportunities and challenges in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

On Wednesday 22 April 2009 there was a workshop at the British Council office in London, exploring the findings of this research.

Q&A notes and workshop summary notes (40KB) are available. Presentations given at the workshop are available below.

The workshop's aims were to provide a better understanding of the market potential in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as discuss practical ways to organise partnerships. The programme is available below.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Education UK Partnership helpdesk.

About the research
In an increasingly competitive world education market, institutions are looking for opportunities to expand globally, to exchange knowledge and expertise, develop alumni and build an international reputation. The developing economies of South-East Asia are creating increasing opportunities for TNE partnerships, where higher education is valued and internationally-recognised qualifications are sought. As noted by Ralf Matthaes, Managing Director of Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) Vietnam, 'Asians, especially in South-East Asia, see education as a panacea to all their woes, thus indicating the strong potential for TNE in the region.'

The TNS trans-national education study, commissioned by the British Council, highlights perceptions, attitudes, barriers and opportunities for TNE partnerships in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam from the perspective of UK, local institutions and students. This research provides valuable insight into the key requirements and considerations to develop successful TNE relationships.

Programme

0930	:	Registration
1000	:	Welcome and opening address Arlene Griffiths, Director, Education UK Partnership, British Council Kevin Van Cauter, Partnerships Advisor, British Council Guy Perring, Regional TNE Manager, British Council Presentation (553KB)
1030	:	Keynote: Collaborative opportunities and challenges in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam David Watts, Taylor Nelson Sofres Vietnam Presentation (4.46MB) Transcript (148KB)
		Plenary discussion
1145	:	Coffee break
1200	:	Case studies: Successful engagement in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam Thailand: Setting up a 2+2 in Thailand Helen Foster, University of Nottingham Vietnam: On-going engagement with Vietnam: A PMI2 case study Matthew Hibberd, University of Stirling Indonesia
1300	:	Lunch
1400	:	Breakout sessions: How to plan and manage a successful programme (focusing on finance and project management) How to market your TNE offerings How to deal with regulatory climates and quality assurance issues
1530	:	Plenary discussion and feedback
1630	:	End of workshop

Speaker biographies
David Watts
David Watts joins us from Taylor Nelson Sofres Vietnam as their lead researcher. With ten years’ experience in research, David has conducted numerous projects for multinational companies and government bodies in both Australia and Asia. David played a key role in managing and implementing the trans-national education study for South East Asia.

Helen Foster
Helen Foster is the Head of Partnership Development at the University of Nottingham. She has worked in a variety of roles in university administration for the past 15 years, including Head of Postgraduate Admissions, Head of Postgraduate Funding, Planning Section Team Leader and the Vice-Chancellor's Senior Assistant. For the past three years, she has been supporting the development of the University's campus in China.

Matthew Hibberd
Matthew is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head of the Film, Media and Journalism Department, University of Stirling. He is Professor of Communication Theory at the Libera Università Internazionale per gli Studi Sociali (LUISS) and is Visiting Professor of Journalism at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social Communications (CICS), Pontifical Gregorian University, both in Rome. Matthew is co-director of the MSc in Media Management (Vietnam) teaching project, which was introduced in October 2008. This project is funded by the Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education scheme (PMI2) and is run in co-operation with Danang University's College of Economics. Matthew is lead investigator on a UKIERI-funded research award programme investigating climate change communications in India and the UK, run in co-operation with the Centre of Media Studies, Delhi. This project started in April 2009. He also holds a Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland-funded award examining climate change communications.