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“Borderless” and Cross-border Education

What is cross-border study?
https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/cross-border-study/choosing-how-to-study/what-is-cross-
border-study/
Cross-border study*, also known as transnational education (TNE), comprises of study
programs that cross a national border. Gaining a foreign qualification at a branch campus,
doing a dual degree at 2 universities/colleges in different countries, or even studying for a
foreign qualification online are all examples of cross-border study. See the full list of cross-
border study options below.
*Like all the courses listed on our international sites, cross-border study options are always
English-taught programmes, even if they are qualifications awarded by universities/colleges in
non-English speaking destinations.
What are the advantages of cross-border study?
Cross-border study is growing at an unparalleled rate. For British cross-border qualifications
alone, over 650,000 international students were enrolled in 2015/16! But just why is cross-border
so popular? We explain some of the benefits for students and universities/colleges below…
For students:
It gives them access to quality foreign qualifications they might not otherwise have been able to
pursue
It is usually more affordable than traditional study abroad
It is a more flexible method of study that can fit around life commitments and avoid issues like
securing study visas
Having a quality foreign qualification can often lead to better job prospects
It offers the possibility to gain qualifications from more than one university/college

For universities/colleges/schools:
It allows them to reach talented international students who might not otherwise be able to access
their programs in an increasingly competitive study abroad market
They can develop relationships with overseas institutions and gain resources
In the case of branch campuses, they can create a physical presence overseas with their own staff
and systems
They can increase their overall international student numbers without having to allocate extra
space in their existing in-country campuses
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They often will be supported by government who see cross-border as a crucial movement
towards internationalization
Types of cross-border study
Cross-border study comes in all shapes and sizes. With so many options it can be very confusing
for students to work out the best course for them! We’ve outlined the main types of cross-border
study below with an example for each…
Dual/Double degree
Degree delivered by 2 (or more) universities/colleges in different countries with 1 degree
awarded that is jointly accredited by each institution OR Degrees delivered by 2 (or more)
universities/colleges in different countries with 2 (or more) individual degrees awarded, each
accredited by an individual institution.

Example of a double degree

Institution: ITMO University
Course: Double Degree Master's Program in Optics, Photonics & Optoinformatics (with
University of Rochester, USA)
Accredited by: Master of Science (MSc) from ITMO University in Optical and quantum
technology of transmission, storage and treatment of information, Quantum Informatics,
Biophotonics. Master of Science (MSc) from UR in Optics
Duration: 2 years
Study Abroad: Yes – 1 year in Russia + 1 year in USA

Example of a dual degree

Institution: Sciences Po Paris (France)
Course: Dual Master of International Affairs & Law
Accredited by: LL.M degree (from Georgetown University (United States)) / Master in
International Affairs (from Sciences Po Paris (France))
Duration: 2 years full-time
Study Abroad: Yes – 1 year in France + 1 year in USA

International branch campus

When the accrediting university or college establishes a campus overseas.
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Example of a branch campus

Institution: Monash University Malaysia
Course: Master of Philosophy
Accredited by: Monash University (Australia)
Duration: 2 years full-time
Study Abroad: No

Franchise programmes
When the accrediting university/college licenses an institution in another country to deliver its
programs overseas.

Example of a franchise programme

Institution: City Unity College (Greece)
Course: MSc Health Psychology
Accredited by: Cardiff Metropolitan University (United Kingdom)
Duration: Not Specified
Study Abroad: No

Twinning programmes
Qualification from accrediting university/college with time spent studying in another country.

Example of a twinning programme

Institution: Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (UAE)
Course: BA (Hons) International Business
Accredited by: University of South Wales (United Kingdom)
Duration: 3 years full-time
Study Abroad: Yes - 2 years in UAE + 1 year in UK
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Online/Distance learning
Qualification from a foreign university/college studied online or via distance learning.

Example of online/distance learning

Institution: King’s College London, University of London
Course: International Programme in Addiction Studies MSC
Accredited by: King’s College London, University of London (UK), University of Adelaide
(Australia), Virginia Commonwealth University (United States)
Duration: 1 years online
Study Abroad: No

What type of student should consider cross-border study?

Maybe you’re a mature student that wants to pursue a foreign qualification but is tied to
staying at home due to family or other commitments. Perhaps you’re worried about the
difficulties of securing a study visa. You might really want a foreign qualification but don’t have
the funds to study overseas. Cross-border could be for you! It offers a new type of flexibility that
means you could study from home online or maybe at a branch campus located in your home
country or a neighbouring country. This way you won’t have to uproot your life to move abroad,
but you’ll still be able to pursue a foreign qualification that in turn could lead to a better future
with more lucrative job prospects.

Cross-border can also be appeal to the more adventurous international student! Some types
of cross-border, such as double and double degrees, allow you to complete your studies in two
different countries, which can be a great cultural and learning experience! You’ll also get a
qualification from two different universities/colleges, which could look great on your CV and
allow you to take advantage of the resources at both institutions.

We listen to our student audience and are proud to be the first ever global study abroad site to list
cross-border options. Use our site to browse the courses that suit you most or read the articles
below to find out about individual cross-border study options in more detail.

Borderless Education: To Bridge The Gap Between Expectation & Demand

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Read more at: https://www.careerindia.com/features/borderless-education-bridge-the-gap-

between-expectation-d-017819.html
As rightly said by Nelson Mandela, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use
to change the world." Education is not restricted to local and limited to one individual human
being acting as a facilitator or educator, rather paradigm shift has happened in response to the
intelligence intensive, knowledge intensive and technology intensive requirements of the new
millenials. In a world of globalization driven by exponential accelerating technological and
social change, push for more creative and context driven innovation, dynamic and adaptable to
anybody, any place and any situation is the need of the day. In this context education system has
gone from local to global, one to many and traditionally to modern and has become borderless.

Read more at: https://www.careerindia.com/features/borderless-education-bridge-the-gap-

between-expectation-d-017819.html?story=3
The term "Borderless Education" encompasses a wide range of methodologies or pedagogies like
On-line training, Off-shore campus, Technology assisted teaching and Franchising of curricula.
The basic objective of these methods is to provide a platform to maximize the potential and
performance of the people across the globe through multidimensional and multi level
interactions. In borderless education the student is the center of education getting the exposure of
individualized programs, Self learning, Self actualizing process, Methods and Self rewarding
through Multiple sources of learning, Networked learning, Unlimited Opportunities life long and
every where. The role of the teachers has also changed from direct controller to coach, partner,
guide and counsellor. Time to respect education in its true sense Of course the obvious question
now is how this borderless education system is going to bridge the gap between the expectation
of the millenials and the demand of the future and fast growing global challenges. The answer is
rather very simple where the different parts of the world are rapidly networked and globalized
through internet and on- line processes. The demand is not to develop the individual having
limited knowledge and thinking for self growth and development but to contribute as a whole to
the society, country and globe at large. The focus of the traditional system was to support for the
economic and social development of the individual where as the borderless education ensures
overall development including technological, economic, political, social and cultural, where they
can learn from world class teachers, experts, peers and best materials from any part of the world,
getting lifelong exposures any time and every time. Government schools need to upgrade
themselves Now it's time for us to move from tight control system to open and dynamic, creative
and imaginative world where students can get the freedom to learn and develop themselves the
way they want to be.

Read more at: https://www.careerindia.com/features/borderless-education-bridge-the-gap-

between-expectation-d-017819.html?story=4
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Borderless education
MINI CRITIQUE - Isagani Cruz - The Philippine Star
November 13, 2014 | 12:00am
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It’s become fashionable to talk about “borderless education.” What exactly is it?

The definition proposed by Yoni Ryan of the Queensland University of Technology in “The
Business of Borderless Education and Lifelong Learning” (2000) and “Borderless Education
After the Dot.com Crash” (2001), is as good as any other:

“The term ‘borderless education’ encompasses a wide range of activities, from online training,
off-shore campuses, technology-assisted teaching, and franchising of curricula. Since many of
these activities emanate from the new providers of post-secondary education and programs, often
for-profit institutions or commercial arms of non-profit universities, borderless education segues
into ‘the business of education.’ That brings the activities of organisations supporting e-learning,
whether vendors of learning management platforms or publishers of digital material, into our
purview as well.”
Let us take each of the examples he gives to get a better idea of what borderless education is all
about.
Online training has been going on for quite a while. A number of Filipino teachers today, for
example, work from home, tutoring Japanese, Korean, and other foreign students.
The website italki.com is a successful online training company. Based in Hong Kong, the site
matches tutors with students, without regard to place of residence or work. If you go to the site
and look for teachers of Filipino (called Tagalog outside the Philippines), you will see that there
are Filipinos (some based in the Philippines, others not) who offer Tagalog lessons for 4 to 8 US
dollars per hour (depending on the qualifications of the teacher and the level of the student).

The language most in demand, needless to say, is English, and Filipino teachers now compete
with American or British online teachers (despite the latter being regarded as “native speakers”
of the language).
Off-shore campuses have been around for a while. Singapore has the Yale-National University
of Singapore College, Malaysia its International University of Malaya-Wales, and Vietnam its
RMTI Melbourne University Vietnam. Because our Constitution severely limits foreign
ownership of schools, we find it much more difficult than our ASEAN neighbors to invite
foreign universities to set up campuses in our country.
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Technology-assisted teaching has been around since the invention of chalk and blackboard, but
in the context of borderless education, the term refers to the use of the Internet in classroom
teaching.
The best example of the use of the Internet in classes is the flipped classroom, where students
watch TED talks, Khan Academy lessons, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and other
such Internet-based lectures at home and come to class only to ask and answer questions. In a
flipped classroom, what used to be homework is done in the classroom and what used to be
classroom work is now done at home.
MOOCs, by the way, have evolved from the TED talk or Khan Academy type (where students
merely watch canned lectures) to actual live classes, where hundreds, perhaps even thousands of
students, join the few students attending a face-to-face class in a physical classroom. Using the
tools available now through technology, a teacher can now teach hundreds, perhaps thousands of
students, at the same time.
If you are a teacher and you want to know how that works, you could try to use the free software
called Socrative in your classroom. Your students can answer questions on their smartphones,
and you will get their answers instantaneously on your own smartphone or tablet. Just extend that
to people watching you over live streaming, and you get the idea. It is possible to have simple
question-and-answer sessions in a live virtual classroom (wait for better technology and real,
open-ended discussions will soon be possible).
Franchising of curricula can be as basic as having your students pay for International
Baccalaureate or as advanced as paying for the intellectual property rights of syllabuses and
curriculums from the world’s top schools. One of the things that I wish would happen in my
lifetime is that schools outside our country will use the teaching tools we have created in the
Philippines, through franchising. After all, we do have some of the most advanced thinkers in the
world today (sadly, completely ignored by our policy makers and political leaders, who prefer
merely to follow what other countries have done rather than to tell other countries what to do).
Finally, vendors of learning management platforms or publishers of digital material clearly
want to make money from borderless education, but what can we do? As Yoni Ryan himself
says, borderless education costs a lot of money and most universities cannot afford it if they do it
on their own. By paying vendors and publishers, schools will save much time, money, effort, and
hardware in searching for the most appropriate Internet tools for their students.

At the 2014 International Conference and 5th National Tri-Level Conference of Teachers and
Educators, sponsored by the Metrobank Foundation Network of Outstanding Teachers and
Educators (NOTED), held last week, I ended my lecture on borderless education with an
admonition: Borderless education is not a magic pill that will cure all of our educational diseases,
but if we do not see beyond our geographical noses, we will stumble and fall.
Could borderless education help improve the student experience at home?
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The increase in transnational education programs presents challenges for institutions expanding
their geographical boundaries, but it also gets us to think about the impact of technology on the
student experience back home.
The topic of ‘borderless education’ has amassed popularity in the wake of Brexit speculations
regarding the sustainability of UK HE. And it’s not all talk. UCAS figures from 2016-2017
already show a 7 percent decrease in applications from EU students, so there could be a
recruitment challenge ahead, if current levels of financing are sought. Perhaps part of the
solution, and a fresh challenge too, is for us to think outside the box, as well as beyond our
borders.
Jisc has set up a transnational education (TNE) programme to support our member universities
with established and developing TNE activities, and commissioned the Observatory on
Borderless Education to survey the sector and understand current and future requirements. From
the findings, and capitalising upon our expertise in running the Janet network and delivering
deals in publishing, there’s a lot of knowledge that translates to global opportunity as
demonstrated by the Department for International Trade in their move to establish a TNE sector
group, strengthening the UK’s position in this growing field.
And it’s a savvy move – with funding not set to increase by inflation, and the government stance
on student visas, models of provision may need to drastically change. HEPI‘s report into the
subject predicted that as many as 20,000 potential students could be put off studying in the UK
as a result of visa restrictions.
Whatever the cause, we are only likely to see further internationalisation of the UK HE market as
technological possibilities increase. All over the world, technology already enables education
despite geographical barriers, but how does this relate to the student experience, and how can
UK campuses also benefit?
The technology landscape
The days when it might have seemed revolutionary to be presenting a MOOC (massive, open
online course) to students in China are over–this is now every day practice and access to UK HE,
is on a different scale; In the biggest markets for UK TNE (including Malaysia, China and
Singapore), online distance education constitutes 52 per cent of all provision.

Students need to be able to use virtual learning environments (VLEs), and access course
materials in real time, and not be waiting for better bandwidth out of hours or during the night –
and this access needs to be both on and off campus, which Jisc have been facilitating for many
institutions, including Queen Mary’s partnerships in China.
When it comes to delivering TNE, seamless takes on a new meaning. Combining branch and
onshore campuses, with blended learning, VLEs and considerations such as video conferencing
for tutorials requires some thinking, and a new set of skills in planning the technological
infrastructure for students of 2018, and beyond.
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Changing expectations
Let’s put our students first – their opinions, and their experience count more and more –
wherever they’re based, from the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus to Ningbo, to
back home, Wi-Fi available across campus is no longer a nicety but a necessity to how students
learn and engage.
Raegan Hiles is right to raise the importance of student experience in satellite campuses – it’s the
acid-test to whether improved connectivity or virtual learning environments are in fact giving
students the education they’re looking for – a 360 degree experience.
We know from our research and conversations with universities that successful online
learners require a particular set of skills and attitudes, some of which may be difficult for
those new to higher education and from non-traditional backgrounds to develop. TNE
gives us a focus to review these skills and improve how we support students wherever
they’re based.
Our own Student Digital Experience tracker of 20,000 students gave some mixed messages about
how technology supports today’s learners:80% of online learners agree that learning with
technology means that they can fit learning into their life; and 85% that it makes them more
independent, but only 20% feel connected with tutors, and 27% with other learners. So there are
considerations here for staff in both UK based and TNE branch campuses in how technology
helps us deliver against student expectations both now, and in the future.
On home soil
Again, from the student tracker we have found it is crucial that providers of online learning
prepare online learners to study online. It might sound obvious, but what are the practices,
expectations and good habits they need? Teaching responsively, with consideration to
learners’ different motivations, interests, learning histories and resources is vital to address
the barriers to success for specific groups of learners, and relevant to planning both TNE
programmes and those taught on UK campuses.
At the launch of the Higher Education Commission’s fifth inquiry, Paul Feldman outlined
some great examples of where technology is increasing access to higher education courses
back in the UK. One example being Micro campuses, a form of technology enhanced
learning to have received deserved attention; wholly digital in their provision, they are
creating an on-campus feel to courses. It’s definitely possible, technology gives us these
tools, but for some there’s a debate to be had about whether it’s desirable, too.
There are countless examples of a universities effectively integrating digital tools within courses
producing graduates who are workplace ready and by design, digitally literate. Of course, higher
education is so much more that a conveyor belt to employment, but when student experience has
such a defining role, we can’t afford to be complacent about the acquisition of digital skills for a
global employment market.
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As Paul Gallagher, assistant director of applications at Queen Mary’s University of London said,
‘we needed a consistent story’ – from reliable, global connectivity, a reliable VLE can become
the bedrock of a strong student experience. We’ve seen the shift in the use of our network from
its creation as a corridor for research collaboration, to a network secure enough to stream
surgery, live from the other side of globe, for medical students who would otherwise be unable to
train in these skills. Where technology leads, expectations will follow.
Universities are taking increasing advantage of borderless education to extend their
portfolios, through technology (It was recently reported that the UK’s offshore activity is
growing at five times the rate of students coming to the UK). So let’s also use our technological
expertise of providing borderless education to shape and improve how we deliver technology
enhanced learning, for homegrown talent, too.
https://wonkhe.com/blogs/borderless-education-could-it-help-to-improve-student-experience-on-
home-turf/