The British Council announces the 2025 award of eight Transnational Education (TNE) Exploratory Grants to support innovative partnerships between UK and Nigerian higher education institutions. This new funding aims to enhance institutional capacity, widen access to globally recognised education, and co-develop sustainable academic programmes tailored to local needs.
The TNE Exploratory Grant aims to foster collaborations between the UK and participating countries, including Nigeria. Through these institutional partnerships, partners will work together to progress or accelerate the internationalisation of the higher education sector.
These partnerships go beyond knowledge exchange- they are about co-creating education systems that are inclusive, resilient, and tailored to the realities on the ground,' said Donna McGowan, Country Director at the British Council in Nigeria. 'This grant enables institutions to innovate boldly while staying grounded in local needs and opportunities.
A New Approach to International Collaboration
Launched in 2024, the TNE Exploratory Grants programme recognises the need for locally responsive, mutually beneficial models of partnership between the UK and Nigeria. The investment across the eight selected projects allows the selected universities to explore different models of collaboration — moving beyond traditional franchising to co-designing curricula, training faculty, and enhancing quality assurance systems. Examples of funded projects include:
- Brunel University London and Ahmadu Bello University: Co-developing a Master’s programme in Sustainable Post-Harvest Management and Technologies.
- Nottingham Trent University and Covenant University: Advancing Technology Education through AI-Driven and Adaptive Learning.
- University of Wolverhampton and University of Port Harcourt: Developing a Master’s programme in Multidisciplinary, Gender-Neutral as well as a Context Sensitive Master’s programme in Clean Energy Systems and Hydrogen Fuel.
Strengthening Systems and Expanding Access
- TNE partnerships funded through this scheme will contribute to:
- Building academic capacity by supporting joint curriculum development, faculty training, and shared research.
- Expanding access to high-quality UK programmes within Nigeria, particularly in high-demand fields like STEM, business, and health sciences.
- Improving quality assurance mechanisms to support both UK and Nigerian educational standards.
The partnerships supports Nigeria’s National Policy on Education (2021–2030), which emphasises international collaboration and capacity building as key pillars for sector reform.
The TNE strategy also aligns with, and supports the UK government’s International Education Strategy in tackling barriers to TNE.
The British Council’s Enabling Role
Consistent with its strategic approach, the British Council plays a facilitative and enabling role, offering seed funding while empowering institutions to shape partnership models suited to their priorities.
Rather than dictating structure, the grants allow universities to experiment, pilot, and learn, creating evidence-based models for future scaling.
This flexible, partnership-first approach aligns with the British Council’s broader education strategy of fostering inclusive, innovative, and globally connected education ecosystems.
Building for Long-Term Impact
Outcomes and insights from the 2025 TNE exploratory projects will contribute to future policy dialogues and partnership frameworks between the UK and Nigeria.
The British Council plans to publish a sector insights report in 2026, consolidating lessons learned and showcasing success stories from across the cohort.
The ultimate ambition of these grants is to develop scalable, sustainable TNE models that can be expanded across Nigeria — and eventually the wider Sub-Saharan African region. For more information, visit: British Council TNE Exploratory Grants page