Student engagement in transnational engineering higher education: an evaluation of four active learning approaches

Student engagement in Transnational Higher Education (TNE) engineering programmes can be constrained by the demands of English-medium Instruction (EMI) and barriers to participation, creating a need to deploy pedagogical interventions that support engagement. This mixed-methods study explored cohort-level participation patterns across four active learning approaches: Collaborative pedagogy, Critical pedagogy, Inquiry-based Learning (IBL), and Problem-based Learning (PBL), implemented in a Sino-UK transnational engineering programme. Students completed the Generic Student Engagement Scale (GSES) before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) each session. Because responses were anonymous and unlinked, timepoints were analysed as independent samples ( N = 313 total observations; N = 157 at Time 1; N = 156 at Time 2). Internal consistency in the analysed sample was high (Cronbach's α = .879; McDonald's ω = .907; N = 313). Students also completed a post-session feedback questionnaire ( N = 156), including fixed-response and open-ended items, and a small subsample participated in brief post-session group interviews ( N = 12). A 2 × 4 between-subjects ANOVA indicated higher GSES scores at Time 2 than at Time 1 overall, but no confirmatory evidence that the Time 1 to Time 2 difference varied by approach. In contrast, a one-way ANOVA indicated that feedback scores differed across interventions, with perceived engagement and usefulness for IBL and PBL relative to Critical pedagogy. Qualitative responses converged with these patterns: across approaches, students emphasised overall active learning practices such as problem solving, discussion, and checks for understanding as engaging, while IBL was described most consistently positively, and Critical pedagogy elicited the most mixed accounts. While the lack of a control group and unlinked survey responses preclude assessing causal impact, these exploratory findings support the practical value of active learning approaches in TNE/EMI engineering contexts while indicating that students’ perceived engagement and usefulness vary across cohorts and may be sensitive to implementation features.