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Members will be delighted to hear that Seamus Fagan, former Chair of English Australia, was presented with the IEAA Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Field of International Education at last week’s Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) in Melbourne.
This award ‘recognises the ongoing outstanding contribution of a professional colleague in international education who has led groundbreaking initiatives that improved international education in Australia’.
Seamus was the Chair of English Australia for a six year period between 2004 and 2010 (and on the Board for 10 years), leading the ELICOS peak body through a critical period of its history. He is currently the Director of the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre at the University of Newcastle, and has been actively engaged in international education for 32 years. In addition to his work in ELICOS teaching and management roles, he has been committed to working on behalf of the broader industry through roles on the Boards of IEAA and the sector accrediting body NEAS as well as English Australia. He is highly regarded for his advocacy of English language training and regional education providers, his unwavering commitment to the international student experience and the delivery of quality international education.
Members will also be pleased to see another name from the ELT industry being recognised, with Paul Mahony, the former Regional ELT Manager SE Asia for IDP, being recognised with the IEAA Award for Excellence in Leadership in International Education. Paul was a regular attendee of the English Australia Conference and is well known across the ELICOS sector as the driving force behind the CamTESOL Conference which is now ASEAN’s largest annual TESOL Conference with attendance of more than 1,500 people from 30 countries.
English Australia and the ELICOS industry were well represented at the AIEC last week, which was attended by almost 1,300 delegates from across the international education industry.
Executive Director, Sue Blundell, presented the ELICOS sector perspective in a plenary panel session with Michael Chaney, the Chair of the government’s International Education Advisory Council as well as sharing the results of the ELT Barometer Survey along with other sector peak bodies as part of a panel on student feedback.
English Australia Board member Christine Bundesen AM (from ICTE UQ) and Bonnie Cothren from member college IELI both presented separate sessions on good practice in Australian collaborations with Asia (ELICOS). Katie Dunworth, one of the English Australia Journal editors from Curtin University, presented together with Cynthia Kralik on a strategic approach to university students’ English language assessment and development.
In its feature on the AIEC, Campus Review published an opinion piece on the subject of Australia’s international education strategy by Sue Blundell in its 2 October edition entitled ‘Keeping ahead of the competition’.
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