The Changing Landscape of Undergraduate Education

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The Changing Landscape of Undergraduate Education

• DEEWR internal seminar, Canberra
• 1 December 2008
• Malcolm Gillies, Vice-Chancellor President
• City University London

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Arts and Sciences Friend or Foe?

• DEST Strategic Group seminar, 11 July 2005
• More liberal arts/science options for
  undergraduates
• Move most professional studies to graduate level
• Encourage more fixed curricular models (e.g.
  Great Books) at undergraduate level
• Encourage some Australian universities
  structurally to break the two cultures model
  Faculty of Arts Sciences

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Breadth versus depth

• University of Melbourne undergraduate model
• What does it produce? educated, well-informed
  citizens
• Curricular aim to ensure that students
  graduate with both depth of knowledge in their
  discipline and a breadth of understanding,
  preparing them for lives and careers in a world
  in which knowledge is renewed at a staggering
  rate and the demands of professional practice
  require a multidisciplinary understanding.
• (Peter McPhee, Rethinking Undergraduate
  Education Creating the Melbourne Model)

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Harvard approach proves attractive

• . . . Mr Duncan is adamant about one thing
  he much prefers the US college approach that
  allows students to dip into a host of different
  subjects before specialising later. That is why
  he chose a general undergraduate degree at
  Harvard over an offer to study biology at
  Imperial College London.
• Mr Duncan thinks choosing to concentrate on
  one area so early in life is unnatural. Dont
  ask a 16-year-old to make a decision which has
  such an impact on the next five years of his
  life.
• Mr Duncan is proof of his own adage that one
  should not specialise early. His instinct that
  biology might not be for him has been borne out.
  He is about to choose economics as his major.
  (Harvard approach proves attractive, FT, 23 Nov
  2008)

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Presentation Overview

• Definitions and distinctions
• Undergraduate education directions of travel
• A Bill of Rights for the undergraduate student?
• The inquiry question general education
• Subject freedom
• An emerging template for undergraduate curriculum
• Current flashpoints
• Conclusions Areas of immediate attention

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Definitions and distinctions

• The significance of graduation
• Pre- and post-graduates? Under- and
  over-graduates?
• Bachelor, Master, Doctor graduates and
  post-levels
• Confusions of expectation? Basic medical
  education
• Australia MBBS fused Bachelors (cf. LLB in
  Law)
• UK MA MChir (con)fused Masters (cf. GDL in
  Law)
• US MD professional Doctorate (cf. JD in Law)

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Undergraduate education directions of travel 1

• Ambit Local ? global
• Jurisdiction Province/state ? national ?
  international
• Constituency Elite ? mass
• Intention Specialist ? generalist
• Accreditation Professional ? pre-professional

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Directions of travel 2

• Funding Public ? private
• Delivery Public providers ? private providers
  
• Auspices Universities ? TAFE/FE ? for-profits
• Planning Staff supply ? student demand

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Directions of travel 3

• Focus Discipline ? multi-discipline
• Curriculum Integrated ? modular
• Pedagogy Staff teaching ? student learning
• Mode Lecture ? seminar ? self-paced (on-line)
• Assessment Summative ? developmental
• Certification Honours/GPA ? portfolio/supplement
  

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A Bill of Rights for the undergraduate student?
Article 1

• Reinventing Undergraduate Education A Blueprint
  for Americas Research Universities (c. 1997), by
  the Boyer Commission, p. 12 An academic bill of
  rights for a student in any US university or
  college.
• INQUIRY Opportunities to learn through
  inquiry rather than simple transmission of
  knowledge.

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A Bill of Rights? Article 2

• 2. COMMUNICATION SKILLS Training in the skills
  necessary for oral and written communication at a
  level that will serve the student both within the
  university and in postgraduate professional and
  personal life.

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A Bill of Rights? Article 3

• 3. SUBJECT FREEDOM Appreciation of arts,
  humanities, sciences, and social sciences, and
  the opportunity to experience them at any
  intensity and depth the student can accommodate.

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A Bill of Rights? Article 4

• 4. PREPARATION Careful and comprehensive
  preparation for whatever may be beyond
  graduation, whether it be graduate school,
  professional school, or first professional
  position.

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A Bill of Rights? Key issues

• Two key issues
• Article 1, Inquiry how important is inquiry
  for the two-thirds of US students not studying in
  research universities? (And how does it relate
  to general education?)
• Article 3, Subject freedom how can such
  choice of subject and intensity of study to be
  implemented?

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The inquiry question different institutional
purposes

• Research universities
• General education inquiry-based learning
• research-intensive learning
• Liberal arts colleges
• General education more intensive general
  education
• education-intensive learning

• Specialist institutions
• General education professional training
• professional learning
• Technology institutes
• General education technical proficiencies
• knowledge-transfer learning

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General education

• The concept of general education requirements
  missing questions in UK/Australian tertiary
  education How much maths do your
  undergraduates need? How much national culture
  should they have to learn? What technological
  facility do they need to demonstrate?
• The phasing out of general education
  requirements
• United Kingdom aged 16 (post-GCSE)
• Australia aged 18 (post-matriculation)
• United States (often) aged 20 (post second ugd
  year)
• East Asia (often) aged 22 (post-Bachelor)

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The question of subject freedom

• The renewed focus on the student, and student
  choice, but how is this possible, and in which
  types of institutions?
• . . . The undergraduate who flourishes at a
  research university is the individual who enjoys
  diverse experiences, is not dismayed by
  complexity or size, has a degree of independence
  and self-reliance, and seeks stimulation more
  than security. . . the research university
  offers almost limitless opportunities and
  attractions in terms of associations, activity
  and enterprises. (Reinventing Undergraduate
  Education, p. 8)

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An emerging template for undergraduate curriculum?

• General education requirements
• Competencies (literacy, numeracy, technology,
  languages)
• Breadth of understanding (HASS/STEM balance)
• Big questions, cross-cutting disciplines
• Other requirements (national culture, wellness)
• Specific degree requirements
• Depth of understanding (specific subject
  knowledge)
• Specific methodological training and articulation
• Research-intensive, education-intensive,
  professional or KT-intensive requirements,
  depending institutional mission.

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Undergraduate education current flashpoints 1

• Purpose what kind of student is produced?
• Scholar ? (global) citizen ? skilled labour?
• It should remain the purpose of universities to
  prepare graduates for a career and for life, not
  a single job. (UK Higher Education in 2023,
  UUK, 2008, p. 7)

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Undergraduate education current flashpoints 2

• International students
• Aid ? trade ? skills shortage solution?
• Aid the Colombo Plan supporting development
  and making friends
• Trade An X-billion export industry
• Skills shortages smoothing their path to study
  and work in the UK (UK higher education in 2023,
  p. 8) two-year post-graduation visas in areas
  of skills shortage

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Undergraduate education current flashpoints 3

• Intensity of study how part-time or full-time?
• Full-time residential ? full-time commuter ?
  mixed intensities ? university/workplace
  collaboration
• Handled very differently across the globe,
  depending upon level of subsidy (unit or package)
  and quota systems
• Rapidly changing, as demographics alter and
  educational acceptance of workplace-based
  learning increases
• Hastens adoption of more modular styles of
  curriculum

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Undergraduate education current flashpoints 4

• The very nature of education
• Validation of results ? attestation of
  achievement ? empowerment of character
• Coaching for summative judgement ? accumulation
  of knowledge and skills ? life-long learning
• Consequences for grading systems (Honours),
  assessment balance, teaching/learning orientation

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Conclusions

• Areas of immediate attention
• The general education function of undergraduate
  education (for those systems without it)
• Specialisms and their relationship to
  institutional purpose
• Student choice versus government supply or
  business demand
• Institutional incentive to break traditional
  moulds.
• Contact Malcolm.Gillies_at_city.ac.uk