NEWS

Congratulations to USQ College on the successful Quality Endorsement of its two online English language courses: ACS7001 Advanced Communication Skills One (ACS1) and ACS7002 Advanced Communication Skills Two (ACS2). The courses are delivered via Zoom instruction and associated online materials, and contain opportunities for forum discussion and self-study. Making use of USQ’s Virtual Learning Environment and support services, the advanced communication skills courses prepare students well for future faculty studies. The courses benefit from extensive mapping, curriculum and assessment document preparation, which strongly align assessment with learning outcomes.

NEAS recently conducted its first online workshop for the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Grant (AVEG) Program. In this decision-making forum, NEAS engaged leaders from the National Foreign Languages Project (NFLP), a department of Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), in a highly productive discussion. Participants shared ideas and confirmed details for the upcoming specialist workshops to be delivered by NEAS in October and November 2021.

Focussing on Quality Management, Online Delivery, and Teacher Professional Development, these hybrid workshops will deepen industry links, showcase Australian education, and identify new collaborative opportunities between providers in our two countries. NEAS acknowledges the important support of DFAT for this flagship initiative; NEAS also benefitted immensely from the participation and input of colleagues from DFAT, DESE and Austrade. NEAS continues to works closely with its valued Members and stakeholders in Australia and Vietnam for the implementation of the AVEG Program. Additional details will be available in the weeks ahead.

NEAS congratulates the Albright Institute of Business and Language for becoming the latest Quality Endorsed Member Centre. Established in 2017, the Albright Institute delivers a range of English language and VET courses in prime locations across four major cities: Melbourne (the Main Centre), Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. NEAS completed an in-depth assessment of Albright Institute’s application and supporting documents, and followed up with a Virtual Quality Review exercise. NEAS Quality Endorsement is granted and maintained through its 360-degree stakeholder-driven feedback model.

A NEAS Quality Assessor was assigned to conduct structured online meetings and focus group sessions with Albright Institute’s management team, students, teachers, and professional staff. Benefitting from an active marketing department and close links with agents, the Albright Institute continues to recruit onshore students vigorously and showcases a diverse mix of learners from South America, South Asia, and East Asia. The Centre has successfully cultivated a strong sense of community among students and teachers through its social media channels and face-to-face engagement. The Quality Assessor opined: “There is a strong sense that students are well cared for by teachers, professional staff, agents and management. There are plenty of avenues for communication between students and teachers and students and staff members …”

NEAS was thrilled to host its first online agent conference (NEAS-ST Alphito) on 15 July, in partnership with StudyTravel. NEAS thanks ST for their fantastic support in this event.

Seven participating NEAS Member Centres engaged with decision-makers from 24 education agents hailing from around the world, including Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas. 

The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has made the future of international education in Australia uncertain. With forced border closures temporarily halting international student mobility and the need to enforce social distancing, the crisis has caused education providers to question everything, from how they deliver learning, right through to their core underlying business models.

We understand this period will shape the future of international education, and it will be significantly different from the past. Download  this whitepaper to learn:

1. How to manage your student learning journeys in an age of change
2. The five focal points of transformation in the international student lifecycle
3. Why agility, coherence, relevance, and transformation through technology will be critical to leveraging the changing market to secure your future.

For more information about ReadyTech and their next-generation student management system, JR Plus, please visit readytech.io/education .

Did you know that each NEAS Professional Development offering awards you with CPD points? Whiz through our 8, fast-paced core courses and earn 14 CPD points! Then move onto a specialisation area course of your interest to earn another 10! You could easily achieve your yearly 20 CPD point requirement in no time. CPD points are also awarded for engaging with our online content such as webinars, the Quality Learning Series and all the sessions from the NEAS 2021 Conference. And don’t worry about losing track of your points, your tally is calculated by us and added to your ELT Professionals Listing (are you listed yet?). See who’s on the CPD leader board here!

Last month, NEAS was awarded a dedicated grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), as part of the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Grant (AVEG) Pilot Program. The grant supports NEAS in demonstrating Australian expertise in quality assurance of virtual delivery of English language courses to key Vietnamese Ministries. NEAS has recently drafted its conceptual framework for the specialist workshops to be delivered as part of the program.

NEAS is scheduling a second appointment with decisionmakers in the National Foreign Languages Project (NFLP) to discuss the workshop agenda in detail, ensuring that format and content are tailored to NFLP’s priority needs. NEAS CEO, Dr Patrick Pheasant, is commencing filming as part of his guest appearance for an upcoming TV episode produced in Vietnam, titled, “Preparing for successful study abroad: ELICOS and Pathway programs”. This initiative is part of the Austrade-led “Shine with Australia” campaign, which showcases Australia’s eminence as a preferred study abroad destination. NEAS expresses its deep thanks to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and Austrade for their ongoing support of NEAS’s work.

Wolston Correctional Centre on achieving NEAS Quality Endorsement of its Green on Green Course as a Quality Product / Service. The course is innovative and tailored to provide a distinctive solution to adult education and training in the penitentiary environment, extending beyond the traditional ELT ecosystem.

Holistic and self-contained, the course makes use of Peer Tutors, themselves drawn from the inmate population, to be trained and empowered to deliver classes without the presence of external facilitators. This is a pioneering scheme, and the opportunity is presented to develop the course further and expand its use in a wider geography. 

St John’s International College is the international section of St John’s Anglican College, a co-educational Christian school located at Forest Lake, Brisbane. The International College welcomes overseas students aged 6 to 18 years. With the support of a dedicated Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) grant, NEAS reviewed and endorsed St John’s Anglican College’s Online High School Preparation Program. The virtual course benefits from a flexible design that caters to the individual needs and motivations of learners and aligns with the College’s intention to offer lessons to students who may come and go between in-person and online classes. Lessons are planned in detail from the College’s High School Preparation Program, with learning outcomes clearly articulated.

Education Queensland International (EQI) is the international branch of the Queensland Department of Education. Three EQI schools, Mitchelton State High School, Whites Hill State College, and Indooroopilly State High School, have formed a cooperating alliance during the ongoing border closure to achieve efficiencies in its online delivery. The alliance uses the same Learning Management Systems and identical curriculum. Teachers and students are shared. All three NEAS Member Schools benefitted from a Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) initiative to enhance the delivery and marketing of online courses.