The Importance of Transnational Education and International Engagement for Future Collaborations

Many universities and higher educational institutes throughout the world have had a long and distinguished history with the involvement of international students, and international collaboration efforts and partnerships. International student recruitment for UK based institutes has now become, and continues to be, somewhat very competitive, as these students pay considerably more for their chosen programmes of study, when compared to their institute’s native population. Therefore, international student recruitment is factored into the business models of many UK based Higher Education (HE) institutions. Due to the competitive nature of student recruitment and the need to diversify income generation of universities from relying on native student populations, one should also consider more extensive recruiting of international students, and in doing so, establishing more international collaborations. This chapter will highlight the efforts adopted by De Montfort University (DMU) as its case study, in expanding its outreach into emerging and developing Asian markets, due to its recent (2018) Gold award in the Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). From this engagement, several opportunities have arisen in conjunction with Asia Pacific University (APU). The author’s own experience in dealing with this particular tour of Malaysia is commented on, as too are the benefits of such engagements to that of Transnational Education (TNE) with regards to computing related subjects.