Student support needs: a study of two offshore campus student perceptions

Universities in Australia have been operating offshore degree programs in Asia for more than a decade, and more recently have expanded to other parts of the world. The diverse locations at which these programs are offered requires uniformity and consistency in the programs with regard to, both course content, material delivery, assessment and support provision. Educators are aware that learning environments across overseas campuses and individual student learning needs can best be accommodated by the use of a range of teaching approaches and styles. This study investigates the offshore campus student perception of undergraduate marketing subject, in relation to support for learning. The study revealed that the majority of the offshore campus students need more support with their learning (65 percent), believe that more help should be available in tutorial sessions (85 percent) and yet, most believe that they would be able to access help with studies if needed (75 percent). Such results may be an indicator that teaching and learning environments should be more student and that support provision should not be structurally separate from the teaching and learning process