presentation of the report french transnational higher ......french transnational higher education:...

Presentation of the reportFrench transnational

higher education:the urgent need For a strategy

Bernard Ramanantsoa, Quentin Delpechwith the collaboration of Marième Diagne

26.09.16

www.strategie.gouv.fr

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a report stemming From an engagement letterthis report stems from an engagement letter issued by the then Foreign affairs minister, laurent Fabius, thehigher education and research minister, Najat Vallaud Belkacem, and the secretary of state for higher educa-tion and research, Thierry Mandon. they commissioned Bernard Ramanantsoa, dean emeritus of hec paris,with the collaboration of France stratégie, to undertake a new research on transnational higher education (tne)initiatives carried out by French higher education institutions (heis). it builds on several auditions (more than ahundred) along with meetings with a group of experts chosen for their knowledge of the subject or experience.

The internationalisation of higher education has become a reality affecting all institutions. it might evenbe the most significant transformation that higher education systems have undergone for a good twenty years.it manifests itself in increasing numbers of ways, including modification of training content to place greateremphasis on international issues, increasing numbers of students involved in international mobility, partner-ships with institutions abroad, internationalisation of teaching staff and deployment of the higher educationprovision overseas. this context is fostering the appearance of new forms of mobility. internationalisation isno longer simply a matter of physical flows of people (students, teachers, researchers and executives), it alsomeans institutions (campuses abroad) and programme flows. it is the very nature of mobility that is changing,with two-way traffic across borders, hence the use of the term “transnational”.

This report concerns, thus, the international mobility of French programmes and institutions, which takesa wide variety of forms with a multitude of legal statuses, academic and business models, etc.

main drivers For tne provisionAn international context conducive to the development of this new form of internationalisation: a greatersocial demand driven by the growth of middle classes in emerging and developing countries, a growing demandfor international experience from students, the need to import foreign expertise in order to develop, diversifyand increase the capacity of locally-based higher education, a means of enhancing research and innovation.

An important issue for “sending” countries in terms of scientific and cultural influence, international coopera-tion strategies and, more widely, the development of their soft power.

A diverse range of motives for higher education institutions: a means of gaining prestige and developing aninternational brand, capturing a solvent demand so as to generate new income, diversifying the pool of incomingstudents, increasing academic and research cooperation, supporting the internationalization of French compa-nies, extending their enrolment capacity, etc.

French transnational higher education:the urgent need for a strategy

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a comprehensive panoramaoF the French tneThis report seeks to fill a gap in our knowledge ofthe internationalisation of French higher educa-tion. although we possess information on attractive-ness as regards students, teachers and researchers inFrance and on French student mobility, we know verylittle about French heis’ transnational activities,apart from the emblematic examples of the sorbonnein abu dhabi, the École centrale de pékin (ecpk) inBeijing and hec paris in Qatar, all of which haveenjoyed wide media coverage. up until now, informa-tion has been piecemeal and strictly qualitative. thisreport presents the first quantitative data on theextent and diversity of the practice. Following a sur-vey carried out among institutions and diplomaticposts, we now know in which countries, in which dis-ciplines, at which study levels and by what deliverymodes French heis are providing their higher educa-tion programmes abroad (see map).

The five modes of delivery identified in the reportfall into two categories:

— Physical presence overseas: (1) internationalbranch campuses (hec paris in Qatar, sorbonne abudhabi, essec singapour, etc.); (2) joint-ventures(centrale pékin, institut franco-chinois de l'énergienucléaire, institut sorbonne-Kazakhstan, etc.); and(3) franchises (vatel, esmod);

— Decentralised programmes: (4) courses deliveredby a French hei within a partner institution abroad(université d'Égypte, université galatasaray àistanbul, etc.); and (5) distance learning.

more than 600 transnationalprogrammes and at least37,000 active transnationalstudentsthe key findings suggest that most French heis areinvolved in transnational activities (cf. map). theydeliver more than 600 programmes abroad: 140 phy-sical setups which include franchises (62), branchcampuses (40) or joint-ventures (38). about 330French degrees are delivered with partner institu-tions abroad. at least 138 distance learning pro-grammes are followed by learners outside of France.a geographical analysis of the data collected revealsthat africa and asia are the prevalent regions for tneactivities.

a total of 37,000 active enrolments were reported inthe French offshore programmes. the countries hos-ting the highest numbers of French programmes aremorocco, vietnam, china, lebanon and tunisia. Joint-ventures account for the largest enrolments (29%),followed by degrees delivered through partnershipswith foreign institutions (28%).

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characteristicsoF French transnational education initiativesOverall, this French TNE may be analysed as aniche offer, encompassing programmes of excel-lence at postgraduate levels (almost 70% of degreesawarded — mainly at master’s level) and in specialisedfields in which France has a reputation for excellence(hoteling/hospitality, fashion, etc.), with limited stu-dent enrolments (an average of just over 200 enrol-

ments), very different from the large numbers to befound on British and australian offshore campuses.

69 % of all French TNE programmes are entirely orpartly taught in French. in fact, around 57% ofthose programmes are wholly dispensed in French.it’s a very high proportion compared to that observedamong our competitors: german tne, for instance, ismainly delivered in english (90%). however, thisshare of programmes in French differs from oneregion to another and depending on the disciplineinvolved.

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French TNE provision is dominated by Businessand Engineering programmes. on the whole, overthree quarters of enrolments are in law/economics/management (39,8%) and sciences/engineering/health (36,3%).

French HEIs generally favour collaborative provi-sion: almost two-thirds of French programmesabroad involve foreign academic partners.

Engineering schools are most involved in this formof internationalisation, with an intake of almost7,000 students abroad, which represents a third oftheir foreign students in France.

Business schools train almost 3,000 studentsabroad, with international branch campuses as theirpreferred delivery type. on the whole, businessschools prioritise two types of engagement in termsof transnational education: multisite provision aimingto enrol their own students in more or less long-termprogrammes and programmes targeting profitablesegments as “executive education”.

Overall, universities train a third of students enrol-led abroad – which is not all that many compared withthe percentage of foreign students they enrol inFrance (almost three-quarters). although one in twouniversities provides part of their programmesabroad, this statistic masks major disparities. First ofall, IBAs account for 25% of universities’ TNE. inaddition, they enrol limited numbers of students (anaverage of 60 students for Bachelor’s degrees and30 for master’s). and finally, the offer is scatteredacross a multitude of academic partners abroad.263 decentralised programmes in 52 countries with145 academic partners. almost 90% of universitycourses abroad are delivered outside programmesresulting from bilateral cooperation between govern-ments, whether they are joint-ventures (universitédes sciences et technologie de hanoi, institut sor-

bonne Kazakhstan, etc.) or French-backed universi-ties(université Française d’egypte, université Fran-çaise d’arménie, université galatasaray, etc.).

our competitorshave already taKen uptheir positionsthe market is dominated by american institutions,which pioneered physical setups overseas: over halfof the world’s offshore campuses are american. Bri-tish and australian universities, which are particu-larly active in this field, are next in line. overall, thisspecial form of internationalisation is much lessdeveloped in France in terms of numbers of studentsand programmes involved than it is elsewhere, in par-ticular in the united Kingdom and australia (countriesfor which data is available). not including distancelearning, the united Kingdom enrols three times asmany students as France in its programmes abroad.For every ten students enrolled in the united King-dom and australia, five are enrolled in a British pro-gramme abroad and 4.5 in an australian programme.the ratio between incoming mobility and the offerabroad is significantly lower in France: for every teninternational students in France, there are less thantwo students in French programmes abroad.

The graph above shows that there is in France amarked underinvestment in certain internationali-sation schemes, in particular those mobilising digi-tal technologies. (MOOCs and distance learning) asa tool for internationalization. only 5,668 stu-dents are enrolled abroad in distance courses delive-red by French institutions at a time when, with globaldissemination of the internet, online learning is beco-ming an ever more popular means for institutions tointernationalise their offer and renew their policieson promoting their higher education provision and

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attracting students. in some countries, online dis-tance courses have even become heis’ preferred wayof providing education abroad: such is the case in theunited Kingdom where, in 2014, 44% of studentswho took a British training course abroad did soonline – a total of almost 110,000 students in all. inaustralia, over 25,000 students are studying fordegrees awarded by australian institutions in thecontext of distance learning, almost five times asmany as French institutions.

source: unesco institute for statistics, France stratégie, 2016. no

data on distance-training for germany. 1) For uK, we only consider

active enrolments. these numbers do not take into account enrol-

ments at oxford Brookes (Bis, 2014). 2) the definition of tne used

excludes some delivery modes such as validation, dual and joint

degrees, (see Bis, value of tne).

an urgent needFor a strategyFrench institutions are certainly involved in transna-tional activities, but they may be in an ambivalentposition. they have not committed to this form ofinternationalisation as american, australian or British

institutions. does this apparent lack of commitmenthide a competitive weakness resulting from somelesser capacity to export our system? or is it a well-reasoned choice, a preference for more classicalcooperation schemes such as academic mobility andjoint degrees; in other words, a purposeful niche posi-tioning?

this report shows that our institutions’ “halfway”position is mainly due to the absence of any stableor clearly stated strategy, with decisions on deploy-ment tending to be largely opportunistic, usually ori-ginating with teaching or research teams and some-times initiated by the authorities at diplomatic level,rather than genuine, clearly articulated strategies.With a few exceptions, institutions’ strategies in thisarea remain largely unformulated. such absence ofstrategy results from known shortcomings, includingthe fact that institutions’ management teams tendto see international issues as being of secondaryimportance and a lack of professional skills andresources on the part of teams responsible for insti-tutions’ international relations. heis only rarely com-mit themselves to structured, centralised forms ofinternational relations, as is evidenced by the diffi-culty they have in gathering data on their internatio-nalisation practices.

this report stresses the fact that our situation is notirreversible. if we cannot speak, to date, of a defini-tive dropout, the gap with our main competitors thisreport points out is already worrying. this situation isall too often the result of “Franco-French” constraintsand issues bound, among other things, to an inade-quate appropriation of the culture of assessment,institutions’ still limited autonomy, regulatory provi-sions regarding graduation and the legibility of our

DOSSIER DE PRESSE

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present system. the current configuration does notenable heis involved in this form of internationalisa-tion to take full advantage of the opportunities pro-vided by this silent revolution or confront the risksinvolved effectively. It is therefore a matter ofurgency that we comprehend the importance ofthis transnational turning-point in higher educa-tion and take up a clear position in order toconstruct a proactive strategy.

three priority actionsFor the statein a context in which institutions are becoming increa-singly autonomous, three priority actions may be dis-tinguished, involving state services and institutionsthemselves:

— Improving instruments for managing internatio-nal strategies at institutional and State level inorder to better know, promote and develop Frenchtne through adapted statistical tools and indica-tors, as well as better equipped human resources atinstitutional level. such management also requiresthat an environment of expertise on the internatio-nalisation of higher education be structured to pro-vide data for and guide institutions’ strategies(Focus 1).

— Clarifying public regulations governing assess-ment of French programmes and institutionsabroad, as well as the graduation offer favoured(Focus 2). rapid positioning on the internationalcertification market would also be essential giventhe explosion of demand in this field.

— Clarifying available means of financing andmaking them more incentivising in order to fosterdevelopment of self-financing programme models

and encourage diversification of sources of finan-cing, in particular by leaving institutions more roomfor action with regard to pricing rules on enrolmentfees for their programmes abroad (Focus 3).

Four possiBle strategiesFor heisapart from such a regulatory and managerial environ-ment, four model strategies for institutions’ success-ful involvement abroad may be identified. these fourscenarios differ to varying extents from the currentmorphology of our deployment abroad. the first two,more in line with the present niche offer, advocatetargeting the offer on diplomatic initiatives (scena-rio 1) or declared objectives of international develop-ment of research (scenario 2). the other two advo-cate increased development of the offer, either bydiversifying modes of location and realigning theoffer on undergraduate studies with a view to tap-ping markets (scenario 3) or by full-scale investmentin the opportunities provided by digital technologies(scenario 4).

Scenario 1: Falling in with scientific and academicdiplomacy: the outreach strategy.

Scenario 2: going where cutting-edge research isbeing/will be carried out; going in search of tomor-row’s talent: the deployment by and for research stra-tegy.

Scenario 3: significantly increasing our offer andrethinking our positioning: the market appropriationstrategy

Scenario 4: involving ourselves in promising forms ofinternationalisation: the diversification strategy.

THE FULL REPORT IS AVAILABLE AT: www.strategie.gouv.fr

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presentation of the report french transnational higher ......french transnational higher education:...

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