TROY – Troy University is finalizing negotiations with Australian education officials to become the first American university to offer an American degree “down under.”

Working in collaboration with Brighton Institute of Technology in Melbourne, TROY’s University College plans to export its masters of business administration to the state of Victoria. The partnership could also allow for the expansion of the program into the country’s 38-university system.

Vice Chancellor Susan Aldridge, who heads the University’s international programs, said a final agreement was expected within the next two months with degree programs to begin in 2006.

“As a result of the free-trade agreement, we were able to submit an application to begin the process of bringing an American degree program to Australian higher education, which has historically been very protectionistic by not allowing foreign programming,” Aldridge said. “It’s really exciting to be working with our partners on this project.”

Those partners – Alan Silver, Tony Leech and Ross Olney – each have more than 20 years of experience in Australian higher education.

“What we want is to bring American education into the Australian marketplace,” said Silver, who first came to the United States in 1999 as a visiting professor in Washington state.

But it’s not as easy of a process as it sounds. In fact, that process has been cleared by the country’s top education official. Recently, Australia’s Department of Education, Science and Training approved the mechanism through which TROY will be able to deliver its MBA program, develop a study abroad program and recruit international students to the Troy campus.

“The problem is articulating clearly a program that we can run in Australia – that’s the issue,” Leech said. “We’re working towards that program now.”

At issue is a fundamental difference between university systems. In what Silver calls a hybrid between American and United Kingdom models, Australia’s system consists of just 38 universities nationwide and rigidly controlled through national legislation. Another 56 two-year colleges – “more trade- and craft-type colleges,” he said – round out the system that offers bachelor degrees in three years rather than four.

The reason for a three-year completion: less of an emphasis on university-level liberal arts, deferring that process to high school grades 11 and 12, and a “rigorous process of examinations,” Silver said.

“To get into university, you have to do extremely well,” he said.

What the Australians have been trying to build is a bridge between the two systems.

“It’s a huge challenge,” said Silver, noting Brighton began looking for an American partner last May.