Purpose

Third-party arrangements where a university offers its degrees in collaboration with another institution are not a new phenomenon, particularly when the third-party arrangements occur in the form of a cross-border education (or widely known as transnational education). Drawing on a critical review of the literature available on quality assurance of domestic third-party arrangements and through the use of interviews with the sessional teaching staff, the paper offers theoretical as well as practical views on the domestic third-party arrangement and seeks to inform key stakeholders in the academic management of such collaboration.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was undertaken with 40 sessional academics who are involved in teaching postgraduate courses at several third-party education providers and universities with metropolitan campuses in Australia. Focus group interviews were conducted with 8–10 participants in each group. The qualitative study included seven open-ended questions. Each focus group interview was between 45–60 minutes.

Findings

The study found 11 universities in Australia offering courses in third-party arrangement with a focus on international students. Online third-party arrangement is also gaining momentum. The study found the following areas that require attention: induction and professional development, quality assurance arrangements, maintenance of standards, adequacy of resources and infrastructure and risk related to academic quality.

Research limitations/implications

Limited study has been conducted on third-party arrangements where a university, usually located far from the city vicinity, works in a collaborative mode with another institution, primarily a private institution, to offer degrees at metropolitan city areas in the same country. Further research is needed with a large number of participants.

Originality/value

The study is undertaken for the first time in Australia. No research has been undertaken on the growth and quality assurance of a third-party arrangement in Australia and other developed countries. The study involves the engagement of the sessional academic staff.

中文翻译：

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澳大利亚国内第三方安排中的质量保证

目的

一所大学与另一所大学合作提供学位的第三方安排并不是一个新现象，特别是当第三方安排以跨境教育（或被广泛称为跨国教育）的形式发生时。通过对现有的有关国内第三方安排质量保证的文献进行严格审查，并通过与会期教学人员的访谈，本文提供了有关国内第三方安排的理论和实践观点，并力图提供参考。此类合作的学术管理中的主要利益相关者。

设计/方法/方法

这项研究是与40名会期学者一起进行的，这些学者在澳大利亚的几所第三方教育机构和拥有大都会校园的大学中从事研究生课程的教学。焦点小组访谈每组有8-10名参与者。定性研究包括七个开放性问题。每个焦点小组访谈时间为45至60分钟。

发现

该研究发现，澳大利亚有11所大学提供第三方安排课程，重点是国际学生。在线第三方安排也越来越流行。该研究发现以下领域需要引起注意：上岗和专业发展，质量保证安排，标准的维持，资源和基础设施的充足性以及与学术质量有关的风险。

研究局限/意义

对于第三方安排，已经进行了有限的研究，在该安排中，通常位于远离城市附近的一所大学与另一所机构（主要是私立机构）合作以在同一国家的大都市地区提供学位。有大量的参与者需要进一步的研究。

创意/价值

这项研究是在澳大利亚进行的第一次。在澳大利亚和其他发达国家，尚未进行有关第三方协议的增长和质量保证的研究。该研究涉及会期学术人员的参与。