Many governments in Southeast Asia and around the world are looking for innovative and cost-effective ways to boost higher education capabilities and increase student access to high-quality education.
They also have ambitious plans to create regional educational hubs to attract top talent and education resources to their countries. Many of these ambitions are underlined by policies that have an internationalisation element.
Universities are encouraged to develop partnerships, exchanges and relationships with overseas counterparts to improve teaching quality and increase the students' international competitiveness.
One important internationalisation activity is transnational education (TNE), which refers to partnerships that allow students to earn overseas qualifications from their home country.
Southeast Asia is a major host of TNE programmes, with more than 83,000 students across the region enrolling in a United Kingdom (UK) higher education programme in the 2020-2021 academic year and many others taking up courses offered by universities in Australia, the United States or China.
Singapore and Malaysia are among the top five hosts of UK TNE students worldwide.
Malaysia, with more than 46,000 students in 2020 and 2021, has more TNE students enrolling in UK higher education qualifications than any other country besides China or the UK. Private Malaysian colleges have a long history of partnerships with UK institutions to offer UK qualifications in Malaysia.
These are either delivered entirely within the country or students complete the final part of their course in the UK. The UK also has the largest number of branch campuses in Malaysia.
TNE is now prominent and is one of the unique features of Malaysia's education landscape.
The UK and Malaysia have an impressive track record of educational collaboration.
Since the launch of the first UK-Malaysia TNE Joint Programme more than 30 years ago, it has been absolutely amazing to witness the UK-Malaysia TNE collaboration grow from strength to strength.
Successful TNE partnerships are progressive in their approaches, starting with capacity-building of local staff and investing in collaborative academic development, research and strategic investment for the mutual benefit of both foreign and local partners.
It is also one where partners can leverage and engage local government, cities and regional partners to catalyse opportunities in graduate employability, research and entrepreneurship, widening participation, as well as contributing to discussions and research to solve global and local challenges.
More importantly, the heart of TNE success lies with the students. As the partnership between the UK and Malaysia continues to grow, it is essential that we equip young people with the tools to examine and critically engage with the world around them, to challenge norms and to push forward academic thinking.
The ultimate aim of international education collaborations between the UK and Malaysia is to produce leaders who understand both countries and have the skills to take the bilateral relationship forward.
As the UK and Malaysia develop higher education offerings, there is much to share and learn from one another. This includes new ideas and initiatives in TNE, and shifting from more traditional TNE teaching partnerships to a more in-depth, collaborative academic and research development.
There is significant potential for cooperation between individual institutions in the UK and Malaysia, between quality assurance agencies and between our governments.
TNE is a cornerstone of the UK-Malaysia education relationship.
A commitment to ensure that TNE is delivered in a virtuous cycle ecosystem focusing on quality student experience, excellent academic development, faculty collaborations and research opportunities is important to take the UK-Malaysia education partnership to new heights in the next 30 years.
* The writer is a Country Director, British Council Malaysia