Abstract
There are many current initiatives concerned with achieving institutional changes to curricula. These include, inter alia, various versions of online learning, distance learning and work-based learning. This paper considers blending academic curricula and qualifications with professional body curricula and qualifications as a possible way of achieving cost-effective curricula change. The author’s home institution currently delivers Academic Qualifications in Facilities Management (FM); a BSc (Hons) and an MSc. The institution also delivers the Professional Qualifications for the relevant professional body, the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM), at levels 4, 5 and 6.All qualifications and awards are delivered by web-based distance learning. This paper analyses the content and assessment of the Professional Qualification and compares the Professional Qualification with the equivalent Academic Qualification. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis the paper finds that the Professional Qualification is more challenging and more rigorous than the Academic Qualification. The expectations of the learners from the professional body are higher than the expectations of the students from the university. The implications of this finding are then considered. Given that the Professional Qualification is more challenging and rigorous, could the institutional curricula be changed so that the Professional Qualification could be integrated into an Academic Qualification, thus opening a vocational route for a degree? The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the financial costs and other implications of such an institutional curricula change.
Highlights
IntroductionThere are several distinct trends apparent in the worldwide provision of higher education (HE).One significant trend is the rise in the number of students
Drivers for institutional curriculum changeThere are several distinct trends apparent in the worldwide provision of higher education (HE).One significant trend is the rise in the number of students
“The question of how to pay for education, and in particular how to pay for higher education, is everywhere one of the key issues of the twenty-first century.”(Piketty, 2014) Effectively, HE has moved from an exclusive supply-driven model, where students competed for university places, to a more inclusive demand-driven model, where universities compete for students
Summary
There are several distinct trends apparent in the worldwide provision of higher education (HE).One significant trend is the rise in the number of students. “Businesses want to see higher education institutions doing more to improve the business relevance of undergraduate courses (49%) and to help students become job-ready (47%)”(CBI/Pearsons, 2014). This paper looks at existing Professional Qualifications to consider if there is parity between Academic and Professional Qualifications in terms of educational attainment. If there is such parity, could Professional Qualifications be adapted into Academic Qualifications and, if so, what are the financial and other implications of such adaptation?
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