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Unis will chase the Chinese
Guy Healy
IN the first stage of a substantial marketing assault on the dominance of domestic campuses in export education, the Open Universities Australia consortium of seven universities plans to offer courses leading to degrees in China.
OUA China will aim to have enrolled several hundred Chinese distance education students. OUA has partnered Chinese student recruiter and official agent, EduGlobal, to tap pent-up demand for quality university qualifications for students who can't yet leave China for family, work and other reasons. Studying through OUA in China where the student receives full credit to its Australian partner universities in the event they decide to study here is estimated to be a quarter of the cost.
An OUA spokeswoman estimated an overseas student would face costs of $16,000 a year in expenses living in Australia, plus annual tuition of $22,000, compared to a maximum $10,000 for studying the same qualifications through OUA in China.
OUA chief executive Stuart Hamilton said he was confident the venture would succeed, as it was based on the model that significantly increased demand for OUA's domestic courses and student numbers during the past four years.
OUA delivered 64,000 courses to about 25,000 mostly domestic students in 2007, up from 25,000 courses offered to 10,000 students in 2004, Mr Hamilton told the HES.
"That contrasts with the general lack of growth in universities. Our students are timepoor working adults with families, who don't have time to get to campus, and I expect that will be the same for China too."
Under the agreement, Edu-Global (55 per cent owned by the Navitas Group) will recruit students for OUA, leveraging the flexibility of online learning in China.
Navitas (formerly IBT) chief executive Rod Jones said the online education space would sit alongside many of the firm's pathway programs.
Navitas is one of the country's largest recruiters and preparers of overseas students for Australian universities.
"We are optimistic this pilot with OUA in China will be a winner," Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones said he told a Macquarie Securities forum last week that Navitas was "on track" to deliver $62 million to $63 million in gross profit this financial year.
Mr Jones said this followed a 15 per cent increase in student numbers during the last year, an increase he expected to be sustained during the next three years with heightened demand from China, India, Vietnam, South Korea and Sri Lanka.
EduGlobal chief executive David Shi described the venture as the future of transnational education. "This will create a strong pathway for Chinese students into Australia or enable students to finish their degrees in China in a complementary way," he said.
Navitas is a global education service provider, and among other acquisitions last year bought a 55 per cent stake in EduGlobal China Ltd. OUA consists of Curtin, Griffith, Macquarie, Monash, RMIT. Swinburne and UniSA.
Australian
14/05/2008
Page: 50
Higher Education
Region: National Circulation: 133000
Type: National
Size: 201.17 sq.cms
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