A strategic approach to QA for transnational education programs

This paper describes the QA best practice model for higher education transnational education (TNE) programs recently developed at Swinburne, and the early stages of its implementation. The framework can be conveniently drawn as a four-box model which integrates planning and QA, and emphasises strategic guidelines and the client perspective, as well as academic and administration guidelines (see Table 1, below). The framework operates within the 'fitness for purpose' QA approach adopted by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA 2005), and is informed by the new 'Provision of education to international students: code of practice and guidelines for Australian universities' recently published by the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (AVCC), to which all Australian universities are signatories (AVCC 2005). We were given the opportunity to explore QA models and develop a 'conceptual framework' for TNE programs by the award of research funding from the AVCC offshore quality project to Swinburne University in September 2004. The project was completed and a report submitted to the AVCC in June 2005. The function of the framework is to: integrate TNEP planning and QA from the concept proposal stage provide an overview or map to university TNEP procedures and logistics as a tool for collating information essential to strategic management monitor university compliance on regulatory issues (AUQA, AVCC, host country regulations). The planning and QA framework is being applied to the logistics for transnational education programs (TNEP), in the form of guidelines for TNEP project initiation, project management, and project review. The framework and guidelines are part of Swinburne’s Internationalisation Strategic Plan, and are being developed by the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), in consultation with university divisions who are managing TNE programs, and with various academic and administrative committees involved in policy affecting TNE programs. The overall context for the discussion is the effort of universities to become multinational organisations with internationalised staff and students. TNE programs are an increasingly significant factor in this process, given significant growth over the last decade (DFAT 2005, p. 56). In turn, the quality of TNE programs is a key strategic issue, as shown by the recent discussion paper from the Department of Education, Science and Training, with a 'Transnational Quality Strategy' under development this year. The more immediate goal is continuing improvement in planning and logistics for TNE programs, an effort that will always be a work in progress as transnational education rapidly evolves and constantly presents new challenges. To meet these challenges, universities need to overcome deficiencies in strategic planning and quality assurance

The impact of transnational education on multinational universities

TNE has had extensive organisational impact on provider institutions worldwide, across a large range of managerial skill-sets. Examples in universities include paradigm-changing impact on strategic planning, governance and organisational issues, and building new or renovated services in HR, finance, and program administration (Middlehurst & Woodfield 2007; Taylor 2010). Some of this change has occurred alongside onshore recruitment of international students, while some of it is specific to TNE. Some of it has been the result of adept adjustment to change, and some it looks more like the unintended consequences of offshore activity. Either way, much good has resulted. We argue that the specific impact of TNE on universities has been both deep and wide, especially so in the case of branch campuses established offshore. Increasingly, reasons for universities engaging in transnational activity revolve around the challenge to become a multinational organisation, measured in terms of their degree of transnationality (Connelly, Garton & Olsen 2010). These reasons include: - Improving reputation and diversifying revenue streams- Increasing internationalisation of the institution's intellectual capital- Building administrative and managerial capacity and efficiencies’- Improving levels of customer service to students, alumni, partners and stakeholders. A focus for discussion will be what types of transnational engagement bring maximum benefits for both provider institutions and host governments, from collaborative partnerships to offshore campuses. Our argument leads to the conclusion that while universities now have the opportunity to become multinational organisations in a free market in global mass higher education (Wildasky 2010), maximising the benefits of this process will require serious consideration of long term engagement in the form of new branch campuses and large scale strategic alliances offshore

'A Divided Soul'? the Cold War odyssey of O. John Rogge

In 1948 O. John Rogge, a prominent American liberal, was a contender for the Progressive Party's vice-presidential nomination. He was then a man of the Left: an activist in the international peace movement, a champion of radical causes and a defender of organizations deemed subversive by the Department of Justice. In 1951 he persuaded his\ud client to turn government witness in the Rosenberg espionage trial and was converted into 'Rogge the Rat' by his former allies. In tracing this transformation, this paper will argue that Rogge was neither a typical Cold War apostate nor a typical anti-Stalinist intellectual. Instead, his political trajectory was the outcome of a failed attempt to steer global politics away from Cold War dichotomies. The paper will therefore throw new light\ud both on the movement to find a 'third way' between East and West, and on the phenomenon of non-communist Left activism during the early Cold War