Ly Tran has ideas on how providers can expand overseas

Professor Tran (Deakin U) addressed what to do and ways to do it at the Australasian VET Research Association, yesterday.

In particular she pointed to the need to serve digital and blended learning, including “internationalisation at home” to increase course affordability.

As to what providers should offer, she was clear on what not to, suggesting training packages are “too complex and almost impossible to adapt for off-shore delivery.”

But non Australian Qualification Framework content can work – such as International Skills Training Courses.*

They can contextualise content for partner countries and are a “stepping stone to building Australian branding in vocational training overseas,” Professor Ly says.

* International Skills Training Courses? CMM  had no idea and looked them up. The feds established the programme in 2017 for registered training organisations to teach overseas. Apparently, “the courses offer flexible design to enable contextualisation for the target market. They are a non-accredited alternative to the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) and other courses already delivered offshore.” Target markets are India, Latin America, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China.

However it appears that there are not yet many of them – although courses in “high-demand, priority skills areas for partner countries” are supposed to be appearing this year. There is also an accreditation process for courses developed by approved IST providers.