Caroline Browne, Managing Director
Caroline’s entire career has been spent in Education, most of it in International Education. She began her working life as an English Language teacher in Singapore and then later Japan, and went on to run a Language School in London. In 1992, Caroline left the private sector to join West London Institute (a College of Higher Education) as Head of Registry. Here she transformed the way the College dealt with admissions, registration, examinations and record keeping, primarily by developing and implementing highly efficient computerised systems. Three years later when West London Institute merged with Brunel University, Caroline took on the role of Head of International Student Recruitment. Her main responsibility in this role was to develop and implement the University’s international recruitment strategy. Then, with a change of Vice-Chancellor in 2002, international education moved to the top of Brunel’s agenda and Brunel International was established. Caroline was appointed Brunel International’s first Director, and between 2002 and 2006 developed a highly regarded and successful team of over fifty staff, responsible for the recruitment, admission, registration, fee collection and student support (including English Language Training) for all international students at Brunel. As part of the University’s Senior Management Team, Caroline’s main objective was to lead the University in its plan to internationalise. She devised and implemented a strategic plan which enabled Brunel to treble the number of overseas fee paying students and resultant income over four years. She also worked with other senior academic staff on the development of curriculum and modes of delivery of programmes in order to accommodate the growing number of international students. In April 2005 Caroline launched Brunel’s International Pathways Centre (a commercial centre which delivered feeder programmes, including English for Academic Purposes into Brunel). The Centre developed its own EAP test – the BrunELT. Brunel also had an IBT College on its main campus (LIBT). Caroline was the main interface between Brunel and LIBT in its early years, being responsible for the negotiation of contracts and also the monitoring of course provision and student experience.
In January 2007, Caroline joined INTO University Partnerships. Her role, as Managing Director (UK Operations), was to set up and run each INTO Centre, taking responsibility for all aspects of academic, administrative and financial management. She reviewed all administrative processes underpinning academic management and student support, and implemented new IT systems, including a new Admissions System (SITS). Taking best practice from the public and private sectors, it was Caroline’s responsibility to develop high-quality student centred systems which met the needs of University stakeholders and their regulatory bodies as well as the financial imperatives of the joint venture.
In October 2007, Caroline left INTO University Partnerships to set up English Language Testing Ltd.
Alan Baldock, Director of Password Partnerships
Alan’s career background is in the information technology business. He has been involved in delivering a wide range of products, services and solutions for over twenty years. His career started in software development and moved into business development and commercial management. Alan’s last role before joining English Language Testing Ltd. in April 2009 was managing Hitachi Europe’s software business.
Alan contributes expertise in areas such as market and channel development and building and managing relationships with partners. He has previously worked with many higher education institutions.
Chris Longman, Head of Accreditation and Monitoring
Chris has spent his whole career in Education. After 6 years of Secondary School teaching he moved into Teacher Education, with a six year period at the Institute of Education, University of London. Much of Chris’s career in Higher Education was spent at Brunel University where as Head of Academic & Professional Development, he was responsible for post initial teacher education courses (10 MA.Ed and 1 B.Ed In-Service-Programmes). His academic specialisms were Curriculum Theory - Design, Development, Innovation and Evaluation. Chris sat on many of the University’s committees and was involved in many quality audits.
In 2001 Chris changed roles and moved to Brunel’s International Office where he became involved in testing international students using the University’s own language test, the BrunELT. His final role at Brunel was Head of Academic Partnerships where he had responsibility for setting up collaborative links with overseas Universities. This required setting up and implementing monitoring and quality assurance procedures. This role involved spending time visiting Universities and Educational Agents in many parts of the world. Chris joined English Language Testing Ltd at the beginning of July 2008.
Jo Tomlinson, Password Systems Co-ordinator
Jo has spent her working life in IT and English Language teaching. In 1998 Jo joined the New Opportunities Fund, a National Lottery Distributor, and as E-Communications Manager took the organization's online presence from inception to a cross-country intranet and internet network driven by National funding databases. During her time there, Jo spearheaded the Joint Lottery Funding portal and was featured in the Guardian regarding her public sector work. Since 2001 Jo has taught English and IT to speakers of other languages, both in the UK and abroad. After completing the DELTA, Jo taught EAP and IT on Foundation courses at Kaplan Aspect and trained Kaplan Aspect staff in ECDL (the European Computing Drivers License) as well as providing IT support. At Kaplan Aspect, Jo also managed the development and content creation for the company's online learning courses, which are now used widely by English language students in the UK and Australia. Jo joined English Language Testing Ltd in April 2008.
Nina Hannuksela, Password Support and Finance Manager
Nina began her working life in International Education as an Office Administrator & Receptionist in January 2005 at the head office of Kaplan Aspect. She was in charge of general office duties, implementing brochure mailings for the marketing department and distributing online course enquiries from students to relevant sales team members.
In May 2006 Nina took on the role as College Administrator at Kaplan Aspect Covent Garden – one of Kaplan Aspect’s English language schools. Her main role here was to manage student services and to improve the academic and financial administration of students. Her role also involved implementing new strategies to increase sales from direct business and ensuring that all weekly college level financial returns, including banking and invoicing records were produced accurately. Nina joined English Language Testing Ltd in August 2008.