Flinders University launches academy for international students

Flinders University is relaunching its pathway courses for international students through a wholly owned academy.

Flinders University vice-chancellor Colin Stirling.

Flinders University in Adelaide will set up its own wholly owned education provider to prepare international students for degree courses as part of an effort to create a better experience for students coming to Australia after the pandemic.

Flinders University Academy, to begin in first semester in 2023, will offer four education pathways to students: English language courses, foundation courses, masters preparation courses and diploma courses.

Vice-chancellor Colin Stirling said the new academy would offer international students a bespoke pathway into a degree course and give them the best chance for educational success.

In deciding to place its pathway courses into a wholly-owned subsidiary, Flinders is moving away from the practice followed at many universities of using third-party providers to deliver pathway education.

Instead, it will follow the model in place at several other universities – including UTS, which has Insearch, Monash University, (Monash College) and the University of NSW (UNSW Global) – of taking full ownership and control.

Pathway courses are of key importance to universities’ international education businesses because they prepare students who are otherwise not ready to enrol in a degree, either because their English language skills need development or their academic preparation is not complete.

The foundation courses offered by Flinders University Academy will cover academic material at a senior school level, and pre-masters courses will prepare students for masters degrees.

The academy will also offer diplomas in five areas – business, IT, engineering, health, creative industries – which will give students academic credit towards a degree.

Flinders’ pro-vice-chancellor (international) Sebastian Raneskold said by offering the diplomas through a Flinders-owned entity, they could be aligned to give students a maximal amount of credit.

Mr Raneskold said the academy was conceived 18 months ago “during the depths of Covid”.

He said its establishment was “perfectly timed just as the appetite for studying internationally is on the rise”. The new academy will teach students face-to-face and the start of courses in first semester next year is predicated on the assumption that international students will be easily be able to enter Australia by then.

At the moment, major visa delays, and costly international airfares, are keeping many students out of Australia and large numbers are still doing courses remotely from their home countries.

Mr Raneskold said that, through the academy, international students would be “immersed in our university from day one”. Flinders, whose footprint extends across Adelaide, southwest Victoria and the Northern Territory, also announced a new “hyper care model” to give international students learning support, pastoral care, counselling, health advice and accommodation assistance.