As part of the UK-China Education Policy Week, which took place in Beijing from 14 to 19 March 2016, this Workshop on Quality Assurance in UK-China Transnational Education brought together leaders from education institutions in the UK and China to discuss how to improve quality assurance for UK-China joint programmes and institutes, and agree on an action plan for 2016.

As the concluding event of the UK-China Education Policy Week, this workshop marked an important milestone in the history of UK-China transnational education, coming at a time when more than 260 UK-China transnational education programmes are in operation in the country with approval from the Ministry of Education, allowing nearly 57,000 students to study towards a UK qualification in China, an increase of 36 per cent over 2012.

As China continues to develop its economy and move up the value chain, the enhancement of standards and internationalisation of education provision is crucial for national prosperity. And with new, more stringent regulations introduced for current and future cross-border education partnerships in China, the UK needs to safeguard the quality and smooth running of transnational education relationships in order to remain China’s preferred partner in cross-border education.

This report summarises the discussions and key findings of the event.