Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo

Ancora Imparo, February 2007

7 February 2007

I trust that you have all had a restful and refreshing holiday break and had the opportunity to put the frustrations of university life in perspective. However annoyed we might become at some of the impediments put in our way, we remain in the privileged position of being entrusted with the task of educating our next generation of leaders and advancing the knowledge required to ensure a peaceful and sustainable future on this planet. Whether our positions are academic or administrative, we can return to our tasks knowing that there could be no more important role than those which we have been asked to fulfill.

I wrote in the December column of the particular challenges we face this year. We will have to give a lot of attention to preparing for the Research Quality Framework (RQF), and we must certainly ensure that we present our research credentials in the best possible light as the outcome of this process will probably determine research infrastructure funding until 2014 -- parenthetically, hardly the way to ensure a dynamic and responsive system rewarding progressively improving performance.  But the process of reviewing our educational programs is equally important and I wish to share some thoughts about this review.

You may ask why this review is necessary given recent evidence of a further increase in demand for our courses. We can also point to the high level of satisfaction amongst our students both of their overall experience as revealed in the Monash Experience Questionnaire administered in 2005 and by the improving student unit evaluations. The reason that it is so important to review our educational program is that we are operating in a dynamic, rapidly changing environment where it is important to determine the responses needed to ensure the optimal educational experience for our students.

For example, the rapid, world-wide increase in the uptake of the internet means that knowledge is now much more accessible than ever before. The traditional role of lectures in imparting knowledge is now a much less important component of university education. We must focus more on principles and concepts rather than on imparting detailed factual information and on higher order generic skills such as problem analysis and problem solving, communication, teamwork and oral and written communication. These are the skills that employers are seeking in our graduates. They will be developed by more active involvement of students in their own education and learning in a research-rich environment. Of course, many of our units and courses have already adapted to these changed requirements.

We must also ensure that our stated emphasis on internationalisation of the curriculum really is an accurate reflection of our education programs. What proportion of our graduates are really equipped to work as global citizens? How many of our Australian graduates are bilingual or multilingual? The Global BA is an example of taking advantage of our international campuses but could this model be extended to other areas?

We offer over 200 courses. Is this justified? Is the degree of specialisation excessive in our undergraduate courses? Is there unnecessary duplication? Are we using the expertise we have to the best advantage or are the department/school/faculty structures setting up barriers which stop us delivering the best programs most efficiently?

Developments in information and communications technology have raised a variety of new options for delivering our programs. Our multi-campus structure makes it essential to use the best methods for delivering programs efficiently on different campuses. Monash has been at the forefront in using on-line delivery of lectures and in developing interactive CD or web-based learning modules but new opportunities are emerging which we must grasp.

Finally, we need to ensure that we are providing appropriate courses and units for non-traditional participants in university education. Progressively, members of the workforce will be looking for opportunities to refresh their training or to train in new areas at different points in their professional careers. There will be a transition in the profile of the students in our graduate/postgraduate programs towards a higher percentage of people in advanced periods of their professional lives. Moreover, with increased life-expectancy, there will be a progressive increase in demand from retirees, wanting to undertake single units or sometimes whole courses and willing to pay for them. Are we catering for such people?

For all these reasons, the current review of our courses is one of the most important undertakings that has occurred at Monash University. The review is being led by Associate Professor Heinz Kreutz under the supervision of the Education Committee of the Academic Board. Details of the review can be found on the Education Plan Implementation Corps website. The recommendations of the review, and our willingness to be bold and visionary in responding to them will determine the success of our academic programs over the next decade and will be an important step on the pathway to achieving the vision articulated in Monash Directions 2025.