LONDON and CANBERRA, Australia, April 26, 2020 — The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) has partnered with social learning platform, FutureLearn.com, to provide free online courses and help students stay ahead of the learning curve.
Austrade promotes Australia as a preferred destination and partner for international students through its Study Australia initiative. FutureLearn is jointly owned by Open University UK and the SEEK Group and has 12 million learners globally and almost a quarter of the world’s top universities in its partnership.
Austrade Global Education Lead Rebecca Hall said, “Many students have been impacted by travel restrictions globally. Providing access to high-quality online learning resources from leading Australian education providers is a simple way we can continue to support international students in their education and learning goals during this challenging time.
“While Australian universities have been quick to embrace digital technologies and innovation, recent events have necessitated a rapid transition to online learning and FutureLearn will give our international students a digital pass to online learning.
“This pilot with FutureLearn will enable us to provide free online access to a wide range of courses from leading Australian education institutions, leaving the door to learning open while international travel is restricted,” said Ms Hall.
FutureLearn CEO Simon Nelson said, “FutureLearn is proud to be partnering with Austrade to help shine a spotlight on Australia’s outstanding higher education offering.
“Our mission is to broaden access to education on a global scale. We are already working with a number of Australian higher education partners to do just that through a broad range of high quality courses, degrees and now micro-credentials. Through this partnership with Austrade, we will continue to deliver on our mission.”
The ‘Study with Australia‘ campaign will be available until the end of June, allowing Australian higher education institutions and English language training providers to showcase their online offering across business, digital technologies, STEM, healthcare and teaching courses, to name a few.
