Australian ELT providers have been partnering with offshore providers for decades. Transnational partnerships are a sustainable way for Australian providers to grow and compete internationally as well as develop greater understanding of the cultural contexts of their international partners.
Transnational arrangements between Australian and offshore providers include delivering programs through distance learning modes, teacher and/or student exchanges and offshore campuses.
Offering international students a transnational experience in their home countries provides many benefits. It’s a cost-effective way for students to build their English language competencies whilst being able to stay close to their families and support networks. Students also become accustomed to the teaching and learning culture delivered by the pathway institution assisting them adapt to both the target language and teaching methodologies.
NEAS endorsed provider, UTS Insearch has enjoyed a successful history of transnational partnerships with a number of off-shore providers. According to the Insearch’s ELT Director of Studies, Jason West, a key benefit of these partnerships is the internationalisation of Insearch’s curriculum.
“When we are refreshing our curriculum, we can seek input from our partners to ensure that the content is more relevant for cohorts of students from different cultural backgrounds, We’ve listened to our partners to build in materials that listen to and respond to the voices of our multi-cultural and multi-lingual students.”
Jason West, UTS Insearch
The benefits extend beyond the institution. Brad Hughes, Manager, Transnational English, Insearch, explains how transnational arrangements are a key investment in international diplomacy as well as education.
“TNE arrangements lead to investments by the Australian partner into English language education in each TNE location. Local investment includes things such as professional employment, professional training, funding of conferences, supporting education dialogues, and engaging with local businesses. This helps create a two-way interaction between Australia and our TNE markets, and we have seen it lead to very positive outcomes for Australia and regional trust and interaction.”
Brad Hughes, UTS Insearch
UTS Insearch’s most recently NEAS endorsed international partner is EIC Academy located in Guangzhou, China, joining ACET (Vietnam) and UIG (Indonesia).
NEAS supports transnational education through its endorsement of each partner institution. NEAS’ streamlined quality assurance approach to partner endorsement provides a saving in both time and cost whilst maintaining the same level of rigour and quality across all aspects of the program delivery. NEAS endorsement offers providers the framework in which to work together for a stronger, mutually beneficial and transparent partnership. Quality practices such as co-construction of courses, joint assessment moderation, standardisation of procedures and processes, and collaborative professional development are features of the NEAS quality framework.
For more information on off-shore endorsement, contact NEAS Operations Manager, Ben Colthorpe.
