NEWS

TOEFL iBT Home Edition.

A message from a 2021 NEAS Management Conference Sponsor – ETS Toefl

In 2021, the ETS Research Division released a report on the comparability and reliability of remote proctored tests. The TOEFL iBT Home Edition was launched in April 2020, shortly after the global pandemic took hold. Several hundred thousand test takers have successfully undertaken remote proctored tests offered by ETS over the last year, which has provided the ETS research division with a significant volume of data with which to compare its test centre delivered iBT and its remote proctored iBT Home Edition.

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University of Queensland: Responding to COVID-19 disruption

You can register via this link.

Date: May 26, 2021

Time: 3:00pm

Time Zone: AEST

In this webinar, James Hourn, Head of Enterprise Sales at ReadyTech, will interview Julian Wilson, Director, Institute of Continuing and TESOL Education at the University of Queensland (UQ).

James and Julian will unpack some critical areas of discussion in the current fragile international education sector, including:

  1. COVID-19’s impact and how UQ is navigating through this period of change.
  2. How UQ aims to leverage technology and innovation in their regeneration plan for the next two years.
  3. Why UQ chose their current student management system, JR Plus (A ReadyTech brand), as their technology partner.

Julian Wilson

Director, Institute of Continuing & TESOL Education, The University of Queensland

Julian has over 20 years of experience, including the establishment of schools and colleges throughout in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia.

As Director of ICTE, Julian is strategically focused on developing the Institute’s capacity business scope, and human capital to expand and diversify operations to keep abreast of new developments within the dynamic international education environment.

Julian has held several leadership positions, as a director, head of school, and deputy principal of schools and colleges in both the domestic and international environment across secondary, tertiary and higher education sectors. Julian’s education includes a degree in Economics from Cardiff University, teaching qualification and two subsequent Masters Degrees in International Economics and Management at Warwick University in the United Kingdom and Massey University in New Zealand. He is also a recent Graduate of the Executive Leadership Program at the UQ Business School.

James Hourn

Head of Enterprise Sales, Education, ReadyTech

James Hourn is a senior business leader in ReadyTech’s fast-growing education business and has over a decade’s worth of experience growing and developing the reach and impact of technology solutions for both education providers and their students.

A former commercial director and business development manager with JobReady (a ReadyTech brand), James has advised hundreds of educators on student management transformation projects across the vocational education, international education and higher education markets.

As Head of Enterprise Sales for Education, James has been instrumental in ReadyTech’s growth in the international education and TAFE markets. His focus is on helping educators enhance student experiences and drive business results with future-focused technology.

Register here!

This webinar will be run in partnership with ReadyTech

FLEX – your new online content platform

A message from one of our 2021 NEAS Management Conference Sponsors – Copyright Agency.

As 2021 is well underway and the COVID-19 changes keep transforming the Australian education landscape, the popularity of online training programs continues with many providers looking to permanently integrate this element into their business. To facilitate this drive and assist your organisation in managing their copyright compliance, Copyright Agency has developed a platform called FLEX – a cloud-based library that makes using third party book and journal excerpts under the Statutory Education Licence easier and faster.

Your organisation has an obligation to comply with all relevant legislation, including the Copyright Act 1968. The Statutory Education Licence is a blanket licence under the Copyright Act that allows educational institutions including ELICOS providers to copy and share both hardcopy and digital third party text and images for educational purposes without obtaining individual approvals from the copyright owners.

The FLEX platform is automatically available to all ELICOS providers with a Statutory Education Licence agreement in place with Copyright Agency. Many educational institutions around Australia are already using FLEX to simplify the time-consuming task of preparing course materials each study period.

FLEX works with existing learning management systems and enables you to:

  • simply store and access your own book and journal extracts and use scanned copies uploaded by other providers
  • automatically check copyright compliance and quickly compile in a single, central location
  • access high quality digital resources directly from leading textbook publishers
  • easily assign content to students
  • receive detailed student engagement and usage reporting.

Find out more about FLEX here, and head off here to be granted access to the platform.
Not sure if your organisation is covered by the Statutory Education Licence? Check here.

Copyright Agency and FLEX will be exhibiting at the 2021 NEAS Management Conference on 6th and 7th May at Doltone House, Sydney

Congratulations to ACU English Language Centre

Congratulations to ACU English Language Centre on the successful quality endorsement of its two new online writing courses. Offering quality English language programmes in Brisbane, Melbourne and North Sydney, ACU English Language Centre provides a dynamic and supportive learning environment for students of all beliefs and backgrounds.

The development and use of these courses serve a collaborative project between ACU and the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (PISAI), and embody the sharing of academic resources to build capacity in inter-religious dialogue. Initially purpose-designed for higher degree research students at PISAI, ACU continues to calibrate and enhance further this series of online writing courses, and develop them to serve PhD candidates at ACU and other universities.

This quality endorsement exercise was proudly supported by Trade and Investment Queensland, through a dedicated grant to NEAS.

Congratulations to English Unlimited Brisbane!

Congratulations to English Unlimited Brisbane on the successful completion of its 2021 NEAS Quality Review! In addition to it central location in Brisbane, English Unlimited also has campuses in Melbourne and Sydney. Students benefit from English Unlimited’ s modern facilities and its team of caring and passionate staff.

The centre immediately and effectively switched to online delivery via its Virtual Learning Environment platform from the onset of the pandemic, and students have since been integrated into national classes, where they engage with and learn from peers and teachers of the organisation’s three Australia-wide campuses. Even with the challenges of the ongoing border closure, English Unlimited continues to enrol new onshore students, often via word-of-mouth recommendations.

Working for an Endorsed Centre, English Unlimited teachers also benefit from access to the NEAS Quality ELT Professional Listing. To join the register of Quality ELT professionals, please visit the NEAS website here.

Highlighting the importance of real-life conversations

A message from the 2021 NEAS Management Premium Sponsor IELTS

2020 was a challenging and unexpected year as the pandemic forced everyone to work and study from home. Our days were spent staring at screens and speaking into computers. The longer the pandemic went on the more we missed our real-life interactions.

The year highlighted the importance of, and our need for human connections and experiences. IELTS reflected this in a recent brand campaign that focused on the importance of real-life conversations. Reaching 18 million people globally and inspired by stories of IELTS test takers, the campaign highlighted interactions that were part of their study, career, and migration journeys. Unlike other tests that rely on technology, IELTS Speaking test uses human examiners. The test mirrors real-life conversations giving organisations and test takers confidence in their English language proficiency.

As we move forward into 2021, there is hope that we will see the return of human experience through on-site learning, meeting with friends, and in-person events. No matter the outcome, IELTS will continue to focus on people having confidence in their English language and in doing so empowering them to have the conversations they need for their future.

StudyTravel – Stay Connected

As many of you are working from home and conducting most of your business online, StudyTravel is here to help you stay connected to your industry partners.

Online Events – ST Alphitos are boutique online conferences that connect you with a global network of agents and educators, all from the comfort of your own home office. Each 4-hour event focuses on a study destination (city, region or country) or a specific student market. Schedule up to twelve 20-minute online meetings.

While travel restrictions are in place, ST Alphe Conferences are now taking place online. These are high quality, 2-day events with live support from the amazing ST Team that you know and love.

StudyTravel Magazine – keep up to date with the latest news and updates on the study travel industry by reading online. Advertising opportunities are available for educators to keep your brand front of mind to our readership of 22,406 agents.

ST Network – Tap into the wealth of resources available on studytravel.network, the complete communication platform for reaching out to industry colleagues, marketing, booking meetings and messaging. Key features include:

  1. Search – Run targeted searches on the 11,600 professionals on the platform (educators, agents and service providers), to build up your network.
  2. Message – Contact anyone directly, or even everyone you had a meeting with at a StudyTravel event (using Network lists).
  3. Feed – Let your partners know what’s happening in your part of the world by posting on your Network feed.

If you don’t have a studytravel.network profile, click here to create one now!

Congratulations to Expert Education and Visa Services (EEVS)

Congratulations to Expert Education and Visa Services (EEVS) on achieving NEAS Quality Endorsement! EEVS is an Australian-registered Education and Migration consultant agency. EEVS began recruiting international students in 2003 and now has over 35 offices in 13 countries and regions, covering Australia, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Nigeria and South Africa. EESV has become the 5th education agent to participate in the new NEAS Endorsed Education Agent initiative, joining a discrete group of high-quality agents committed to continuous improvement and independent quality assurance.

Endorsed agents are listed on NEAS social media, including as its website and LinkedIn profile. Agents also enjoy the benefits of using the NEAS Endorsed Agency logo on their website and marketing collateral. Please email NEAS to find out more.

Congratulations to UTS College!

Congratulations to UTS College (formerly Insearch) on successful completion of its 2021 NEAS Quality Review! UTS College has been a member of NEAS since 1989 and offers exceptional pathway programs designed with UTS entry requirements in mind. UTS College, like many providers, continues to deliver its courses remotely and has done an outstanding job of moving all teaching, learning and assessment to their Canvas LMS, all while managing the implementation of a brand-new curriculum.

NEAS encourages its members to share their NEAS achievements on social media.

Working for an Endorsed Centre, UTS College teachers also benefit from access to the NEAS Quality ELT Professional Listing. To join the register of Quality ELT professionals, please visit the NEAS website here.

Early snapshot of international enrolments

An ICEF article of 21 January outlined important observations for the first quarter of 2021.

Secretary of the Department of Health, Brendan Murphy, recently expressed his expectation for current restrictions on international arrivals to remain in place for “most of 2021”.

The weekly cap on international arrivals has been reduced from 7,500 to less than 5,000 per week, and will prioritise returning Australians over foreign nationals, including visiting students.

To date, only one pilot programme to bring in international students (to the Northern Territory) has proceeded. All other pilots (for South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria) have been suspended.

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) observed that returning or continuing international students enrolled in Australia as of 15 October 2020 declined by about 13% year-over-year, to about 502,000. From this foundation, DESE estimated at least 381,546 enrolments on 1 January 2021.