Offshore delivery to international students How to identify new markets and select partners

1. Offshore delivery to international studentsHow to identify new markets and select partners

2. Growth patterns of International activity • Aid funded International students • Offshore delivery of programs from 1986 • Onshore International students from 1987 • Offshore campuses Graph Source: Debbie Clayton and Christopher Ziguras, Transnational Delivery , (Chapter 9)in Looking Forward, Looking Back: Celebrating 25 Years of International Education in Australia

3. Offshore context • Strategy • Ours and that of the host country • Collaboration with partners • Importance of good relationships • Quality assurance • Reputation is key to success • Implementation of QA cycle for program delivery and management – audited by ASQA

4. Why offshore? • Opens Australian educational opportunities to a wider range of students • Sometimes a way to reduce time in high cost onshore HE program • Enables growth with others sharing the capital burden • Scaleable if highly devolved • Risk and benefit is shared

5. Basic Principle • Programs offered offshore: • should be aligned with a coherent offshore strategy • must be of a standard which maintains and enhances the reputation of Australian education in general.  • must be deliverable at an affordable cost to potential students and to the offshore partner.  • should return a surplus to the provider.

6. Sharing delivery of offshore programs • Branch Campus • Partner Model • Articulation / Contracting Model • Industry based training • Aid funded projects

7. International Implementation • What needs to be considered for this program to be delivered offshore? • Assumes that the program is already accredited for delivery in Australia… or perhaps a non-award program • Work with a partner organisation for quality assured outcomes – but often with different parameters like • class size, • equipment and • elective range • Gain approval in country.

8. Issues • Academic Aims and Objectives and Graduate Capabilities • Academic Strategy for Offering this Award in a New Setting • Risk Management • Teaching support • Staffing Resources • Workspaces and Facilities – including library resources • Criteria for Admission to the Program • Arrangements for Entry into the Program with Advanced Standing, Exemptions and Recognition of Prior Learning • Articulation of Students/Graduates into other Programs • Communicating Competency Based Training • QA requirements including teacher qualifications

9. Cost items - overview • Direct Expenses • Face to Face Teaching, Quality Audit, Training local staff, Travel • Student Assessment, Teacher/Stud & Teacher/Group. Communication • Student Materials, Communication Costs, Program Management • Maintenance - Course Content, Web Site • Department/Faculty Administrative Support & Management • Contributions to Overheads • Faculty and Departmental Management, Institute Governance and Service, Operating (profit!) margin • Capital Costs • Course development, provision for program development

10. Strong policy support from many local governments • Australia’s vocational education system is admired throughout the region. • Emerging economies need more highly skilled workers – so need reliably certified training. • So can we meet the challenge at an affordable price point and acceptable quality? … and … • Who is “we”?

11. Identifying emerging regions of opportunity • India & Sri Lanka • Malaysia • Indonesia • Vietnam … etc • These countries clearly cannot afford the vocational education system that we run. • So what can they afford – what is the acceptable ‘half-way house’? What will the new model look like? • We need to build a different reputation to what we have achieved over the last 25 years – based on skills, not pathways to paper.

12. Selecting the ‘right’ partners • Making the industry connection It’s usually what’s missing in the existing provision. • Making the education & training connection Embrace the policies identified by government and work with institutions and organisations open to change (if you can find them!) • Don’t forget the history and the basics Pathways remain important, to further education or migration into a higher wage economy.

13. Choosing appropriate models of delivery • Can you afford an Australian award? • What are the alternatives? • Engaging with emerging local accreditation • Using local training expertise • Is on-line or workplace delivery and assessment viable? • What are the risks – to reputation and to success?

14. Establishing and maintaining successful offshore delivery • Always: • see the student / trainee as the first priority • see the paying client – parent or employer as the key stakeholder • be prepared to argue with the auditor … and have a firm basis for that argument • have an exit strategy!

15. Case studies – what went wrong? • A skilled welder program in Vietnam • An office management skills program in Korea • A building & construction program in China • Your examples? • Your Questions?