Insights from the UK-China TNE Conference: Collaboration is key to success

The Oxford EMI team were honoured to be invited to speak at the Language, Assessment & Disciplinary Specialism in UK-China TNE Conference in October 2025.

Simon giving his presentation

Hot on the heels of our presentation at ICHLE conference, the Oxford EMI team had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Language, Assessment & Disciplinary Specialism in UK-China TNE Conference, hosted by the University of Leeds at the end of October.

This brought together content and language specialists to explore how these fields intersect in Transnational Education (TNE) and English Medium Instruction (EMI) contexts. The key message of the day here was the pressing need for interdisciplinary teacher collaboration to better support students on TNE and EMI programmes.

In this post, Senior trainer Simon Dunton shares his key highlights and takeaways from a day packed with thought-provoking research and practical examples.

A “world first” joint keynote

The conference kicked off with what they described as a “first-of-its-kind” joint keynote talk delivered by Professor Jim McKinley (University College London) and Professor Heath Rose (University of Oxford).

Their talk provided an overview of their extensive EMI research, expertly focusing on the critical interplay between policy, practice, and collaboration in TNE programmes.

It set the scene perfectly for the subsequent talks and workshops of the day, noting that in order for EMI programmes to work successfully, there needs to be buy-in from various stakeholders (managers, teachers, students, etc) to develop a joint understanding of what EMI is and what it aims to do. From this shared foundation, policy and actual classroom practices can be better harmonised.

My key takeaway here: Discussions on both global and local EMI policies must be an integral part of any training programme aimed at teachers working with EMI students.

Mapping global EMI training programmes

In her well-researched and sightful talk, Professor Katrien Deroey (University of Luxembourg) outlined some of her findings from her review of 25 EMI training initiatives from around the world.

She identified the following common and effective elements present across these diverse courses:

Raising awareness of the aims of EMI
Microteaching sessions with feedback
Observations of authentic EMI lessons
Discussion of the role of translanguaging
Space for course participant reflection on practices
Discussions on continuous development opportunities
Encouragement of collaboration between language and content teachers

I’m pleased to note that all of these elements form part of Oxford EMI’s training programmes. This commitment ensures our courses are continually developed and kept up-to-date with the latest, most effective research in the field.

As an example of this, the screenshot below is from the Oxford EMI Online Self-access course materials. In this section, two EMI lecturers from Turkey discuss the aims of EMI in their context. This is followed by interactive exercises that encourage course participants to reflect on the aims of EMI in their own contexts.

Screenshot from the Oxford EMI Online Self Access course materials

Collaboration in action

The standout afternoon session for me was a workshop delivered by Professor Anna Barney, Dr Jiahong Zhao and Lori-ann Milln (University of Southampton), entitled Bridging the Gap: A Triangular Approach to Supporting Final-Year Projects in UK-China Joint Programmes.

This demonstrated how they put theory into practice as they showcased how the academic managers, content teachers and language teachers in their department work in harmony to support TNE students in China. Their success proves that continual collaboration between these stakeholders is not just a good idea, it also leads to successful student outcomes.

The enthusiasm and passion from all three presenters was palpable, sparking engaging discussions amongst attendees.

The changing role of EAP teachers in TNE contexts

In my own talk, I highlighted the huge projected growth in TNE provision in China, which is expected to rise from around 800,000 TNE students today to a projected 8 million within ten years.

Faculties need to be ready to meet this growth. This includes ensuring content teachers, whether based in China permanently or those who visit on short stays throughout the academic year (so-called “flying faculty”), receive specialised training to meet the unique needs of these TNE students.

In addition, alongside continued advocacy for the status of English for Academic Purpose (EAP) teachers (Ding and Bruce, 2017), Oxford EMI believes the expansion in EMI and TNE programmes presents key opportunities for language departments to:

reposition the language centre within institutions;
increase awareness of their crucial role in TNE;
develop collaborations with content teachers; and
create content-relevant language courses for students.

Simon presenting at the conference

This can be achieved effectively through training programmes in which language and content teachers work together to understand the aims of the students they work with and co-create TNE courses that meet these aims.

This is where Oxford EMI specialises: offering the expert, specialised training needed to develop and support content and language teachers working in EMI and TNE contexts. We look forward to collaborating on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes with universities in the UK and China as they expand their TNE offerings.

A big thank you

The conference organising committee

Huge congratulations to the organising committee (Costas Loizou, Joanne Shiel, Liz Wilding, Svetlana Mazhurnaya, Jen McDougall and Phil Smyth) for putting on such a successful, thought-provoking event!

Thank you for all your hard work and for inviting the Oxford EMI team to share our thoughts on the essential role CPD will play in the successful expansion of TNE programmes in China.