For many universities, the starting point for Transnational Education (TNE) is understandably their existing academic model.
The programme works in the UK. The curriculum has been validated. Academic regulations are established. Quality assurance processes are in place.
So why not simply deliver the same model overseas?
A recent paper by Mattia Miani, Glocal Tensions in Transnational Higher Education in China: The Case of a Foundation Year in a Sino-Foreign Cooperative University, provides an important reminder of why it is rarely that simple. Published in Higher Education Quarterly, the study examines a foundation year within a Sino-foreign cooperative university in China through the lens of “glocalisation”: the interaction between global educational models and the local environment in which they operate.
Its conclusion should resonate with anyone developing or managing TNE in China:
A programme delivered in China does not remain an overseas version of the programme delivered in the UK.
It develops within a different regulatory, institutional, cultural and student environment.
And that is not necessarily a weakness. Managed properly, it can be one of the strengths of TNE.
Academic parity does not mean operational uniformity
One of the most important distinctions in TNE is between maintaining academic standards and requiring everything to operate identically.
The research identifies practical tensions around English-medium instruction, attendance monitoring, EDI and emerging AI policies. These illustrate how apparently straightforward university policies can encounter very different circumstances once they are delivered within China.
This raises a much wider question for international universities:
What genuinely needs to remain equivalent, and what needs to be contextualised?
Learning outcomes, academic standards and the integrity of an award should not be diluted simply because a programme crosses a border. But the mechanisms used to achieve those outcomes may need to change.
Student communication may need to change.
Academic support may need to change.
Staff development may need to change.
Governance arrangements may need to change.
Even the way policies are interpreted and implemented may need to reflect the realities of the local partnership. The challenge is therefore not choosing between the “UK way” and the “China way”.
It is designing a model in which both sides understand what is non-negotiable, what can be adapted and who has the authority to make those decisions.
This is where many TNE partnerships become difficult
The difficulties in China TNE are often not created during the signing ceremony. They emerge afterwards.
A UK university may assume that its policies will simply be implemented by the Chinese partner. The Chinese institution may assume that those policies can naturally be adjusted to fit its own systems.
Both assumptions can be reasonable. The problem comes when they have never been discussed.
Over time, small operational differences can become significant:
- academic responsibilities become unclear;
- communication moves around formal governance structures;
- students receive different expectations from different teams;
- UK academics become disconnected from what happens on the ground;
- and local staff are left trying to reconcile two institutional systems.
What initially appears to be a delivery issue can quickly become a quality, relationship or reputational issue.
Miani's research is particularly useful here because it moves the discussion away from seeing TNE simply as the export of education. Instead, it shows TNE as something continually shaped by global, national and local forces — and by the people working within those environments.
Local knowledge should be part of TNE design — not added afterwards
This has an important implication for universities entering China.
Localisation should begin before the programme launches.
Universities need to understand not only whether there is student demand, but how the programme will actually operate.
- How will academic responsibilities be divided?
- How will the UK curriculum interact with local requirements?
- How will students transition between different educational cultures?
- What happens when UK policy and local practice do not naturally align?
- Who manages problems on the ground?
- How frequently are the two institutions reviewing the partnership?
And perhaps most importantly:
Who is responsible for translating institutional expectations into workable local practice?
These questions are becoming increasingly important as China TNE develops beyond individual programmes towards larger and more complex partnerships, including Joint Education Programmes, Joint Education Institutes and wider strategic institutional collaborations.
From TNE development to TNE delivery
At China Connected, we believe successful China TNE requires much more than identifying a partner and securing approval.
It requires an operating model capable of connecting two universities over the long term.
We support universities across the TNE lifecycle — from China market strategy, opportunity identification and partner development through to programme design, commercial modelling, regulatory preparation and launch.
But increasingly, our work also focuses on what happens after the agreement is signed.
That can include reviewing TNE governance and operating structures, clarifying responsibilities between partners, strengthening academic and quality processes, supporting in-country delivery, developing local staffing models, reviewing the student experience and helping universities resolve operational gaps before they become institutional problems.
Where appropriate, China Connected can also provide in-country representation, academic delivery capacity, digital/LMS infrastructure, student recruitment and progression support, and ongoing relationship management.
The purpose is not to replace university academic ownership.
It is to help ensure that the university's academic expectations can actually be delivered effectively within the Chinese context.
The next generation of China TNE will need to be genuinely collaborative
China remains one of the most sophisticated environments in the world for transnational higher education.
That also means expectations are changing.
The strongest future partnerships are unlikely to be based simply on one institution exporting a programme and another institution delivering it.
They will require co-design, contextualisation, shared governance and continuous review.
Academic equivalence should remain central.
But equivalence does not have to mean replication.
Perhaps the more useful question for universities considering China is therefore no longer:
“How do we deliver our programme in China?”
It is:
“How do we create a high-quality programme with our Chinese partner that protects our academic standards while working effectively in the environment in which our students and staff actually operate?”
That is a very different starting point.
And it is increasingly where sustainable TNE begins.
How China Connected can support
If your university is developing new TNE in China — or already has partnerships that would benefit from an independent review — China Connected can support with:
- China TNE strategy and market assessment
- Chinese university partner identification and relationship development
- JEP and JEI development
- commercial and operating-model design
- regulatory and MoE submission preparation
- curriculum and delivery-model review
- TNE governance, quality and operational reviews
- in-country representation and partnership management
- academic staffing and third-party delivery solutions
- student recruitment and progression development
- digital infrastructure and LMS support
We can also undertake an independent review of an existing China TNE portfolio to identify operational gaps, governance risks and opportunities to improve quality, efficiency and scalability.
China Connected — connecting international academic standards with the realities of delivering successfully in China.
This article was inspired by Mattia Miani (2026), “Glocal Tensions in Transnational Higher Education in China: The Case of a Foundation Year in a Sino-Foreign Cooperative University”, Higher Education Quarterly, 80(1), e70085.