We hosted the British Council's South Asia Deep Dialogues in Colombo from 10 to 11 December 2024. This was the first time that our flagship higher education series was held outside the UK. Deep Dialogues are focused events organized by the British Council that foster meaningful international engagement on critical higher education themes, bringing together experts and stakeholders for in-depth discussions to share insights and develop actionable solutions.
The conference brought together leading experts, policymakers, and education sector professionals from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and UK to explore the theme of 'widening access to quality tertiary education through transnational education', particularly as a significant driver of educational transformation, the knowledge economy and sustainable development goals. There were over 100 delegates and 27 speakers from five countries of South Asia and the UK. The conversations explored practicalities of implementing TNE, criticality of assuring quality and student experience, discussing solutions to tackle challenges and sharing experiences about what worked well and what didn't.
Top three insights from the event included that:
• Trust and respect are fundamental to establishing mutually beneficial partnerships that will significantly improve the quality of teaching, curricula, policies, and, ultimately, the student experience.
• Quality assurance needs to be at the heart of TNE development and delivery so that students receive high quality education. At the same time, higher education and quality assurance systems must be resilient enough to navigate the evolving landscape of course delivery, content, and student diversity, while fostering trust and confidence among all stakeholders.
• As TNE expands and transforms, education leaders face increasingly complex challenges in balancing local contexts with internationalisation goals. We need resilient, culturally intelligent leaders to navigate diverse stakeholder expectations.