Programs and strategies

Currently, the university has in place several major programs or strategies to ensure that it moves towards the Vision described above. In the near future, a major initiative will be undertaken to develop and implement a comprehensive and integrated approach to assuring quality in all aspects of the UNSW student experience.

Centrally coordinated programs and strategies

•  Effective, targeted, and well-accepted staff development in learning and teaching

Strategically targeted initiatives - to inform staff, to help them develop learning and teaching practice, and to create support networks to facilitate improvement in teaching - are designed to capture different areas of need in relation to the development of learning and teaching. These initiatives include the Foundations of University Learning and Teaching (FULT) program, the Innovative Teaching and Educational Technology (ITET) Fellowship, the First-Year Experience (FYE) Awards, and the UNSW Network in Learning and Teaching (UNILT). It is recognised that the development of quality learning and teaching - including the provision of interesting, challenging, relevant, and satisfying educational experiences for our students - requires support at the faculty, school, program, and course level. Such support is available from EDTeC, the Learning and Teaching Unit, the Learning Centre, and the Quality System Development Group (QSDG).

•  Effective and supportive mechanisms for the evaluation of teaching both at the course level and by individual teachers

The new mandatory Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement Scheme (CATEI) is designed to allow staff to receive limited feedback on the effectiveness of their courses and individual teaching. It also allows heads of school to identify and acknowledge excellent teaching and to identify where staff support should be provided.

•  Effective processes for academic program quality assurance

The university and Academic Board have embarked on a project, working with faculties, to devise and implement mechanisms and processes that assure excellent outcomes for whole academic programs and that ensure continuous reflection on, and improvement in, the quality of those programs.

•  Rewarding excellence in teaching

UNSW has embarked on a process to ensure that sound, evidence-based, excellent teaching is better rewarded. This will provide better incentives for staff to undertake the training and effort required to achieve the desired quality student-learning experience expressed in the vision statement above.

Programs and strategies associated with the Academic Board

As the representative body of the academic community, the Academic Board plays a major role in overseeing many aspects of teaching and thus has the potential to contribute greatly to the quality of the student experience. Two recent initiatives are worthy of special mention.

•  Fostering the acquisition of graduate attributes to ensure that students learn them in a relevant disciplinary context

The Academic Board, in conjunction with the faculties, has embarked on a project that will ensure that students are supported in developing the graduate attributes necessary for embarking on a successful career and for lifelong learning. Development of graduate attributes occurs through appropriate design of academic programs, course planning and documentation, assessment strategies, and learning and teaching strategies.

•  Commitment to a set of agreed guidelines on learning to inform all aspects of teaching at UNSW

The Academic Board has agreed on the Guidelines on Learning that Inform Teaching at UNSW to provide a guide to how the university's values might be realised in practice. See Background to the Guidelines for more information. The Guidelines are not prescriptive, and, in the Toolkit, they are presented in a format that helps staff to demonstrate, through selected examples, how they apply them in their teaching.

Faculty-based strategies and programs

All faculties have an Associate Dean (Education) who is charged with development and overseeing of faculty-based initiatives to ensure quality of teaching in the faculty. These initiatives vary from faculty to faculty and are too numerous to detail here.