Challenges faced by Curtin University, Mauritius

Curtin Mauritius

Curtin is ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide in the highly regarded Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2019

Curtin Mauritius was launched in May 2018, building on a 14-year deep partnership between the Charles Telfair Institute and Curtin University. Curtin Mauritius signalled the start of a long-term commitment to operating in Mauritius as part of Curtin’s global network. Curtin University has campuses in Western Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Dubai. Curtin Mauritius delivers courses across the Faculty of Business & Law, Humanities, and more recently in Science & Engineering and Health Sciences.

Curtin Mauritius has over 1500 students currently studying online during the confinement period, with some of them in very difficult conditions. Although this period has been challenging and continues to be for everyone, the transition and success of this mode of delivery reflects the high quality of the staff and the systems and processes already in place.

Prior to the official closedown planning had already commenced to develop a new delivery model and transition to online delivery. The Blackboard Learning Management System had always been widely used, however staff explored other technologies which would complement their online teaching. Students were carefully informed of the approach to ensure a more seamless transition.

Although students were familiar with the online environment, they were not experienced in studying totally in this manner, which required the need to establish a number of mechanisms to monitor and support them carefully. The Head of Faculty and lecturers worked with them closely and a special IT hotline was set up to resolve any IT issues.

The majority of our international students remained in Mauritius and given the additional challenges of the COVID-19 crisis on this special group of students, far away from their home and families, a special team was established to support them. In particular, with delivery of food packs, medical, banking and IT issues. A special WhatsApp group was established for ease of communication and help with the feeling of social isolation.

In addition to our staff, our students have also shown a great deal of resilience and determination – they have not only dealt with studying in a totally different manner they have had to do this in such extraordinary conditions during confinement. It was truly heartening to read the following testimonial from a group of our students:

“We would like to show our sincere gratitude to everyone involved in helping us receive top quality education through the comfort of our own home because of the current world crisis. A massive thanks to the lecturers that never stop working even during the lockdown. Thank you to the staff for helping us with all our queries and issues. Last but not least, a huge thanks to the head of faculties, managers and directors that made all of this possible”.

The Curtin Mauritius Social Media team have also had a big part to play in helping the student community feel connected and stay positive through their regular posts on FaceBook and Instagram.

The following is a post from one of our Curtin Alumni.

Identifying a career that ‘fuels your passion’ is great advice from our Alumni Angkush Poonye.

Please follow the link to courses available at Curtin Mauritius and courses available at Curtin University.