Delivering higher and vocational education: Can an institution’s course management system be constructively aligned with a foot in both camps?

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 28: Higher education in a changing world

July, 2005, 639 pages
Published by
Angela Brew and Christine Asmar
ISBN
0 908557 62 0
Abstract 

In recent years efforts have been made to enhance the quality of program audits to give reasonable assurance to regulators, satisfy all the standards of the institution, as well as attending to the needs of the students and the industries into which they will enter. The Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA, 2005) ‘...acquires knowledge of a range of good practices that are transferable throughout the sector’ (par1). These benefits flow through to all institutions that wish to implement sound strategies and embrace quality processes in their course management systems. How can we effectively accommodate all of these requirements in the institution and is curriculum more important than other elements? Managing tertiary educational programs requires a balance in meeting the expectations and requirements of all stakeholders in regard to quality assurance. This paper will examine some of the problems facing planners, academics and managers as they negotiate auditing processes and align policies and curricula to educational outcomes. It shifts the spotlight onto the institution, and in particular the course management system, its strategies, processes and the role it plays in organisational change. This discussion takes place in the tertiary education sector, where there is a mixture of industry-led vocational training and university higher education. Can an institution successfully have a foot in both camps?

Keywords: Quality; curriculum; constructive alignment; learning outcomes; course management