Go Beyond: Aberdeen’s next chapter in global education

Tell us about the University of Aberdeen’s approach to transnational education.

For generations, international higher education has largely followed a familiar pattern. Students travelled to established destinations such as the UK, the United States, Canada and Australia in pursuit of a world-class education and the opportunities that came with it.

But that model is changing. The global demand for higher education continues to grow, but so too does the confidence and capability of countries closer to where students live.

India, China, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa are increasingly emerging as education hubs in their own right. The question for universities such as ours is no longer simply how we attract students to Scotland; it is how we engage meaningfully with a world in which education is becoming increasingly international, interconnected and locally delivered.

This is where transnational education (TNE) comes in, and at the University of Aberdeen, our approach to global engagement is evolving in response to these profound shifts. This is not about abandoning the traditional model of international student mobility. Students will continue to travel, and the experience of studying in another country remains enormously valuable. But mobility alone cannot meet the scale of global demand, nor should it be the only way in which universities build international relationships.

We need to think differently about how and where we deliver education, how we collaborate with partners and, crucially, how we contribute to the societies and communities in which we work.

What is the University of Aberdeen doing to address this shift in global engagement, and what benefits does that bring?

The University of Aberdeen has always been outward-looking. For more than five centuries, we have welcomed students and scholars from around the world, and our history has been shaped by the movement of people, ideas and knowledge across borders. International engagement is not new to us.

What is changing is the scale of opportunity – and the urgency with which universities must respond – but our track record gives us a strong foundation from which to build.

In Qatar, we became the first Scottish university to establish a dedicated campus in Doha (2017) through our partnership with AFG College. Today, the campus is home to around 600 students representing more than 25 nationalities, with more than 900 graduates since the partnership began.

In China, our relationships have developed over many years and continue to grow in ambition. Our joint institute with South China Normal University, focused on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, grew out of two decades of collaboration and now has more than 1,000 students enrolled. We have established double-degree programmes with Harbin Engineering University and, over the past year, accelerated our activity significantly through new partnerships and programmes with institutions including China University of Geosciences Beijing, Tianjin Foreign Studies University and Northwest University.

These are not simply agreements on paper. They are relationships built on trust, complementary strengths and a shared belief in what education can achieve. And, at their heart, are students.

TNE should not be discussed primarily in terms of growth, recruitment or institutional strategy. Those things are important — universities need sustainable models if they are to invest in their future — but the real value of international partnerships extends much further.

Students benefit from access to the expertise, perspectives and educational traditions of more than one institution. They develop not only academic knowledge but also cultural understanding, confidence and a global outlook. They learn to work across borders and disciplines — skills that will become increasingly important throughout their lives and careers.

The benefits also extend to staff, researchers and wider society. Strong partnerships create opportunities for collaboration in research and innovation. They bring together expertise that might otherwise remain separated by geography. They allow universities to work collectively on challenges that no country can solve alone.

Energy transition, climate change, carbon capture, critical minerals, digital transformation and artificial intelligence are global challenges. It makes sense that universities seeking solutions to them should also think globally.