Birkbeck, University of London is set to establish its first overseas campus in Bengaluru after receiving UGC approval, marking a major step in India’s push to attract global universities. The campus will offer University of London degrees at nearly 60% lower cost than in the UK while maintaining the same academic standards, with additional plans for scholarships and AI-integrated teaching. The move is expected to expand access to international education in India and strengthen India–UK higher education collaboration.
China has unveiled a significant package of reforms to its transnational education (TNE) framework, aiming to streamline approvals, expand institutional flexibility, and deepen global partnerships. The changes suggest a shift from controlled expansion toward more strategic, quality-driven international collaboration.
International branch campuses are often analysed as instruments of global higher education strategy. Less attention, however, has been paid to how students themselves arrive at the decision to enrol in them.
As COVID-19 halted student mobility, universities turned to internationalisation not as a strategy of expansion, but as a mechanism for survival—revealing both its untapped potential and its structural limits.
