It's not as easy to attract students to a regional as to a metropolitan institution, hence our on-campus market was limited by location. The institute chose the same model for its move into Asia, establishing partnerships with local providers overseas to help deliver and support its programs. USQ now has partnerships in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, with advanced plans to move into Kenya, India, China, Taiwan, Scandinavia, and Russia. But the university is also putting its degrees online, with students having direct contact with lecturers on campus in Australia via the Internet. This way they can ask questions of real people and interact with other students.
Students can do some distance learning, some online work, and then come here and do a term.
This mixture is attractive to quite a lot of people. Julia Hinde is a freelance education and science journalist based in Sydney, Australia. All rights reserved.