Australia - ASEAN Education & Skills Partnerships

Practical support for scoping, localisation and early‑stage delivery between Australian providers and Southeast Asian institutions.

Compass designs and supports partnerships that respond to Thailand’s evolving skills priorities and OECD Skills Strategy recommendations.

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About Compass

Compass Education Group supports the scoping, localisation and early‑stage delivery of education and skills partnerships between Australian providers and institutions across Southeast Asia.

Our work is informed by recent analyses of Thailand’s skills system, including the OECD Skills Strategy Thailand, which highlights three priorities: strengthening youth skills, expanding adult learning, and improving skills system governance. Compass focuses on partnership models – including skills pathways & workforce partnerships – that support these priorities by improving the quality and relevance of education pathways, creating upskilling and reskilling opportunities for adults, and strengthening coordination between education, industry, and government.

Founded and led by Patcharin (Ann), Compass focuses on practical collaboration – supporting institutions to move from interest to delivery in complex cross‑border environments.

Years Higher Education Leadership

International partnerships across UK, Australia, and Asia

Years Higher Education Leadership

International partnerships across UK, Australia, and Asia

Years Higher Education Leadership

International partnerships across UK, Australia, and Asia

Regions

Experience working with UK and Australian education systems across Asian, Middle Eastern and African markets.

Regions

Experience working with UK and Australian education systems across Asian, Middle Eastern and African markets.

Regions

Experience working with UK and Australian education systems across Asian, Middle Eastern and African markets.

Commercial Partnership Scale

Experience contributing to partnerships that have scaled from concept to nationwide delivery in previous roles.

Partnership Scale

Experience contributing to partnerships that have scaled from concept to nationwide delivery in previous roles.

Commercial Partnership Scale

Experience contributing to partnerships that have scaled from concept to nationwide delivery in previous roles.

Focus Areas

Compass engages with institutions across:

Higher Education

Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Professional Learning and Workforce-Focused Education

Our work typically sits at the intersection of

Industry Needs

National and Institutional Education Systems

Institutional Capability and Readiness

National Workforce and Industry Transformation Priorities (e.g., Thailand 4.0)

This focus reflects the growing need for education partnerships that enable skills outcomes aligned with workforce demand.

Why Compass

Compass Education Group is built for practical, system-aware collaboration between Australian providers and Southeast Asian partners. We combine bicultural experience in Australia–Thailand contexts with senior higher education and industry engagement backgrounds, enabling realistic, locally grounded partnership design. Our focus is on scoping, localisation and early-stage pilots aligned with national skills strategies and regulatory settings, so institutions can move from interest to structured collaboration with clarity and confidence.ads

Deep bicultural expertise in Australia–Thailand and Southeast Asia contexts

Senior higher education leadership and global engagement advisory capability

Practical cross-border partnership and market entry experience

Focus on realistic, system-aligned collaboration models rather than theoretical frameworks

Agile boutique advisory approach without large-firm overheads

Founder & Advisor

Compass works with senior advisors who bring extensive international education experience across UK, Australian and Asian markets.

Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.

Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Patcharin (Ann)
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Rob Atkinson
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.

Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.
Founder & Lead
Ann founded Compass Education Group to apply her cross-border partnership experience to education and skills collaboration. With an engineering degree from Thailand, an MBA from the UK, and experience scaling Thai–Australian commercial partnerships to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution-focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focus is on helping organisations move from interest to structured collaboration in complex regulatory and cultural environments.
Senior Advisor
Rob brings more than 30 years of experience in higher education, including senior global engagement roles such as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global). He has led and advised on international partnerships, transnational education, and skills initiatives across multiple regions. As an advisor to Compass, Rob helps shape strategy and supports institutions to design realistic, system-aligned collaboration models.

What We Do

Compass works with education providers, institutions, and industry partners to support:

Partnership Scoping and Feasibility

Identifying realistic, system-aligned collaboration models that reflect local demand, regulatory context and respond to national skills priorities, such as those identified in the OECD Skills Strategy Thailand.

Partnership Scoping and Feasibility

Partnership Scoping and Feasibility

Skills Pathways & Workforce Partnerships

We support Thai and Australian partners to design skills pathway concepts and early‑stage workforce partnerships that respond to Thailand’s evolving skills and workforce priorities, including those highlighted in OECD Skills Strategy Thailand. This can include structured pathway concepts for learners and professionals into Australian programs, cohort‑based upskilling ideas with employers, and partnership models that connect education, industry and government in priority sectors such as digital, automation, health, logistics and green industries.

Skills Pathways & Workforce Partnerships

Skills Pathways & Workforce Partnerships

Localisation and Stakeholder Coordination

Facilitating alignment across partners, enhancing regulatory awareness and supporting on-the-ground engagement. This includes engaging ministries, agencies, and employers to strengthen coordination in the skills system and support more effective use of skills in workplaces.

Localisation and Stakeholder Coordination

Localisation and Stakeholder Coordination

Early-stage Pilots and Pathway Development

Helping partnerships progress from concept to initial delivery with focus and clarity. We prioritise pilots that enhance youth skills, expand adult learning opportunities, and generate evidence for scaling effective partnership models.

Early-stage Pilots and Pathway Development

Early-stage Pilots and Pathway Development

Our Approach

Compass takes a practical, delivery-focused approach to cross-border collaboration, informed by experience developing and scaling complex partnerships involving overseas stakeholders in commercial environments. Compass is designed to complement existing initiatives by adding value through local facilitation, coordination and follow-through.

In Thailand, this means working within existing reform efforts and national strategies, including the OECD Skills Strategy Thailand, to ensure that cross‑border partnerships strengthen—not duplicate or fragment—the skills system. We focus on practical, evidence‑informed steps that improve youth outcomes, expand adult learning, and support better cooperation between education, industry, and government.

This includes shaping skills pathways & workforce partnerships so that cross‑border collaboration improves youth outcomes, expands adult learning and strengthens coordination across education, industry and government.

Get in touch.

Let's explore how Compass can support your partnership goals.