Terms of Reference

• Scope
• Questions guiding the Review
• Steering Group
• Inputs and reporting
• Timeline

The Review will look at the structure, planning, coordination, quality assurance mechanisms, and outcomes of postgraduate coursework offerings at the University of Sydney in order to ensure that they are maximally organised to help the University reach its goals and serve society’s changing needs.

The Review will collect statistical information on the programs currently on offer, consult with stakeholder groups and benchmark Sydney’s program against other institutions including the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University, and one major American university (Stanford), as well as testing the range and structure of the University’s offerings for alignment and compatibility with American and European tertiary educational frameworks.

The overriding aim of the Review is to ensure that the University of Sydney has a model for postgraduate coursework that is flexible, coherent, well planned, efficiently managed with minimal duplication, internationally competitive and compatible, and which is responsive to society’s needs for leaders with highly developed specialised knowledge and creative problem solving ability.

To achieve this aim the terms of reference of the review are:

1. To review models within the University of postgraduate award offerings and make recommendations for a clearer, more coherent framework for postgraduate coursework.
2. To review planning, management and quality assurance mechanisms and to examine ways to ensure flexibility, academic rigour and coherent coordination across the University and better management of growth.
3. To examine existing overlap, and consider ways of removing unnecessary duplication, and reducing the number of units of study.
4. To benchmark the framework for postgraduate coursework programs at the University of Sydney and suggest structures which will ensure compatibility and competitiveness with emerging national and international models.
5. To recommend strategies for ensuring opportunities for students to undertake interdisciplinary study and leadership training.
6. To make recommendations on future postgraduate coursework provisions.

From a faculty/university perspective
What are the models of postgraduate coursework currently in place across the University and how can they be rationalised and clarified?

What opportunities exist to improve the articulation of undergraduate, postgraduate coursework and postgraduate research degrees?

What are the distinctive features of postgraduate coursework study at the University of Sydney?

How do faculties monitor enrolments, content and relevance of programs and on what basis do they make decisions to develop new programs or to discontinue programs? How can planning and management be better coordinated across the University to ensure coherence and avoid duplication?

How can the University foster inter-disciplinary work and leadership skills?

From a Student perspective

What opportunities exist for interdisciplinary work, for the acquisition of leadership skills, for flexibility delivery and for mixing study and employment or home work?

How appropriate is the content and range of the programs to meet student and employer expectations?

What are the overlaps and gaps in programs?

What are the levels of student satisfaction?

What are the barriers to study across and within faculties?

The Review will be coordinated by a Steering Group which will work with existing committees of the Academic Board, the University executive and with faculty members.

Membership
Professor Derrick Armstrong, Acting Deputy Provost (Learning and Teaching) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Chair)
Associate Professor Peter McCallum, Chair Graduate Studies Committee (Project Manager)
Professor Masud Behnia, Dean of Graduate Studies
Professor Keith Trigwell, Director, Institute for Teaching and Learning
Dr Maureen Boughton, Chair Postgraduate Coursework Subcommittee
Ms Jenny Leong, President SUPRA

The Steering Group will review data on existing coursework programs at the University of Sydney and collect benchmark information from relevant Australian and overseas universities. It will meet and/or seek written from stakeholders including SUPRA, relevant industry and employer groups, Deans, Pro-Deans, and faculty representatives. The Steering Group will make ongoing reports to the Provost and the Academic Board as appropriate. The final report of the Steering Group will be to the Provost with a copy to the Chair of the Academic Board.