Middlesbrough graduation marks a global first for coaching partnership

A journey that began in Sri Lanka ended on a Middlesbrough graduation stage when Farhaz Farouk became the first student to complete a new international coaching programme validated by Teesside University.

Farhaz graduated with an MSc in Professional Coaching and Entrepreneurship, delivered through Morphosis Coaching in partnership with the university. His achievement gives a very human shape to an arrangement designed to let students study a Teesside qualification while remaining connected to professional communities in their own countries.

Study across borders

The first cohort has included learners based in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the UK. Farhaz established a Morphosis branch in Sri Lanka, adding his own local business experience to the academic and coaching work required by the course.

Professional coaching can cover leadership, workplace development and the process of helping individuals set and work towards goals. Pairing it with entrepreneurship gives students room to think about how that expertise can operate as a sustainable service rather than as a purely theoretical subject.

For Farhaz, the programme was not entirely remote. He travelled to Middlesbrough during his studies and returned for graduation, meeting the university community attached to the qualification. Teesside University said he now plans to continue into doctoral study.

That progression is significant for the partnership. The first graduate is a practical test of the route from enrolment through assessment to an award. It also gives later students someone whose experience can show what completing the programme looks like.

A Teesside name in a wider classroom

Universities increasingly work beyond a single campus, but international delivery needs more than a logo on course material. Academic standards, student support and the relationship between the validating university and teaching partner all matter if a qualification is to carry the same confidence across borders.

Teesside’s collaboration with Morphosis links the expertise of a Middlesbrough institution to working professionals in several countries. In return, the university’s classrooms and networks are enriched by students bringing different markets, cultures and business challenges into the same programme.

Farhaz’s story also reflects the ambitions of many postgraduate learners. They are often balancing study with work and family responsibilities, and they want a course that can be applied to the organisation or community around them. Establishing a Sri Lankan branch while completing the degree shows that link between learning and practice.

The first cohort’s geography also turns peer learning into part of the course. A coaching problem in a Sri Lankan business may be framed differently from one in a UK organisation, even when both involve leadership or change. Comparing those settings can challenge easy assumptions and give students a wider set of approaches to take back into their own work.

For Teesside, each graduate also becomes a lasting connection between Middlesbrough and a professional community overseas.

One graduation cannot measure the long-term success of an international partnership, but it is a meaningful first marker. A student has taken the course from its opening promise to a completed master’s degree, and a collaboration stretching from Middlesbrough to Asia now has its first alumnus.