Excelling at education exports
Education is Australia‘s most valuable service export, but there are so many facets of this broad industry, it’s hard to know where qualifications end and learning begins. How can we secure the future of this sector?
Chalk and talk is a thing of the past in the modern world of education. The industry now encompasses everything from an holistic Australian experience for inbound students completing their tertiary degree, to a training organisation implementing new methods in an overseas workplace.
New exporters
If you’re a small organisation looking to go global, never fear—it’s not as hard as you think. Plenty of training businesses have global operations, either using satellite staff in target markets or servicing clients on a fly-in, fly-out basis.
Australia-wide Business Training (awbt) is a learning and development organisation focused on capacity building within companies. CEO Larry Gould decided to go global when he observed “a real thirst for practical learning” in Asia.
The awbt model involves training facilitators at the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) using Australian standards and methods, which the Malaysians then develop into programs to deliver to local businesses.
The right partner was crucial, says Gould. “It’s important to pick the right partner as it is to do anything else. We provide learning and development for industry, therefore we’re not after a partner in the tertiary sector; MIM is a leading provider of education to industry.”
Their model also gives them freedom from bureaucracy. “If I were setting up awbt in Malaysia I would have to go through the hoops, but because we’ve taken a resident partner, they take on that responsibility,” says Gould. “I’d sooner build capacity within countries with a resident partner and share the result than spread myself too thin.”
Offering their intellectual property requires a tight licensing agreement and stringent quality control, and a good relationship, which means a lot of direct contact.
“Particularly in the Asian countries it is about the relationship,” Gould explains. “If you don’t develop those relationships and build trust, you can’t begin to think about business there.”
His final advice is for new exporters to do on-the-ground research in the destination country, and “be very clear about what your business model is. Take advice from people you respect, who are recognised as experts, and build that in wherever possible”.
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