Global classrooms, without the jet lag: a guide to transnational education

Transnational education is often associated with international travel, overseas campuses or students crossing borders. But our experience suggests that global learning does not need to rely solely on physical mobility. Instead, it can be cultivated through curriculum design, pedagogy and purposeful intercultural engagement – whether teaching takes place locally or online.

Drawing on both my research into internationalisation in Scottish higher education and my experience developing a module on global perspectives on education, here, I’ll explore how universities can foster global citizenship and a sense of belonging through transnational and translocal approaches. 

Reframing transnational education

Traditional models of transnational education are based on movement – students travelling abroad or institutions establishing campuses in other countries. Yet post-pandemic realities, shifting budgets and sustainability concerns mean we need a broader and more inclusive vision.

• When a university TNE library is as much diplomat as database
• How to navigate the digital challenges of transnational education
• Transnational education in China: challenges and keys to success

At my university, we’re approaching this by embracing translocal strategies through the design of global learning experiences, embedded in local classrooms and virtual platforms. For example, in modules on global perspectives, students examine education across cultures, critique dominant narratives and reflect on their own identities as learners and future educators. The emphasis is not on comparison for its own sake, but on dialogue, reflection and mutual respect.

My research into educators’ perspectives on internationalisation in Scotland highlights that global engagement is never neutral. It is shaped by national culture, institutional values and individual experience. In the Scottish context, many educators express a form of rooted cosmopolitanism: an openness to the world that remains grounded in civic responsibility and social justice. This naturally influences how global learning is approached in practice.

Elevating educators in internationalisation

One key insight from my research is the limited role educators play in shaping internationalisation policy. Too often, educators end up as implementers rather than as co-constructors, because of university policy.

At my institution, we’ve shifted towards involving programme-level staff in redesigning the curriculum and discussions on internationalisation. While this does not equate to full educator agency, it has opened up important professional dialogue. It’s enabled the sharing of diverse pedagogical approaches and fostered a deeper, more critical engagement with global education. It also reflects a growing recognition that academic staff need to help shape internationalised learning experiences if global learning is to move beyond policy aspiration and into day-to-day teaching practice.

These conversations matter. Meaningful internationalisation requires more than adding international content; it involves drawing upon theories of cosmopolitanism. Genuine internationalisation entails interaction and transformation – valuing otherness and embracing diverse ways of knowing and being. Empathy plays a central role here, enabling staff to recognise the diverse realities students bring into the classroom and to adapt teaching approaches accordingly.

Creating belonging in global classrooms

Institutional metrics often focus on things like student enrolment numbers, overseas partnerships or global rankings. Instead, why don’t we measure whether students feel like they belong to a global learning community?

In practice, this means creating classrooms where students are encouraged to listen to one another, reflect on difference and engage with unfamiliar perspectives respectfully. Global citizenship, in this sense, is not a checklist of competencies but a mindset developed through relationship, dialogue and reflection.

In my classroom, I invite students to explore global educational philosophies with curiosity rather than judgement. This emphasis on empathy and inclusion supports students from a wide range of backgrounds and helps to create learning environments where difference is seen as a resource rather than as a challenge. 

In education modules, for example, students may compare Scottish civic ideals of education with perspectives from other regions, using discussion and collaborative tasks to explore differences without ranking them.

From Scottishness to global citizenship

Scotland’s higher education landscape is rooted in civic ideals: education for the common good, democratic access and cultural pluralism. My research shows that many Scottish educators see internationalisation not as a threat to national identity, but as a way of enriching it.

We’re not seeking to export a pre-packaged model of education. Instead, we collaborate with overseas institutions, like Wuxi Taihu University in China, to co-design context-sensitive curricula, develop joint research agendas and share pedagogical innovations. Our transnational education is based on reciprocity, not replication. This emphasis on partnership and co-creation is central to ensuring that global engagement remains relevant to local contexts, rather than imposing a one-way model of delivery.

Ethical engagement is central to this approach. Students are encouraged to question power dynamics, recognise privilege and consider the implications of their actions in a global context and to reflect on how their actions and assumptions affect others. In this way, we aim to foster not just globally competent graduates, but globally responsible ones.

Practical takeaways 

Universities across the UK and beyond can draw from our experience. Some practical strategies include:

Empowering educators

Involve academic staff in internationalisation strategy and curriculum design. Their classroom insights can bridge the gap between policy ambition and pedagogical reality. Crucially, supporting educators’ empathy, as well as their expertise, enables them to connect with and motivate diverse student cohorts.

Embedding intercultural learning

Internationalise curricula not by adding content, but by rethinking how knowledge is produced and shared. Encourage multiple epistemologies and global voices.

Creating dialogic spaces

Virtual exchange platforms, joint assignments and peer collaboration can foster meaningful intercultural dialogue – especially where physical mobility is limited.

Honouring local contexts

Global learning doesn’t mean erasing national identity. Embrace your institution’s unique culture as a resource for global engagement.

Embedding ethics

Make ethical reflection a core component of global citizenship education. Help students explore their responsibilities, not just their opportunities, in a connected world.

In an age of increasing division, higher education must offer students more than employability or credentials. It must offer them connection, criticality and cosmopolitan imagination. Transnational education, when designed with care, can be a vehicle for this vision.

We’re committed to building classrooms – on campus and online – that are global in outlook, inclusive in practice, empathetic in culture and ethical in engagement. It’s not just about expanding our footprint­ – it is about transforming our purpose.

Jayakumar Chinnasamy is a lecturer in education at the University of the West of Scotland. 

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter.