24 August 2011

The successful completion of an International Education Policy Exchange Program (IEPEP) has led to a strengthened mutual understanding between the Chinese Ministry of Education, Australian government organisations and education institutions.

DEEWR funded Ms Guan Xin, Senior Program Officer from the Division of American and Oceanian Affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Education to undertake a month-long visit to Australia to further develop existing educational linkages and cooperation programs between Australia and China.

The program began in Melbourne, where Ms Guan attended the Building an International Education Strategy Conference held on 19-20 July. She met with the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to discuss student exchanges, initiatives to increase the availability of Chinese language teaching in Victorian schools and Confucius classrooms, and to gauge the level of interest of Australian states to increase direct engagement with provincial governments in China. In addition Ms Guan had meetings with the national regulators Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) to enhance her knowledge of the Australian compliance and quality assurance mechanisms for international and domestic education. While in Melbourne, she also visited various TAFEs, private providers and universities to learn about their operations and how they supported Chinese international students.

Ms Guan’s next stop was Canberra where she met with DIISR, DIAC and DEEWR to discuss the MySchools and MyUniversity websites, the PRISMS system and CRICOS register, scholarship opportunities and research linkages, as well as meeting with education providers and peak bodies.

Ms Guan also travelled to Perth and Brisbane, where she met with the state education departments and various education providers to better understand Australia’s compliance framework for providers of international education and the strengthened quality assurance mechanisms.

The IEPEP plays an important role in strengthening bilateral relationships in international education cooperation. It is designed to facilitate government-to-government engagement in international education through the short term exchange of senior officials, academics or education specialists.