The internationalisation of University education: A comparative evaluation of accounting student performance

In recent years, universities around the world have become entrepreneurial in offering their courses. This push has seen many Australian universities develop international strategies to offer teaching programs and courses globally. The tyranny of distance in global course offerings has provided a variety of challenges for universities that enter the international arena. In addition to the quality of the programs being delivered, one of the concerns or objectives when the same subject is taught across various teaching locations and modes is to maintain uniformity in the standard of delivery and assessment. The study examines student performance (measured by academic grades) of four different student cohorts located in Australia and South-East Asia (Malaysia and Singapore) studying an introductory accounting subject offered by Monash University. The results suggest that offering a homogenous pre-packaged educational product within a global environment would not necessarily ensure uniform student performance, and as such, has implications for both faculty and universities as a whole.