Australia - ASEAN Partnerships & Skills

Practical support for scoping, localisation and early‑stage design between organisations in Australia and Asia.

Compass focuses on helping institutions move from early interest to feasible, well‑governed pilots in complex cross‑border settings.

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About Compass

Compass supports the scoping, localisation and early‑stage design of cross‑border initiatives between organisations in Australia and Southeast Asia.

Our work is informed by analyses of skills and workforce systems, such as the OECD Skills Strategy Thailand, which highlights priorities including youth skills, adult learning and skills system governance. Compass focuses on partnership models – including skills pathways and workforce collaborations – that are intended to support these priorities in practical, pilot‑level ways.

Founded by Patcharin (Ann) and guided by a senior advisor, Compass focuses on practical collaboration – helping institutions explore and shape cross‑border partnership models in complex environments.

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.

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 where cross‑border collaboration touches on:

Skills and Workforce Development

Education and Training Pathways

Cross‑Border Services and Partnerships.

Our work typically sits at the intersection of policy, institutions and markets, where multiple stakeholders need to align around a shared initiative. This focus reflects growing interest in partnerships that support skills and workforce outcomes aligned with demand.

Why Compass

Compass is built for practical, system‑aware collaboration between organisations in Australia and Southeast Asia. We combine Ann’s bicultural experience in Australia–Thailand contexts with the international education experience of our advisors, enabling realistic, locally grounded partnership design.

Our focus is on scoping, localisation and early‑stage pilots that are aligned with relevant strategies and regulatory settings, so institutions can move from initial conversations to structured collaboration with greater clarity and confidence.

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 a senior advisor who brings international education experience across UK, Australian and Asian markets. His role is to provide strategic oversight and ensure proposed collaborations are realistic, system‑aligned and sensitive to local contexts,.

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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.

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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.

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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution‑focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focue 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution‑focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focue 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution‑focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focue 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.
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 contributing to Thai–Australian commercial partnerships that scaled to 300+ locations, Ann brings bicultural fluency and an execution‑focused approach to partnerships between Australia and Southeast Asia. Her focue 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. Rob provides strategic oversight and supports institutions to design realistic, system‑aligned collaboration models that can progress from early discussions to workable pilots.

What We Do

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

Market entry and readiness

Assessing regulatory, institutional and market readiness for cross‑border engagement, and providing high‑level roadmaps to inform decisions.

Market entry and readiness

Assessing regulatory, institutional and market readiness for cross‑border engagement, and providing high‑level roadmaps to inform decisions.

Partnership Architecture

Shaping collaboration models, governance frameworks and roles between organisations in different systems.

Partnership Architecture

Shaping collaboration models, governance frameworks and roles between organisations in different systems.

Workforce and skills initiatives

Framing skills and workforce collaborations within broader transformation agendas, without delivering large‑scale programs directly.

Workforce and skills initiatives

Framing skills and workforce collaborations within broader transformation agendas, without delivering large‑scale programs directly.

Pilot Design

Helping partners move from concept to pilot‑level implementation, with a focus on learning and evidence.

Pilot Design

Helping partners move from concept to pilot‑level implementation, with a focus on learning and evidence.

Our Approach

Compass takes a practical, delivery‑focused approach to cross‑border collaboration, drawing on Ann’s experience working on complex overseas partnerships in commercial environments and the international education expertise of our advisors. 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 are intended to support better youth and adult learning outcomes and cooperation between education, industry and government.

In proposed skills pathways and workforce partnerships, we pay particular attention to how collaboration could improve youth outcomes, expand adult learning, and strengthen coordination across education, industry, and government.

Get in touch.

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