What universities can learn from Nigel Healey and Rob Hickey's evolving journey
China Connected | Insight
Transnational education is no longer a peripheral international activity. For many universities, it is now a significant and strategically important form of educational provision. Yet the systems used to manage it have not always developed at the same pace.
In their recent chapter, Managing Transnational Education Partnerships: An Evolving Journey, Nigel Healey and Rob Hickey examine how the management of TNE partnerships is adapting as cross-border provision becomes a more established part of university operations. Their central message is timely: TNE has matured, and its management model must mature with it.
The organisational challenge behind TNE
Healey and Hickey highlight a fundamental tension. Public universities were largely designed to operate within one national system, but TNE requires them to manage teaching, people, finance, regulation and student experience across borders. This stretches institutional structures that were created for a home campus rather than for spatially distributed delivery.
The challenge is not limited to academic quality. Universities may also need to navigate international taxation, transfer pricing, local employment rules, contracts, data management and unfamiliar regulatory environments. Language and cultural differences add another layer. At the same time, experienced university leaders may be reluctant to take roles far from the institutional centre, particularly where overseas appointments appear disconnected from established career pathways.
This helps explain why some partnerships that are strategically attractive on paper become difficult in practice. The agreement may be signed, the programme validated and recruitment launched, but the operating model remains fragmented. Responsibility is divided across academic schools, quality teams, international offices, finance, registry and the overseas partner, without sufficient in-country coordination or a single view of delivery.
From export model to embedded partnership
The more encouraging conclusion from Healey and Hickey is that TNE is steadily becoming more sustainable and better adapted to local conditions. Mature partnerships do not simply reproduce the home university overseas. They develop structures that combine institutional oversight with local responsiveness.
For China partnerships, this distinction is especially important. A UK curriculum and award must retain their academic integrity, but delivery also has to work within the Chinese regulatory, educational and operational environment. Students need a coherent experience rather than two parallel systems. Partners need clear decision-making routes. Academic staff need practical support on the ground. The university needs reliable evidence that quality, compliance and performance expectations are being met.
The strongest model is therefore neither distant control from the UK nor complete delegation to the local partner. It is an integrated partnership in which responsibilities are explicit, information moves quickly and both sides can solve problems before they affect students.
What mature TNE management looks like in practice
Clear governance and accountability
A partnership needs named owners, agreed decision rights, escalation routes and a regular operating rhythm. Strategic boards matter, but so do the working-level groups that resolve teaching, assessment, staffing and student issues.
End-to-end academic delivery planning
Universities should map the complete academic cycle: curriculum adaptation, teaching materials, staff allocation, timetabling, assessment design, marking, moderation, external examining, boards of examiners, progression and academic appeals. Gaps often appear at the handovers between these activities.
A credible model for the UK teaching commitment
Where a programme requires a defined proportion of teaching from the foreign university, relying repeatedly on short flying-faculty visits can create high costs, staff fatigue and disruption at the home campus. A planned in-country or hybrid delivery model can protect quality while improving continuity for students.
Integrated student administration and support
Registration, attendance, records, marks, academic advice, wellbeing, complaints and appeals should feel like one joined-up service. Students should understand which institution is responsible, how to obtain help and how their programme connects them to the awarding university.
Local capability with institutional oversight
Effective partnerships invest in local leadership, staff development and operational capacity while maintaining the awarding university's assurance mechanisms. Local responsiveness should strengthen, not dilute, academic standards.
Performance information that supports action
Recruitment figures alone are not enough. Universities need timely information on retention, progression, attainment, student satisfaction, staff turnover, delivery risks, graduate outcomes and partner performance.
How China Connected can support universities
China Connected helps UK and international universities translate partnership strategy into workable delivery in China. We work as an extension of the university team, providing the local capability, networks and operational coordination that can be difficult to sustain from the home campus alone.
- China market and partnership strategy, including opportunity assessment, partner identification and due diligence
- Development of new TNE partnerships, from early engagement and business planning through contracting and implementation
- Academic operations, including staffing, timetabling, teaching coordination, assessment support and liaison with university quality processes
- Digital infrastructure and learning management system support where local access, reliability or integration creates barriers
- Preparation for regulatory review, partnership evaluation and longer-term portfolio growth
- Industry engagement and employability activity that connects programmes with the Chinese labour market
This model can reduce pressure on home-based teams, lower the operational burden of frequent flying-faculty delivery and provide a consistent point of coordination between the university and its Chinese partner. Most importantly, it helps the partnership move from periodic intervention to continuous management.
TNE is evolving and university operating models must follow
Healey and Hickey's chapter captures an important shift. TNE is no longer an experimental extension of international recruitment. It is a distributed form of university provision that requires its own leadership, systems and professional capability.
Universities do not need to replicate every home-campus function in every overseas location. They do, however, need an operating model that connects institutional accountability with informed, responsive support in-country. The institutions that achieve this balance will be better placed to protect academic standards, strengthen the student experience and build partnerships that remain viable beyond their initial launch.
If your university is developing a new partnership in China, reviewing an existing programme or looking for a more sustainable approach to in-country teaching and management, China Connected can help design and deliver the model required.
Contact China Connected to discuss your China TNE strategy and delivery requirements.
Source
Healey, N. and Hickey, R. (2025), 'Managing Transnational Education Partnerships: An Evolving Journey', in C. Hill and J. Lamie (eds.), The Insider's Guide to Working in International Higher Education, Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003649571-10.