In another new public-private partnership development, QA Higher Education and the University of Roehampton in London have announced an agreement to establish new on-campus pathway programmes enabling prospective international students to progress to undergraduate and postgraduate study at the university.
Students who successfully complete the International Foundation Programme will be eligible to progress to undergraduate study at Roehampton, while the Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate courses will provide access to postgraduate study at the university.
“It’s deeply embedded so as students progress through onto the undergraduate degrees it’s very seamless”
QA Higher Education already works with University of Northumbria and University of Ulster London and Birmingham satellite campuses to market university-branded pathway access, leveraging its global marketing function.
It is part of a wider organisation whose core business is supplying IT and CPD for 90% of UK FTSE-100 companies. Gary Davies, University of Roehampton’s director of recruitment and international development, said the fact that QA has a broader business base – as well as the calibre of the team at its HE division – was an appeal to the partnership.
Davies said he believes QA will be able to augment Roehampton’s reach in new markets and take advantage of the university’s ascendency in various academic rankings and the REF league table. He observed, “We are the most research-intensive modern university in the UK.”
Nick Miller, marketing and recruitment director at QA Higher Education, told The PIE News, “The availability of a campus as good as Roehampton’s in London is very attractive to students and the change in league table rankings makes it even better.”
He explained that the pathway will not be separately branded: “It’s deeply embedded so the students are part of the university as they come up to the pathway from day one, so that as they progress through onto the undergraduate degrees it’s very seamless.”
Davies signalled that the agreement is the beginning of a substantial partnership.
“We’ve wanted to work with a pathway provider for a number of years, and we’re very pleased to get one of the quality and breadth of business that QA has,” he said.
In addition to pathway provision, the two organisations have a number of further ventures underway.
The nine-month pathway programme begins in September, and will also be a six-month accelerator course option from January.
All of the programmes will be delivered on Roehampton’s site in southwest London, which prides itself on being a global campus with 140 languages spoken on campus.
Julie Noone, Managing Director of QA Higher Education, added, “Being a genuine campus experience for students in London with a rapidly growing reputation and a long history, we are delighted to be working with the university.”