By Stephen Wilkins and Melodena Stephens Balakrishnan. In response to the forces of globalisation, many universities worldwide have decided to engage in transnational education. In the 1990s, common forms of transnational education included distance education and partner-supported delivery, which includes franchised programmes and twinning. Since the turn of the century, the international branch campus has emerged as a popular form of transnational education with both higher education institutions and students.
At the start of 2012 there were more than 200 international branch campuses globally and, with 39 institutions, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was host to more branch campuses than any other country worldwide. The largest source countries of international branch campuses (where the parent institutions are based) are the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. Read more...

By Carlos Olivares. In recent weeks, the Chilean university community has been shaken by a scandal concerning the National Commission of Accreditation. The Prosecution Office surprised the public when it arrested the former president of the accreditation commission, two former rectors of private universities and the universities' owner. The charges are serious: money laundering, bribery and taking kickbacks. New investigations are under way to find out whether other university authorities were involved in these illicit activities. Read more...

By Karen MacGregor. The first annual meeting of the US Council for Higher Education Accreditation’s International Quality Group was held last week, with a focus on the open education movement, growth of online, competency-based education and learning outside the traditional university – major higher education trends worldwide.
The gathering explored issues in international higher education and their implications for quality assurance, academic corruption, ‘open badges’ and new ways of validating learning achievement, the open education movement including MOOCs, quality assurance in Central and Eastern Europe, and whether higher education is addressing economic and employment challenges.
What the meeting of the CHEA International Quality Group (CIQG) and the CHEA annual conference that preceded it tried to do, President Judith S Eaton told University World News, was “to focus on what the future is going to be like. Read more...

By Serhiy Kvit. At least three events that could influence the future of higher education have taken place recently in Ukraine. This influence could not only lead to a change in how the sector develops but also, quite possibly, will speed up its post-Soviet demise.
Elections to the Ukrainian parliament, held in October 2012, strengthened opposition forces – though they are still in the minority and unable to push through important decisions. Just before the New Year, cabinet approved the Draft Law on Higher Education mentioned in previous blogs. Nevertheless, its implementation is not a fait accompli, given the competing views of government and opposition members. Read more...

By Judith S Eaton. The most recent conversation about ‘credit hour’, a description of time on task required of students in their courses, programmes and degrees, is about how this concept might be tied to student learning outcomes. It is also about the federal financing of higher education and sustaining the role that the credit hour has played in this funding.
Discussion of student learning outcomes – setting expectations of student learning and judging whether expectations are achieved – has, to date, been led by the academy. And discussion of federal funding and the credit hour has been led by government officials, and focuses on what will be financed and how. Care and caution are essential as we proceed with both the student learning discussion and the federal financing discussion. Read more...

By Jan Petter Myklebust and Ian R Dobson. On 21 December, more than half of Finland’s MPs agreed to a proposal to change legislation to allow for students from outside Europe to be charged tuition fees for degree programmes. The fees would be between €3,500 and €12,000 (US$4,700 and US$16,000) a year. Student unions have vigorously opposed the move and argued for keeping Finnish higher education fee-free for international students. The proposal to charge fees was put forward by four MPs from four parties and was supported by 119 of 200 MPs. Read more...