Australia's renowned University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has recently started its activities in Bangladesh.
In collaboration with Premier University, Chittagong, and approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC), UTS is providing new educational opportunities for Bangladeshi students.
This initiative allows Bangladeshi students to gain direct admission to UTS in Sydney after completing one year of education in Bangladesh. Essentially, students will complete their first year of undergraduate studies at UTS in Bangladesh and then proceed to the main campus in Sydney for the remaining two years.
In an interview, Saddif Ovee discusses this new collaboration with Peter Harris, the senior executive and director of UTS College, Australia.
Why would one need to study one year in one’s home country?
That's a very good question. We've had our campus and partnership in Chittagong now, since May last year, and the idea behind it is for students to do UTS first year in the country (Bangladesh) and then transition to second year in Sydney.
The reasons for it are, well, firstly students and parents can save money because they pay local fees instead of the fees they pay in Sydney.
The other main reason is it gives them one more year of maturity, a year to get used to the technical nature of the course, a year to get used to how we deliver and teach in Australia and so they're familiar with the systems we have of learning the course content.
So when they do go to Sydney, they've got that all behind them, and then they've just got to get accustomed to living away from home and the challenges that presents. Therefore, we find the students that do this pathway in the country are really well prepared for that transition to Sydney when they arrive.
Why are you collaborating with Premier University, Chittagong?
Very good question. We intend to have a partnership here in Dhaka as well. We started in Chittagong just because we could find the right University partner at the time and working through Dr Arif and the team and Barry, but there are plans to extend that to Dhaka in the near future.
But of course Dhaka is the capital and it's a great catchment area so there will be a second campus hopefully sometime next year here in Dhaka
Can we get a timeframe on when a campus in Dhaka will be opened?
It normally takes about 12 months before you can start teaching. That's because there are a number of approval processes both here and in Australia to make sure the partnership is set up the right way through the UGC in Bangladesh and the equivalent in Australia.
Then you need some time in the market, probably six months, to educate the market and get that first cohort of students so it's probably 12 months from the start.
So I would say we'd probably be three to four months away from that start date and then 12 months after that so some time in 2025
What will be the focus in the first year?
Three areas that Bangladesh students study in Australia and at UTS and do very well in are business, IT and engineering.
IT is particularly very popular now because of the graduate outcome. So students studying IT have a very strong chance of getting good jobs.
Business is always a strong choice as Bangladeshi students do particularly well in business studies and that leads to a wide range of majors from marketing to finance to data to even to law.
We're also seeing an increased interest in more creative fields as well. Surprisingly, a lot of students from Bangladesh study fashion and textiles, which is not surprising since Bangladesh has a large garment industry, but business and IT are the two most popular majors.
What will a student learn in Bangladesh before getting admission to a university in Sydney?
The course here is exactly the same as the university’s first year.
Study in Malaysia: Achieve Quality Education, Affordable DegreeThey learn not just the technical nature of the course but more importantly, they learn those really key language and study skills -- how to be independent learners, how to communicate, how to collaborate, how to work in a group so their soft skills which is so important.
Our partners and their team are working with our great education agents here in Bangladesh to make sure that the students have prepared for their visa applications and the transition to UTS.
When they arrive at UTS, we've got a very strong onboarding and orientation program for those students who are coming in the second year from this partnership and all of the other partnerships.
Visa success is something that's outside our control and the partners' control but we do all the things we can to make sure that the students have got everything in order to get the best chance of a visa approval.
At the moment in Bangladesh, the approval rates are still very high and also the Australian government does look favourably on a student that has studied here first and that shows real commitment to their Australian pathway for that subsequent visa approval.
How does UTS prepare students for future jobs?
We're very proud at UTS -- not only to be a very high-ranked university -- we ranked 88th in the world but it's more so for our graduate outcomes ranked fourth in Australia.
Students who are studying at UTS get good graduate outcomes in their chosen field. So we've got that experience and reputation.
We've also got strong career advice and a career placement centre at UTS, so students when they arrive can get help with preparing CVs and going for interviews.
Twice a year we have local employees and industry come to campus to meet prospective students.
We also have internships in all of our programs so students in their second and third year and even the students in Chittagong get work experience by internships with industry players.
Why should Bangladeshi students choose UTS?
I think UTS is a unique combination of reputation because it's so highly ranked but equally it has got great graduate outcomes so it's a great industry.
It's a work-ready practical course with industry leaders so it gives them not just that reputation but that real readiness to get a job and use that for the investment they and the parents are making to get a return on that investment.
And it's right in the heart of Sydney, right in the creative heart of Sydney so it's easy to get to with an amazing campus so I think those three things — where it's located, its graduate outcomes and its reputation — are important.
I have learned from your website that there are some financial waivers for international students both here and in Sydney. So do you have any plans to give scholarships?
Look so there are scholarships available both here and at UTS in Sydney; at the moment the scholarship in Sydney is 15% of all of their study at the university which is a very generous uh discount and it can be up to 50 to 30% depending on the academic standard of the students.
So I think those two are really good benefits for students 15% for all students and then 30% for the really strong excellent students.
What that looks like in the far future who knows but for the time being as far as we can see that support will be in place.
Do you think the students will be able to manage the new visa fees?
I think what the market wants to see and what the Bangladesh students and parents want to see is certainty.
So I think the more clarity and certainty we give to students the better and at the moment there's been a lot of change.
So I think that will settle down and the sooner that does the better for all concerned.
I've been in this industry sector for a long time and we do see this come and go but good students through our good agents and quality students from great schools and universities will always have a place in Australia.
All of our universities are in the top 500. We've been doing International Education for a long time.
I think we need to take a long-term view of it, but I do appreciate the disruption and uncertainty that is happening at the moment. We all look forward to things settling down very soon.
UTS is ranked 44th in the latest QS World University Rankings and is well known as Australia's number one “freshman” university for fewer than 50 years.
With over 44,000 students, UTS is one of Australia's largest universities.
