News and Opportunities
Inaugural Australian Education Marketing workshop for education agents in Myanmar
16 Sep 2013
Austrade recently hosted the first Australian Education Marketing workshop for education agents in Myanmar. The four-hour workshop, which was held at the Australian Embassy Staff Club in Yangon on 5 September 2013, attracted 20 representatives from nine education agents based in Myanmar.
The primary purpose of the workshop was to help education agents in Myanmar to market Australian education more effectively. While international education agents have been operating in Myanmar for some years and some have been actively recruiting students for Australian institutions, the overall quality and level of awareness of Australian education is highly variable. Although a small number of these agents have registered for the PIER Online Education Agent Training Course (EATC), only one has successfully completed it so far.
The workshop was opened by Mark Wood, Austrade’s Trade Commissioner for Myanmar, who has been based in Yangon since June 2013. Chris Evason, Managing Director of PIER Online (which delivers the EATC program), provided a comprehensive introduction to Australia’s education system using the framework adopted in the EATC program, and highlighted the advantages to agents of formally completing the program and being registered as an EATC agent. Peter Mackey, Austrade’s Education Commissioner for ASEAN, then introduced the Future Unlimited brand, gave a guided tour of the Study in Australia website, and previewed the upcoming ’Win a Future Unlimited’ competition.
The marketing workshop followed an information seminar for Myanmar education agents on Australia’s student visa program, which was run by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in Yangon in June 2013.
Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with all finding the workshop either extremely useful or very useful, and 16 of the 19 who provided evaluations indicating that they would now undertake the EATC assessment.
To maintain the momentum from the workshop, the Austrade team in Yangon is conducting follow-up meetings with each participating agent, to ensure as many as possible complete the EATC process, and to encourage them to become active users of the marketing tools and resources that are available to support them. As part of this process, Austrade is also seeking agents’ input to develop Myanmar language content for the Study in Australia website.
For more information on the Myanmar education market, contact Mark Wood, Trade Commissioner, Austrade Yangon.
Analysis
Agents reported a growing interest in Australia as an education destination, mostly at the higher education level in programs including business, IT, and engineering, as well as specialist programs such as medicine.
While there is still strong demand for scholarships, agents predict growth will continue from self-funded students from Myanmar’s growing middle class, particularly if government reforms continue.
With an estimated population of around 60 million, the market has the potential to rival Vietnam as a source market for Australia in the years ahead, with continued engagement by Australian institutions.