French Transnational Higher Education: The Urgent Need for a Strategy

Over the past two decades higher education has become significantly more international in scope. Students and teaching staff have become more mobile, with a larger number studying and working abroad. At the same time, it is increasingly common for institutions to open up campuses in other countries, deliver programmes through partner institutions or offer distance learning to students located outside France.

In short, education has become “transnational”. But up until now information on the role of French HEIs in this trend has been lacking. This report aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed analysis of the transnational education initiatives undertaken by France’s institutions of higher learning. In a word, it stresses the urgency of grasping the importance of fostering such activities and developing a proactive strategy to continue to develop the international presence of France’s HEIs.