Transformative Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Transnational Education (TNE)

Dear Colleagues,

Rationale and Background

Transnational Education (TNE) has become a central feature of global higher education, encompassing offshore campuses, franchised programmes, online and blended delivery, and international academic partnerships. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies rapidly mature, they are reshaping pedagogical practices, institutional governance, quality assurance mechanisms, student support systems, and cross-border academic collaboration.

AI-driven tools—such as adaptive learning platforms, generative AI, learning analytics, automated assessment, and intelligent tutoring systems—offer significant opportunities to enhance access, scalability, personalisation, and consistency across geographically dispersed TNE provision. At the same time, these developments raise critical concerns regarding academic integrity, cultural relevance, data governance, staff capability, equity, and regulatory alignment across national contexts.

Despite growing interest in AI in higher education, there remains limited initiatives that critically examines how AI intersects with the distinctive pedagogical, operational, ethical, and geopolitical dimensions of transnational provision. This Special Issue seeks to address this gap by bringing together empirical studies, conceptual analyses, policy perspectives, and practitioner reflections on the transformative impact of AI on TNE.

Aims and Scope

This Special Issue aims to:

• Advance theoretical and empirical understanding of AI adoption and impact within TNE contexts
• Critically examine how AI reshapes teaching, learning, assessment, and student experience across borders
• Explore institutional, regulatory, ethical, and cultural implications of AI-enabled TNE
• Share innovative practices and case studies from diverse global TNE settings

The issue will appeal to researchers, academic leaders, policymakers, quality assurance bodies, and practitioners engaged in international and transnational higher education.

Indicative Themes and Topics

Contributions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• AI-Enhanced Pedagogy in TNE
• Personalised and adaptive learning across transnational cohorts
• AI-supported curriculum design and localisation
• Generative AI as a learning and teaching tool in offshore and partner-delivered programmes

• Assessment, Academic Integrity, and Quality Assurance
• AI-driven assessment design and feedback in TNE
• Managing academic integrity and misconduct in AI-rich environments
• Implications for external examining, validation, and accreditation

• Student Experience and Support
• AI-enabled student advising, tutoring, and wellbeing support
• Equity, inclusion, and digital divides in AI-supported TNE
• Student perceptions and digital literacy across cultural contexts

• Staff Capability and Academic Practice
• Academic staff readiness, professional development, and AI literacy
• Changing academic roles in AI-mediated transnational delivery
• Power, agency, and authorship in the age of generative AI

• Governance, Ethics, and Regulation
• Data privacy, surveillance, and cross-border data governance
• Ethical frameworks for AI use in TNE
• Alignment (or tension) between national regulations and transnational practice

• Strategic and Institutional Perspectives
• AI as a driver of innovation, scalability, and risk in TNE
• Institutional strategies for AI adoption in international partnerships
• Future trajectories of AI-enabled transnational education

Dr. Youcef Gheraibia
Dr. ِِِAleem Al-othmani
Dr. Hardeep Basra
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• AI-enhanced pedagogy in TNE
• assessment, academic integrity, and quality assurance
• student experience and support
• staff capability and academic practice
• governance, ethics, and regulation
• strategic and institutional perspectives