Australian higher education third party arrangements: an independent institute case study

The marked increase in transnational higher education third party arrangements in recent years represents globalizing forms of education. Third party arrangements involve a partner institution being approved to deliver the primary institution’s government-accredited courses. The primary institute is accountable for monitoring and documenting quality assurance and the third party is responsible to the primary institute for meeting the required higher education standards. This arrangement is particularly attractive for students who want to undertake an accredited degree from overseas, while retaining close relational, industry and cultural links in the home country. There has been some recent examination of higher education third parties focused on equity, transcultural pedagogy, and quality assurance. However, little research has been done regarding the Australian context. Alphacrucis College is one of the largest non-university, faith-based independent higher education institutes in Australia with three onshore third party arrangements in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as two offshore in Finland and the Philippines. Based on a case study including participant observation and a staff survey, this research argues that the success of faith-based third parties is largely a result of shared values and collaborative relationships. These are outworked in professional development and mentoring in learning and teaching, joint research and scholarship projects, equity of student experience through resourcing, and effective governance and quality assurance built on trust. While other higher education institutes may not have faith-based approaches, these findings can serve to produce successful onshore and offshore third parties in a broad range of contexts. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11233-021-09077-1.