Professor Anne Jones, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Students), has described VU's new Blueprint for Curriculum Reform as "a new era in learning at Victoria University".
Speaking at the launch she said, "We have gathered up the knowledge and experience accumulated over the last 96 years and designed a blueprint for learning that remains true to our values and beliefs about tertiary education whilst transforming what, where, when and how we teach "" our curriculum "" to meet the requirements of the 21st century students.
"Victoria University's history stretches back nearly 100 years and in that time we have learned much about providing access and pathways to new futures for a rich range of students. But we can and must do better. Now we must take what we have learned, our experience and our wisdom, and build larger and more systematic opportunities for more students. And in the 21st century, unlike the early 20th, we are less able to predict our graduates' futures. We know that we must prepare them well to enter, or progress in, the professions, occupations and trades to which they immediately aspire but we must also prepare them for unpredictable future lives.'
Professor Jones highlighted the need to prepare graduates to live an environment of radical uncertainty and complexity and the need for each individual to develop the set of capabilities that they need to address the big social and economic problems of our times.
She said, "Integral to our reformed curriculum will be an emphasis on generic capabilities embedded into every course of study, spanning every AQF level, at Victoria University. We will be serious about making the development of our capabilities explicit and demonstrable. For example in undergraduate courses we will develop capabilities within disciplinary learning and during our signature work or practice integrated learning experience.
"However we know that the wicked problems of the 21st century cannot be solved solely within disciplines, their solutions are more likely to lie in the spaces between disciplines and so every undergraduate student will be able to undertake units from our new Victoria University Studies Program specifically designed to support the development of our chosen capabilities. These units will allow students to develop VU capabilities whilst working on the wicked problems of our times."
Professor Jones said that the new Curriculum Blueprint would better serve students through a range of distinctive qualifications and pathways designed to meet contemporary challenges, not only through the content of qualifications but also the range, structure and delivery methods which will change to fit the purposes of 21st learners.
