Education giant Navitas delivers pathways in five countries through its University Programs division and continued to expand during a tough FY2012. We talked to Executive General Manager, John Wood, about the Australian industry and new market opportunities.
The PIE: CEO Rod Jones said FY2012 was probably Navitas’s “toughest year”, largely because of the headwinds in the Australian industry. Do you think recovery really lies ahead for the Australian sector?
JW: I most definitely do, the green shoots are most definitely there. Of course we’ve got a long way to go just because of the nature of what we’ve seen in the last two years. But we are seeing an improvement in applications. There’s no question in our mind that we’ve seen an improvement in the policy environment following on from the Knight Review and that will have significant benefits.
“There’s no question in our mind that we’ve seen an improvement in the policy environment”
The PIE: Have the changes of the Knight Review [a raft of government reforms to win back overseas students to Australia after a protracted slump in enrolments] been far-reaching enough?
JW: I think the government intent is there but the challenge is always in implementation. The Knight Review has been very positive. We, because of our close relationship with universities, as well as lots of others in the sector and those in government, are still working through these changes.
And one of the things we’ve become aware of is the need for the government to conduct a communications campaign, particularly in key markets, to rectify what’s out there as misconception. We need to inform potential students of the changes, of the benefits of studying in Australia, and of course that the doors are open in Australia – that students are very welcome.
The PIE: The UK, where you have seven colleges, is also a tough market right now yet you still opened new ventures this year. Is the long term outlook positive for the UK?
JW: I think we’re seeing a lot of the visa issues in the UK settle down. We think that all of the regulatory change has been appropriate in terms of weeding out non-performers. The UK is still a very high quality destination – it still has brand Oxford and Cambridge and LSE. We see the changes, in parallel to Australia, still being bedded down and there have been some challenges. But the UK will continue to be popular.
“I think the government intent is there but the challenge is always in implementation”
The PIE: The University Programs division fared better in FY2012 than FY2011, although enrolments fell slightly. What are you doing to promote growth?
JW: Can I say that the base of what we do is predicated upon excellent student outcomes, and we’re very proud of that and that is absolutely key to where we want to be. We have fared better than others in the sector and that is due to student quality outcomes and the attention we pay students and their experience, and our close working relationship with our partner universities which are managing the challenges in key markets. So I think that’s an important backdrop to where we currently are and our renewed growth.
The PIE: So quality is helping you overcome market challenges?
JW: Well you can’t have the sustained growth, the attention of so many universities wanting to work with us, the satisfaction of our existing partner universities wanting to do more with us, if you’re not delivering fundamentally quality outcomes for students. So our partners have confidence in us, we take that confidence very seriously, and they trust us to deliver well-prepared students that will successfully graduate from their university and add to their reputation and their brand in the world. That’s partly why we fared better than others in Australia’s enrolment downturn and why we’re seeing an upturn.
The PIE: Does the UP division only offer pathways? And which of your courses are most in demand? [more>>]
JW: We predominantly offer pathways into degrees at universities. However, we do deliver full degrees on behalf of three universities in Kenya and Sri Lanka. Regarding our pathways, this may sound like an exaggeration but if you take our colleges collectively, we definitely have the potential for students to enter into almost all the ranges of degrees a university can offer.
In essence, our pathways, diplomas or university transfer programmes, depending on which jurisdiction you’re in, enable students to go into a vast range of courses. Our most popular diplomas tend to be business and commerce, but so too are engineering and health sciences.
“Our most popular diplomas tend to be business and commerce, but so too are engineering and health sciences”
The PIE: Do you think the pathway market will grow as much as some predict?
JW: Yes. My view is we’re an embryonic industry. It’s akin to those first cotton textile mills in mid-18th century Britain which started the industrial revolution, to use an analogy from economic history! We’re only just beginning.
Why do I say that? There is going to be demand for students to leave a range of key source countries for English-speaking destinations – Canada, Australia, the UK, the US, New Zealand – and there is no question in my mind that that demand will continue to grow. You sit that alongside the demographics of South Asia, the Middle East and China, and you can see how demand is going to grow very strongly.
The PIE: In your end of year results, growth in Asia and North America balanced out poorer performance in your biggest market, Australia. Will delivery outside Australia become increasingly important in the long term?
JW: Absolutely. Why? Because of the demand in the US from international students who want to go there. Britain is still up there as a very important and high quality study destination. Our operations in Singapore and Canada are also doing well. So we see these balancing our Australian operations, though we see Australia continuing to be a very strong destination too.
“There’s much work to be done but we do expect we’ll see improvement”
The PIE: The UK government wants to open up HE to quality private providers. Would Navitas be interested in running a private university one day?
JW: No! We do manage degrees abroad, but our model is very much about working in partnership with universities. We certainly welcome competition, but do we want to establish a private university in the UK? No.
The PIE: What can we expect from Navitas in FY2013?
JW: We expect an improvement from our results in FY2012. There’s much work to be done but we do expect we’ll see improvements.