For many years, when universities talked about transnational education (TNE) and China, the direction of travel was relatively easy to understand.
An overseas university brought its curriculum, degree, teaching and academic expertise into China, usually through a partnership with a Chinese university.
That model remains important. In fact, recent developments suggest that China continues to welcome high-quality international education.
But it no longer tells the whole story.
At the same time as China is opening further to international education, Chinese universities are increasingly looking outward: establishing overseas campuses, creating education and industry centres, developing joint programmes, expanding international recruitment and taking Chinese higher education into new markets.
China's international education landscape is therefore becoming increasingly two-way.
China is still welcoming international education
There has been plenty of discussion in recent years about whether China remains open to international universities and TNE.
The evidence suggests that it does.
The British Council currently reports that more than 94,000 students are studying for UK higher education qualifications in mainland China, through more than 310 Ministry of Education-approved UK-China partnerships at bachelor's level and above. These include more than 80 joint institutes and the two established joint universities, the University of Nottingham Ningbo China and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
More importantly, new approvals continue.
In May 2026, China's Ministry of Education approved 86 new joint institutes and 133 joint programmes involving international partners — 219 university-level TNE approvals in a single round.
That is difficult to reconcile with the idea that China is simply closing itself to overseas higher education.
What is changing is the nature of the opportunity.
The emphasis is increasingly on quality, relevance, strategic disciplines, innovation and partnerships that contribute to China's wider education, economic and talent-development priorities.
Hainan provides perhaps the clearest example.
Hainan: opening further, not closing
The Hainan Free Trade Port has been given a particularly important role in experimenting with new forms of international education.
It remains the only region of mainland China where high-level overseas universities and vocational institutions in designated areas such as science, engineering, agriculture and medicine can establish and operate institutions independently rather than necessarily through a traditional Chinese partner.
And this is no longer just policy on paper.
Germany's Hainan Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences became the first independently operated foreign university project of its kind in China. By late 2025 it had nearly 600 students.
It has since been joined by Hainan Lausanne Tourism University, established by Switzerland's EHL Hospitality Business School, which welcomed its 2026 intake in September.
Hainan's 2026 international business environment plan goes further, explicitly encouraging overseas universities and vocational colleges to establish independent campuses and calling for the development of the "Study in Hainan" brand.
So there is still a clear "bringing in" agenda.
But there is another side to the story.
Chinese universities are also going abroad
While international universities continue to look at China, Chinese universities are increasingly looking beyond China.
This matters because it changes the traditional perception of China within TNE.
China is no longer simply a host country for international education.
It is increasingly a provider of international education too.
China's Ministry of Education itself said in late 2025 that the country's international engagement was widening, referring specifically to the expansion of overseas campuses of Chinese universities alongside international education and vocational cooperation.
And in 2026, the Ministry highlighted 20 model cases of Chinese digital education "going global", covering overseas educational resources, international exchange, educational services and Chinese educational standards.
There are now several very different examples of what this outward movement can look like.
Xiamen University Malaysia: from experiment to established overseas campus
The best-known example remains Xiamen University Malaysia.
Established in 2014, it was the first overseas branch campus created entirely by a Chinese university under China's Double First-Class system.
It is no longer a small experiment.
By the end of 2025, Xiamen University reported that its Malaysia campus had grown to more than 10,000 students, with more than 600 faculty and staff and students coming from over 50 countries and regions.
The campus offered 25 undergraduate, 15 master's and eight doctoral programmes.
Perhaps more important than its size is the way the model has developed.
Xiamen University describes the campus as combining its own academic strengths with the particular educational and economic context of Southeast Asia, rather than simply reproducing its Chinese campus overseas.
For anyone working in TNE, that principle should sound familiar.
Successful international education rarely comes from simply copying a home-campus model and placing it somewhere else.
It comes from contextualisation.
XJTLU: from China-based TNE to an international network
There are also newer and more flexible models emerging.
A particularly interesting recent example is Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU).
XJTLU had already established a Central and Eastern Europe division in Budapest in May 2024. The university describes these locations as part of an emerging international network linking education, industry, innovation and research.
This is interesting because it is not a conventional branch-campus model.
It represents something potentially much broader: universities creating overseas platforms that connect education with industry, professional training, innovation, research and international business.
The definition of what it means for a university to "go global" is therefore becoming much wider.
China University of Petroleum-Beijing: taking specialist education overseas
Another recent example comes from China University of Petroleum-Beijing.
In April 2026, the university signed an agreement with the Yagshygeldi Kakayev International Oil and Gas University to establish a China-Turkmenistan Joint Energy Education Center in Turkmenistan.
The centre will support joint training programmes, academic research, faculty and student exchange and the development of high-level energy talent.
This follows other international initiatives by the university, including its partnership with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to establish what CUP describes as China's first overseas College of Eminent Engineers.
Again, this is worth looking at carefully.
The model is not simply:
Chinese university + overseas students + Chinese degree.
It is increasingly:
university + local university + industry + skills requirements + research + national economic priorities.
This type of sector-focused TNE could become particularly significant in engineering, energy, AI, advanced manufacturing, logistics and other areas closely connected with economic development.
Chinese universities are also extending partnerships across Southeast Asia
Not every outward initiative requires a physical campus or centre.
Chinese universities are also expanding through partnerships.
In September 2025, for example, Jinan University visited universities and education organisations in Thailand and Cambodia.
Discussions with Thammasat University included credit recognition and dual-degree opportunities in areas such as economics, management, Chinese language and medicine.
In Cambodia, discussions with the Royal University of Phnom Penh included potential dual-degree programmes in international economics and trade and Chinese studies.
These may look like relatively conventional university partnerships.
But collectively they illustrate a much larger shift.
Chinese universities increasingly have international strategies, international recruitment objectives and overseas partnership pipelines of their own.
"Going global" will not mean one single model
This is perhaps one of the most important points for universities trying to understand the next phase of Chinese TNE.
Chinese universities going overseas does not necessarily mean that hundreds of Chinese branch campuses will suddenly appear around the world.
Different models are already emerging.
It might mean an overseas campus such as Xiamen University Malaysia.
It might mean a joint education centre such as the new China-Turkmenistan Joint Energy Education Center.
It might mean an industry-education platform such as XJTLU's centres in Budapest.
It might mean dual degrees and credit-recognition partnerships.
It might mean joint laboratories, research centres or professional training.
It might mean digital education crossing borders.
And it may increasingly mean education linked directly to Chinese companies operating internationally.
This is a much more diverse model of internationalisation.
China is becoming both a TNE host and a TNE provider
This creates an interesting change in the global TNE landscape.
Historically, countries have often been described either as exporters or importers of international education.
The UK and Australia, for example, have traditionally been seen as major exporters of TNE.
China has largely been described as a host country.
That distinction is becoming less clear.
China remains one of the world's most significant TNE markets while Chinese universities themselves are simultaneously becoming more international.
The country's wider education strategy also points in both directions.
As recently as September 2026, Chinese authorities reiterated ambitions to strengthen the country's position as a destination for international students while continuing international educational and scientific cooperation. Around 380,000 international students from 191 countries and regions studied in mainland China during the 2024–25 academic year.
At the same time, Chinese students continue to study internationally. Ministry of Education data show that 570,600 Chinese students went abroad to study in 2025, while 535,600 returned to China that year.
So the picture is not one of international education being replaced by domestic education.
It is one of increasing movement in both directions.
What does this mean for UK and international universities?
For international universities, this requires a change in how China partnerships are viewed.
For a long time, the central question has often been:
What can we deliver in China?
That remains an important question.
But it probably should not be the only one.
Universities should increasingly be asking:
What does our Chinese partner want to achieve internationally?
Where else is the partner developing relationships?
Could we develop something together outside China?
Could an existing UK-China programme evolve into research, mobility, professional education or third-country delivery?
Could the Chinese partner's industry relationships complement our academic or international network?
And perhaps most importantly:
Could we move from a bilateral partnership to an international partnership network?
The rise of the third-country opportunity
This creates an area of TNE that we believe deserves considerably more attention.
The conventional China partnership looks like this:
International university + Chinese university → education delivered in China.
But increasingly another possibility emerges:
International university + Chinese university → education delivered in a third country.
Imagine a UK university working with a Chinese institution that already has strong university, government or industry relationships in Malaysia, Singapore, Central Asia, the Middle East or Africa.
The UK university might contribute academic expertise, curriculum, international quality assurance or specialist programmes.
The Chinese university might contribute its own academic strengths, regional networks, industry relationships or existing overseas infrastructure.
The local institution contributes context, recognition, students and local capacity.
That begins to look very different from traditional bilateral TNE.
It becomes multi-country TNE.
For some institutions, this may ultimately become one of the most interesting consequences of China's universities going global.
From one-way TNE to two-way internationalisation
China continues to offer substantial opportunities for international universities.
The latest TNE approvals, the continued scale of UK-China provision and the further opening taking place in Hainan demonstrate that international education remains an important part of China's higher education landscape.
But at the same time, Chinese higher education is moving outward.
Xiamen University Malaysia shows what a mature Chinese overseas campus can become.
XJTLU's expansion into Budapest and Singapore demonstrates a more flexible model connecting education, research, industry and international business.
China University of Petroleum-Beijing's work in Turkmenistan and Brazil demonstrates how specialist education can follow wider economic and industry relationships.
And partnerships being developed by institutions such as Jinan University show how international programme networks can expand without necessarily involving a traditional branch campus.
These developments point towards a different future for TNE with China.
It will not simply be about bringing international universities into China.
Nor will it simply be about Chinese universities going overseas.
Increasingly, it will be about finding where the international ambitions, academic strengths, industry relationships and geographical networks of different universities intersect.
For institutions developing their China strategies today, perhaps the question is no longer only:
"What can we do in China?"
It may increasingly be:
"What can we do with China — in China and beyond?"
At China Connected, we work with universities to understand this changing landscape, identify suitable partners, develop sustainable TNE opportunities and build institutional relationships that go beyond a single programme or market.
As Chinese and international universities both become more globally ambitious, understanding where those ambitions align will increasingly determine which partnerships have the potential to grow.