Zhou Jie, Asia-Australia Business College, Liaoning University

Colin Clark, Victoria University, Australia

Education and training providers across the globe operate in an increasingly transnational environment. Australia and China are no exception. In fact, both countries are major players in the transnational education environment. China has become a significant market for transnational education by Australian providers. Both Australian and Chinese institutions are strongly motivated to develop transnational education through international partnerships in order to build capacity and also effectively maintain competitive advantage in both national and international markets.

Transnational education is a complex activity with many dimensions. An extensive range of issues have been considered by university leaders, teaching staff, researchers and government. These issues range from core teaching and learning outcomes to management implications such as quality assurance, strategic planning, and relationship management. The importance of these critical topics are reinforced and constantly re-examined in order to seek best possible practices to lead sustainable outcomes in the rapidly changing nature of international education market.

The Victoria University — Liaoning University transnational education program provides an outstanding basis for case study purposes. Whilst the book is centered on the Victoria University — Liaoning University transnational education program, the discussion is not exclusive to that case study or experience. The Victoria University — Liaoning University program is quite distinguished in a number of respects. It has now been operating for more than 10 years demonstrating strong long-term institutional relationships between the two universities, creating trust in delivering common strategic goals. Having staff from both the international university and the local university teach directly into the program provides students with a broader perspective in their studies, as well as providing professional development opportunities for staff from both universities. Those teaching staff members use a common curriculum, share textbooks and work together in preparing students for a common set of outcomes.

This book looks at the major factors contributing to the success of transnational education, with particular reference to Victoria University — Liaoning University. The book includes contributions from both Victoria University staff and Liaoning University staff. The contributed chapters appear in either English language or Chinese language. The English language section of the book has 12 chapters. The first two chapters aim at providing a context from the strategic management perspective for the subsequent discussion at various operational aspects. In the following chapters, governance and quality assurance issues are explored, followed by chapters discussing approaches to enhance transnational education teaching and learning experience. In the final chapter, the place of Victoria University’s strong community and industry engagement on transnational education is presented. The 15 Chinese language chapters are similarly organized. Those chapters provide general management perspectives and then turn to core operational components which include teaching methodology and students tutoring.