With fewer than 1,000 students per year on UK university courses, Romania is not currently among the countries where UK institutions conduct intensive transnational education (TNE). However, as this research makes clear, recently adopted Romanian legislation clearly favours the internationalisation of education, the development of partnerships with universities outside the country and the improvement of study recognition processes.

An openness to the development of joint degree programmes, use of micro-credentials, online education and research collaborations are among the national political priorities that also reflect the perspectives and priorities of academic staff at Romanian universities. All of this indicates that Romania is an increasingly interesting market for the UK sector to explore regarding TNE.

The Romanian higher education landscape has matured when it comes to internationalisation. A positive trend in the evolution of international students, the development of study programmes in foreign languages at almost all Romanian universities, and the proliferation of double-degree programmes, especially at master level, are clear examples of this.

With this research, we explore case studies of UK-Romanian TNE and factors that would favour UK institutions looking to expand in this area.