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Part 2. Illustrated presentation of the Council of Europe/UNESCO 
Code of Good Practice in the
Provision of Transnational Education

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Definitions

Agents - third parties, such as brokers, facilitators, or recruiters, that act as intermediaries between awarding and providing institutions for establishing transnational educational arrangements. An agent is not usually involved in the provision of educational services.

Awarding institution - a higher education institution issuing degrees, diplomas, certificates or other qualifications.
Providing institution – an institution or organization which is delivering all or part of a study programme

Transnational arrangements:
collaborative arrangements, such as: franchising, twinning, joint degrees, whereby study programmes, or parts of a course of study, or other educational services of the awarding institution are provided by another partner institution;
non-collaborative arrangements, such as branch campuses, off-shore institutions, corporate or international institutions.
Transnational arrangements should be so elaborated, enforced and monitored as to … comply with the national legislation regarding higher education in both receiving and sending countries. In the case of collaborative arrangements there should be written and legally binding agreements or contracts setting out the rights and obligations of all partners.

Academic quality and standards of TE  programmes should be at least comparable to those of the awarding institution as well as to those of the receiving country.
Awarding institutions as well as the providing institutions are accountable and fully responsible for quality assurance and control.
Procedures and decisions concerning the quality of educational services provided by transnational arrangements should be based on specific criteria, which are transparent, systematic and open to scrutiny.

 Information given by the awarding institution, providing organization, or agent to students should be appropriate, accurate, consistent and reliable.
Where a programme is delivered through a collaborative arrangement, the nature of that arrangement and the responsibilities of the parties should be clearly outlined.

The awarding institution is responsible for the agents appointed to act on its behalf. It should conclude written and legally binding agreements or contracts with these, clearly stipulating their roles, responsibilities, delegated powers of action as well as monitoring, arbitration and termination provisions. The awarding institution is responsible for and should control and monitor information made public by agents operating on its behalf, including claims about the recognition of the qualifications in the sending country, and elsewhere.

The admission of students for a course of study, the teaching/learning activities, the examination and assessment requirements for educational services provided under transnational arrangements should be equivalent to those of the same or comparable programmes delivered by the awarding institution. 
The academic work load in transnational study programmes, expressed in credits, units, duration of studies or otherwise, should be that of comparable programmes in the awarding institution, any difference in this respect requiring a clear statement on its rationale and its consequences for the recognition of qualifications. 

Recognition. 

Qualifications issued through transnational programmes, complying with the provisions of the Code, should be assessed in accordance with the stipulations of the Lisbon Recognition Convention.

To: Part 1 of presentation: Cartoons on What is what in TE

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