INTRODUCTION TO APPLIEDHE™

Founded in Singapore in January 2020 by veterans from QS Quacquarelli Symonds’ Asia office, AppliedHE™ is a globally oriented higher education evaluation and branding company that is rooted in Asia which aims to positively disrupt the global higher education sector.

As a consumer and business-facing brand, AppliedHE™ (“Applied Higher Education”) represents skills-based employment-focused higher education, as emphasized by its slogan Skills and Job Ready. Future Proof. The AppliedHE™ brand appeals to career-minded students and to institutions it represent a fresh approach to institutional advancement, quality improvement and branding that leads to long-term and sustainable institutional success.

AppliedHE™ is currently in the process of scaling-up its operations and offers solutions in the following areas: rankings and ratings (including the JOB-Ready and EMI-Ready), physical and online events (including Squaring the Circle Debate, Fireside Chat and Xchange) and higher education news distribution (Xtra! Xtra! and Xtra! Xpress). Its new higher education-centred online networking platform for (prospective) students, alumni, faculty and employers (AppliedHE FUTURE) is scheduled to launch in 2021 and will include a service for online internships, connecting students, universities and employers.

With its corporate headquarters in Singapore, AppliedHE also has staff and agents located in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Philippines and the United Kingdom.

OUR MISSION: AppliedHE™ empowers higher education providers by delivering suitable and globally recognized evaluation tools, a portfolio of industry-leading marketing and branding services and a platform for stakeholder networking that enables them to excel and amplify their impact locally and worldwide.

OUR VISION: AppliedHE™ aspires to be the dominant brand in higher education which serves the life-long learning and career needs of its users and which is the first-choice for learning-focused higher education institutions and talent-focused employers to meet their branding, reputation and recruitment needs.

INTRODUCTION TO APPLIEDHE™ XCHANGE WEBINAR

The AppliedHE Xchange webinars are an interactive online event format that focuses on a specific higher education topic. Recent webinars have focused on topics such as best practices in higher education for dealing with COVID-19, the digitization of skills based higher education and the role and value-added of university consortia.

Country-specific Xchange events and webinars have also been held as a way to launch the AppliedHE brand and services in specific markets. Pre-COVID-19 physical events have taken place in Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia. Since COVID-19 virtual events have been organized for the Central Asian Region & Russia and events in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Philippines, China, UAE and Canada are currently being planned.

Co-hosting an AppliedHE Xchange webinar allows an institution to bring in experts from AppliedHE about higher education evaluation, quality improvement, branding and internationalization to their domestic audience and provides them with an opportunity to ask questions and interact. One or two guest speakers from the host country or external experts can be added to the program to provide a comprehensive overview of current and emerging local and global higher education trends.

PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS

Presentation 1: AppliedHE, The New Kid on the Block

An introduction to the AppliedHE (“Applied Higher Education”) as a concept, organization and our approach to higher education quality improvement and promotion. AppliedHE bridges the gap between universities, students and employers by delivering innovative higher education evaluation, branding and networking solutions. The relevance of the AppliedHE concept and services to global university rankings, higher education internationalization, quality improvement, industry collaboration and student recruitment are emphasized.

Presentation 2: BAU’s Inspirational Journey of Excellence

TBA

Presentation 3: Online Learning for Impact: Experience & Best Practices from the UK

A major change during the pandemic was the use of, and indeed reliance on, online communication. There have long been issues with the use of online teaching and learning, ranging from access, equity, capability, pedagogy and formal recognition. Within a period of roughly 24 hours, many elements of the education sector went from viewing online learning suspiciously to wholeheartedly accepting it as an equal form of teaching and learning. While this is somewhat misguided, it does demonstrate an ability to adapt and evolve. Online learning has provided opportunities for international interaction; marked an increase in online course offering; and seen a plethora of free content and webinars offered – usually across multiple locations and time zones – all of which work towards supporting and promoting internationalisation.

Online learning is not a new phenomenon, but the current global health pandemic has brought into sharp focus its benefits and opportunities as well as its challenges and risks. This presentation will share some of the experiences with online learning that have taken place in the UK and share some of the success stories as well as highlight some of the challenges and risks and the lessons that have been learned.

Presentation 4: AppliedHE JOB-Ready Rating

An introduction to the AppliedHE™ JOB-Ready Rating systems. JOB-Ready is an all-round international evaluation system based on stakeholder opinions (employers, alumni, students, faculty and peer faculty) that measures the quality of an institution against criteria that are most relevant to students, employers, government and other social actors.

Presentation 5: AppliedHE Rankometer Pre-Launch Preview MENA

The AppliedHE Rankometer is a composite ranking consisting of the world’s most influential university rankings. Because each ranking has its own methodological biases, combining multiple rankings into a single measure provides the definitive rank of a university. The presentation focuses on the Rankometer and constituent ranks within the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, the differences between them and insight into the biases of each constituent ranking.

Presentation 6: Evaluating Online Education: The View from AppliedHE

Online learning has become widely accepted since the global Covid-19 pandemic and it may become a more permanent feature of global higher education in future. This presentation covers AppliedHE’s perspective on evaluating online higher education and provides a peek into the development process of our proposed online learning rating system.