Academic challenges and solutions in higher education

Abstract

This chapter addresses three major academic challenges confronting university systems all over the world: (1) Which curriculum structures are most useful for graduates in the new century? (2) How best can universities respond to new ways of learning by their students? and (3) How can curriculum structures be distinctive in research-led universities? For this, the chapter uses the reforms introduced by the University of Melbourne from 2008 and what is commonly known as the ‘Melbourne Model’ or ‘Melbourne Curriculum’ as a case study. From that year the University reduced its undergraduate programs from about 100 to just 6 core ‘new generation’ degrees characterized by greater breadth as well as depth; it also moved its professional degrees (such as medicine, engineering, and education) to postgraduate-level entry. At the same time the University sought to make its teaching practices and spaces more aligned with the changing ways and places in which students learn and to make its curricula more closely aligned with the University’s research and community engagement agendas. This whole-of-university reform in Australia’s highest ranked and largest research university may have valuable lessons for those in other university systems.