Wittenborg to Partner with Top Australian University

17.07.2019

"Prestigious" Partner for Wittenborg in Australia

Wittenborg has signed its first partnership agreement with an Australian institution, Deakin University, which was ranked in the top 1% of the world’s universities by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) last year and it has just entered the Top 200.

According to Wittenborg’s chair of the executive board, Peter Birdsall, plans are under way to launch a double-degree master's programme with Deakin. That means in the future students will have the option to do part of their studies at Deakin’s Faculty of Law and Business in Melbourne, and the other part at WUAS in Apeldoorn.

Deakin is accredited by AACSB (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), and is in the process of obtaining accreditation EQUIS (EFMD Quality Improvement System). The most sought after international accreditations for business schools are AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS). Only about 90 schools around the world hold this so-called “triple crown” accreditation. Wittenborg is in the process of obtaining both AACSB and AMBA (Association of MBAs) accreditation.

Wittenborg’s Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr Ron Tuninga, made a successful visit to Deakin’s campus in Geelong last week where he signed a study abroad agreement between the two institutions. Prior to that, Birdsall signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Tuninga met and signed the agreement with the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, Mike Ewing.

Tuninga said Deakin will be a “prestigious” partner for Wittenborg. “It is an impressive, young university (45 years old) with 60,000 students and strong community contacts. The Faculty of Business and Law has 15,000 students and 360 FTE staff. I met with the Dean, Associate Dean International, the international team, and we signed the agreement.

“I also met with the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Built Environment, Prof. K. Baskaran. We discussed setting up a double-degree master's in Information Technology and Management, Cybersecurity and Applied Artificial Intelligence. Deakin would be responsible for the IT side of the programmes, and we would be responsible for the management and or business side of the programmes. It was a successful visit.”