dual degree programmes with Edith Cowan Uni “exciting”

Students will gain two degrees in tandem, each from Portsmouth and Edith Cowan, while they “benefit from the teaching expertise, research and facilities of each institution”.

Another program is going live in 2022 with two separate pathways in the global media and communications department, the titles of which are being “finalised”.

“Those are five programmes we think are exciting,” said Chris Chang, deputy vice-chancellor of global engagement and student life at Portsmouth.

“They are different and not in the traditional areas of business and computing.”

During a PIE webinar, Chang explained that the initial thoughts for the programs came from a “meeting of minds” between various vice-chancellors and former vice-chancellors.

“[The vice chancellors] talked to us for about two and a half years to develop these programs to wade through the complexities of quality assurance,” Chang added.

In financial terms, students pay the full tuition from the university in which they do years one, two and four of the four-year degree, whilst paying “reduced fees as an exchange student” at the other institution.

“It’s worth remembering that both of the programs, at each end, we have gone through the long process of creating entire new courses from scratch to make this possible,” explained Simon Ridings, deputy vice-chancellor international at Edith Cowan University during the webinar.

He also touched on the fact that it has allowed for staggered starts.

“It’s one of the things that it’s forced us to do…students have been asking if they can transfer to this course, and we’ve been saying if you transfer now, there’s no reason to assume you’ll be able to go to the UK.

“We have gone through the long process of creating entire new courses from scratch to make this possible”

“But the intent, of course, has been so strong that we’ve already had massive interest from people to enrol on these courses,” Ridings added.

“[The partnership] is not very common… when we think about Australia, we tend to think of them as a foremost competitor of the UK, so this illustrates how we can actually be complementary to each other,” said Eduardo Ramos, head of TNE at Universities UK International during the webinar.

Also attending was Jazreel Goh, the director of Malaysia at the British Council, who said when talking about institution partnerships in general, that something that also should be considered was an “exit strategy”.

“When you go in, it’s with very good will and a strong and robust business objective.

“But you also need to have the exit strategy at the forefront because otherwise you are not being clear on the why, what and how if it doesn’t work out.”