Congratulations to the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), on the successful completion of its Quality Endorsement exercise. NEAS is delighted to announce that UTS has joined a select group of NEAS Endorsed ELT Qualifications Providers. The TESOL and Applied Linguistics courses at UTS are taught within the School of International Studies and Education, one of two schools within FASS. Quality Endorsement covers these four courses: C04420 Master of TESOL and Applied Linguistics (Extension); C04305 Master of TESOL and Applied Linguistics; C06116 Graduate Diploma in TESOL and Applied Linguistics; and C11254 Graduate Certificate in TESOL and Applied Linguistics. These qualifications are embedded, in that the subjects within the graduate certificate form the first part of the graduate diploma and the graduate diploma forms the first part of the master’s degree. Earlier versions of these courses have been running for many years and are well respected across the industry.
The sense of community within the teaching and academic management staff was observed and commended; this positive environment enables the teaching staff to obtain a very good understanding of each student and provide individualised support. A rigorous and systematic approach to gathering feedback and implementing it was also observed, and this ensures that the courses are continuously improved and respond to student need. Students interviewed in focus group sessions praised the School’s response to the COVID pandemic, and provided many positive comments about the responsiveness of teachers and improvements made throughout the challenging period. This speaks, again, to the collegiality of the School, staff members’ attention to the students, and the continuous improvement culture within the School. Alongside the multiple stakeholder meetings conducted as part of the Quality Endorsement exercise, the documentation provided for auditing was extremely thorough and reflects well on a governance framework that is comprehensive and solid.
17 August 2022
