Attaining sustainable assessment practice in transnational education through equivalence and comparability Tom Palaskas Academic Development Group, College of Business, RMIT University, tom.palaskas@rmit.edu.au Sathiyavani Gopal Academic Development Group, College of Business, RMIT University, sathiyavani.gopal@rmit.edu.au Joan Richardson School of Business IT and Logistics, College of Business, RMIT University, joan.richardson@rmit.edu.au Ross Smith School of Business IT and Logistics, College of Business, RMIT University, ross.smith@rmit.edu.au To ensure quality and sustainability in the economically significant transnational education (TNE) market, a course needs to achieve “equivalence” or “comparability” between its onshore and offshore offerings (Connelly et al., 2006; DEST, 2005). This paper describes the work in progress of an action research project that explores these concepts to arrive at a shared understanding of what they mean for the higher education community of the College of Business at RMIT University. A second aim of this project is to produce a process that will achieve these ideals, with regard to assessment, moderation and other factors associated with maintaining quality within individual courses. The hypothesis underpinning this research is that there is a strong correlation between sustainable assessment practice and the achievement of equivalence and comparability in TNE. The work to date has produced guiding principles to clarify the meaning of equivalence and comparability. These principles have informed the development of a framework that underpins a process for achieving these states within individual courses offered transnationally by the college. To enhance clarity, the notion of comparability has itself been divided into two concepts: contextualisation and customisation. Consistent with the action research methodology the guiding principles, framework and implementation process require review and validation both by stakeholders within the College of Business and externally by the wider transnational education community. Keywords: comparability; equivalence; sustainability; transnational education Theme: sustainable assessment practices and standards Introduction Rapid growth in the provision of transnational education (TNE) by Australian universities has highlighted the need for effective quality assurance processes. This is noted in the literature dealing with good practice in the provision of transnational education, in which quality is identified as central to sustaining growth in this area (DEST/AEI, 2006, pp.12-14; IEEA, 2008; QAAHE, 2004; UNESCO & OECD, 2005, p.17; Woodley, 2008; Ziguras, 2007). A Transnational Quality Strategy was approved in 2007 by the Australian education and training ministers. Key components of this strategy are four principles guiding a systematic quality assurance process. The concept of standards and comparability are introduced in the fourth principle, which states that: “courses delivered overseas are comparable in terms of standards of delivery, outcomes and quality with courses offered in Australia” (AEI, 2010).