Transnational education (TNE) sits at the core of the UK government's new International Education Strategy to expand its global education footprint.
Transnational education (TNE) is not new to the UK, but its visibility and strategic importance have grown markedly over the past decade.
The UK's new International Education Strategy, released on 20 January, situates TNE as a valuable pillar in efforts to strengthen the country's global education presence and position the UK as the partner of choice across all levels of learning. This emphasis reflects the rapid growth of TNE, with total exports reaching £3 billion across all sectors in 2022, an increase of 30.3% from the previous year.
As the higher education sector faces mounting financial pressures, demographic shifts and government expectations to support lifelong learning, TNE has emerged as a flexible and scalable mode of provision that benefits both learners and institutions. While much of the public discourse has focused on undergraduate and postgraduate provision thus far, a quieter but significant transformation is underway in lifelong learning.
UK higher education institutions, including King's, are actively working to widen the TNE field into professional and executive education. This article explores the current and future landscape of executive education TNE, arguing that it represents one of the most promising growth areas for UK higher education at a time when global demand for upskilling, reskilling and leadership development continues to accelerate.
For many years, transnational education has been discussed primarily in terms of student numbers and degree delivery. What we are seeing now is a shift towards impact: how education supports workforce transformation, leadership capacity and national development. Professional and executive education TNE sits right at the centre of that shift.
Jo Fowler, Acting Deputy Vice President, Global Business Development & Director of Professional Education
The Current State of Executive Education TNE
The global reach of UK TNE reflects both the scale of demand and the sector's strategic pivot toward new forms of professional engagement. UK higher education institutions deliver TNE across more than 200 countries and territories, with over 650,000 students enrolled in 2023-24, continuing a multi-year growth trend, according to a report by Universities UK International. Historically, this demand has been met through undergraduate and postgraduate degree provision delivered via overseas partner institutions, with the majority of activity concentrated at the undergraduate level.
However, workforce transformation, technological change and geopolitical uncertainty are reshaping learner expectations. Increasingly, professionals seek shorter, flexible, career-relevant learning that can be accessed locally. TNE is evolving from a model centred on degree mobility to one focused on skills mobility, applied learning and professional development.
Professional and executive education TNE brings targeted learning to professionals where they are, enabling organisations, governments and individuals to address immediate capability gaps while remaining embedded in local contexts. Unlike traditional degree partnerships, executive education TNE often involves strategic, multi-stakeholder collaboration, with universities, overseas partners, employers, governments and industry co-designing provision that meets local and national priorities while maintaining UK academic standards.
When done well, these partnerships generate reciprocal benefits that strengthen institutions, industries and communities alike. Growth in TNE offers not only revenue diversification, but also opportunities for deeper global engagement. High-quality professional education can enhance institutional capacity across countries, support national skills agendas, build academic-industry collaboration at scale and engage alumni and professional networks worldwide. Programmes focused on leadership, governance, sustainability, health systems and innovation are particularly well placed to support long-term systemic change.
TNE builds global ties, supports inclusive economic development, and strengthens institutional capacity. It offers a sustainable alternative to traditional mobility, helping mitigate 'brain drain' while widening access to high‑quality UK provision for students who may not be able to travel. In doing so, it supports long‑term system strengthening and skills development in partner countries.
International Education Strategy 2026
Looking Ahead: Trends Shaping the Future
Expanding Access
The future of professional and executive education TNE is being shaped by a set of interconnected shifts in how professional learning is accessed and delivered. Increasingly, learners seek UK-style education that is affordable, flexible and locally relevant, without the need to relocate. Through blended delivery, international learning centres and partnerships with local institutions and employers, universities can maintain academic standards while offering provision grounded in local contexts. This approach also reduces the opportunity cost of study, allowing professionals to remain in role while developing new skills that support organisational and national workforce priorities.
Building Capacity
A further trend shaping the future of executive education TNE is a growing emphasis on collaborative capacity building. Rather than relying solely on flying faculty models, universities are increasingly adopting capacity-building approaches that invest in developing local academic and professional expertise. This shift supports more sustainable, in-country provision that is rooted in partnership rather than top-down delivery. As market demands continue to reshape higher education, universities are being encouraged to rethink traditional models of delivery and embrace more multidisciplinary, responsive approaches to executive education.
Flexibility and Personalisation
Professional learners increasingly expect education to adapt to complex working lives and evolving career paths. Professional and executive education TNE responds with modular, stackable provision, including microcredentials, work-integrated learning, and short cohort-based programmes. These approaches allow learners to tailor education to their sector, career stage and immediate development needs, while enabling institutions to refresh curricula rapidly in response to technological change and emerging industry demand.
Regulatory Alignment
As professional and executive education TNE expands, navigating regulatory frameworks becomes increasingly important. Institutions must manage overlapping national standards, quality assurance regimes, data protection obligations and professional accreditation requirements across multiple jurisdictions. Success depends on approaching regulation as a shared design challenge: early engagement with regulators, clear governance structures and flexible delivery models are essential.
Equally important is the ability to communicate national standards internationally, articulating to partners and clients how governance and quality assurance models enable access to a UK education in global contexts. Per the International Education Strategy 2026, the UK government aims to ease these conversations and facilitate mutually recognised qualifications by evaluating overseas credentials against UK standards. Institutions that embed regulatory literacy into partnership development are better positioned to scale provision responsibly, transparently and sustainably.
The future of TNE will be shaped not simply by where education is delivered, but by how effectively it responds to evolving learner and societal needs. In that future, executive and professional education will play a central role, driving the sector's impact, relevance, and sustainability on a global stage.
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