A new professional development course outlining international education in six key destination countries has been created to help support industry organisations in their induction process.
‘Introduction to International Education’ looks at international education across all sectors in Australia, Canada, the US, UK, New Zealand and Ireland, providing an overview of the global industry.
It was developed by Australia-based International Education Services, which provides education agent training through its PIER arm.
“The course highlights how each country contrasts to their neighbour”
The course was developed in response to the need for more specific learning for industry professionals who aren’t working in agent roles as well as those new to the sector, according to Chris Evason, managing director of IES.
“The education agent training is longer than was necessary to give an overall impression of the global environment for many roles in our industry,” he told The PIE News.
“There is a lot of information about the individual countries in a variety of places but until now, it’s been an effort to be able to quickly compare the fundamental features of the international education industry in a way that’s easily digestible for a newcomer.”
The course, priced at A$49, is self-paced, but is expected to take two to three hours.
And while there is no formal assessment, users can do prepared activities on completion to test their knowledge.
In choosing the material for the course, Evason added it was important to include countries beyond the top three destinations, the US, UK and Australia.
“These each have smaller geographical neighbours in New Zealand, Ireland and Canada,” he said. “And consequently, the course highlights how each country contrasts to their neighbour.”
Understanding the distinctions between countries is important when learning about the industry as whole, Evason said.
“When talking about international education, the default image is of an industry dominated by higher education, but that’s only the case for a handful of countries,” he added.
“Vocational education and English language instruction are more important in others and in some cases can be the largest source of international students.”
