Partner conference strengthens ties between USQ and SEGi

SEGi University College co-hosted a successful 2011 Partner Conference with USQ at their main campus in Kota Damansara last month (March).

The 2011 theme, Strengthening Ways to Work Together, was a logical extension from the 2009 Partner Conference which intended to build relationships between USQ staff and their academic partners overseas.

The main aim of the conference this year was to focus on the continual improvement and development of the programmes and their delivery through the sharing of ideas during the presentations and in the breakout sessions, tying in with the core principles of the Partnership Framework.

Delegates who attended the conference were from the greater USQ partner network and hailed from all over the world including South Africa, Russia and China, as well as our closer neighbours from Singapore.

USQ staff attending the conference included the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Learning), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Management), Pro Vice-Chancellor (Partnerships) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Training ), as well as Faculty Deans, academic staff and professional staff.

Delegates from SEGi included SEGi Education Group CEO Lee Kok Cheng, SEGi University College Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Professor Dr Muhamad Awang, and SEGi College Subang Jaya Principal Dr Lisa Tan, as well as academic and professional staff.

During his welcome address, Mr Cheng spoke about the importance of having such conferences, commenting that it was dialogue from gatherings such as these that would help to strengthen not only the partnership between USQ and SEGi but also the programs and the experience that is delivered to the USQ student network around the world.

'As SEGi moves toward attaining full University status we are also interested in collaborating more closely with USQ to develop homegrown degree programmes where our students are able to get parchments from both USQ and SEGi, which is something we are already doing with other university partners,' Mr Cheng said.

During his speech the USQ Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bill Lovegrove, posed some questions to the audience: 'What is the future of USQ and our international partners? How can we continue to build and strengthen our partnerships?'

Through this conference he said he hoped to foster rich discussions and capture positive initiatives to work towards improving the offerings to students.

'Among other strategies going forward, USQ strives to provide its students with the very best online experience,' he said. 

The sessions of the conference were designed to allow interactive discussions and presentations using case studies and examples from USQ partners and their experiences in working together. This includes how each party overcome issues and problems when working together, and how they can continue to build upon engagement in learning and teaching as well as student experience.

Conference sessions involved learning and teaching – the USQ perspective, the partner perspective and also student employability and outcomes whereby students and alumni were invited to talk about why they chose to study, what they wanted to get out of it and the outcomes they had achieved to date. Employers of USQ graduates also contributed from the employer perspective.

Other sessions talked about student mobility and how they are encouraged to be mobile and global citizens. With the USQ partner network students can achieve this by studying their courses in various locations. So far there have been USQ Australian students going to Indonesia, Malaysia and China to study with partners.

(Thanks to SEGi Corporate Communication Office for providing editorial coverage on the conference.)