Massey’s Spanish Programme marks a decade of partnership with University of New England

In November 2011, The Australian reported that Australians were about to learn Spanish with a Kiwi accent. The article was referring to an agreement that Massey had signed with the University of New England (UNE) to deliver the entire Spanish Programme to Australian students online (known as Massey Spanish@UNE).

This exciting agreement brought together the two leading universities in distance education in Australasia in an endeavour that has proven incredibly rewarding for students and staff involved at both universities.

When the programme started, then Head of the School of Arts at UNE, Professor Darryl Poulsen, said they could not have hoped for a better partnership.

Massey's Pro Vice-Chancellor for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Cynthia White, says an institutional partnership in online teaching that has continued for a decade is remarkable and pleasing. "It highlights our ability to adapt to the needs of a wide range of students and institutional requirements, and to incorporate developments in technology tools and platforms."

Programme Coordinator Associate Professor Leonel Alvarado says over the past 10 years, the programme has delivered classes online with plenty of interaction using live online tutorials and lectures, forum discussions, video recordings, and study materials specifically designed for online teaching and learning for Australasian students.

Apart from language, the curriculum includes courses on translation, cinema, literature, visual arts, travel writing, music, and politics.

“Everyone involved has been so enthusiastic about all aspects of this venture that, in addition to the Bachelor of Arts and the Diploma in Modern Languages, the programme has expanded to offer supervision at the postgraduate level, with several honours and PhD graduates to date," he says.

Lyn Grivell, one of the students in the first group of 2012, has already completed an honours thesis and is now finishing her PhD on Latin American literature. “You cannot imagine how excited I was to see that Spanish was offered at UNE 10 years ago, so I enrolled immediately. The teachers are excellent, the pace of learning is perfect, and studying online allowed me to join with participants in all parts of the country, and even other countries.  Not only do students learn the language and grammar, but you can immerse yourself in history, culture, music, and literature, and make some very good friends.”

“Massey’s Spanish programme’s presence across the Tasman has been further consolidated by our visits to deliver in-person intensive courses to our UNE students in Armidale and Parramatta,” Associate Professor Alvarado says. “We also offer training workshops to teachers of Spanish in the New South Wales and Queensland regions.”

Head of School of Humanities, Media and Creative Communication Professor Kerry Taylor says the University of New England has fully embraced the partnership with Massey.