Vice-Chancellor Professor S. Bruce Dowton delivered an opening address to nearly 500 staff at an all-staff Town Hall on Tuesday 17 July in Macquarie Theatre.

Putting students firmly and authentically at the heart of Macquarie’s curriculum transformation journey, Professor Dowton reinforced the importance of delivering students a curriculum that gives them complete clarity of their study pathway from start to finish and offers them course options that will equip them for the jobs of tomorrow.

Handing over to Professor Mariella Herberstein (Chair of Academic Senate) and Professor Sean Brawley (Pro Vice-Chancellor, Programs and Pathways) staff were then taken through feedback gathered via the recent all-staff survey, where undergraduate and postgraduate draft principles were shared for comment. The final principles will shape the curriculum architecture policy that will be submitted to Academic Senate for approval on 24 July.

Continuing in the spirit of collegiality and transparency that underpins the program of work, Kevin Jameson (Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic) addressed a number of questions that had been asked throughout the session by a live poll, promising that any questions not answered at the event would be addressed in the coming days (see below for a link to a PDF of those Q&As). He also outlined the next stage in the curriculum transformation process which is focussed around renewing our course offerings for students so we deliver a 2020 curriculum that is fit for purpose in a changing world.

Useful links 

View the recording of the Curriculum Architecture Town Hall > 

View Curriculum Architecture Town Hall presentation slides >

View Revised Undergraduate Curriculum Architecture Principles – Principles Only >

View Revised Postgraduate Curriculum Architecture Principles – Principles Only >

View Revised Micro Curriculum Architecture Principles – Principles Only >

View Undergraduate Curriculum Architecture Principles (Final Working Paper Draft, with revisions) >

View Postgraduate Curriculum Architecture Principles (Final Working Paper Draft, with revisions) >

Your questions answered

We received 92 responses through POLLEV during the Curriculum Architecture Town Hall Meeting. We’ve de-identified the questions in the interests of privacy, combined similarly worded questions, and arranged them by topic.

Curriculum Architecture Town Hall Questions Answered >

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Naming competitions – chance to win $250 Macquarie centre vouchers!

Professor Herberstein and Professor Brawley also announced a competition, open to all staff, to name our new postgraduate Micro course offering as well as our new Student Management program:

Name our Micro course

In our disrupted age employers and employees alike are well aware of the need to seek out new learning opportunities. One recent development in this space has been the growth in microcredentials through the completion of a single micro unit or a micro course. The new principles see MQ commencing a new and exciting engagement in this learning space. In preparation we need to come up with a name for our 20cp Postgraduate micro courses.

A note for entrants – due Australian Qualifications Framework Requirements, if your entry contains the word ‘Master’ it can only be considered for a chance to win if it appears as one-word e.g. MicroMasters not Micro Masters. At this stage, Macquarie will only be offering microcredentials courses at postgraduate level.

Send submissions to chair.senate@mq.edu.au by 3 August for your chance to win a $250 Macquarie Centre voucher.

Name our Student Management Program   

What do we call the new Student Management Program? The Student Management Program comprises a number of projects designed to improve the way we manage student and curriculum administration within the University. For curriculum, this includes the way the University governs, maintains and publishes our curriculum; as well as the way students engage with our curriculum. For student administration, this covers the end-to-end student journey from enrolment all the way through to progression/graduation.

The program specifically includes the selection and implementation of a new Curriculum Management System (CMS) and a new Student Management System (SMS) which will replace our existing Webforms and AMIS systems. The program also includes the modernisation of business processes and practices to offer a greatly improved experience for both staff and students.

A note for entrants – ideally, the program name should be one word and easy to pronounce.

Send submissions to student.management.program@mq.edu.au by 3 August for your chance to win a $250 Macquarie Centre voucher. Winners will be announced 10 August.