How have we developed the curriculum?
The Melbourne curriculum heralds curriculum change and greater access to education, and has been achieved through 4 distinct developments:
1. Curriculum redesign
Delivers depth and breadth of knowledge that facilitates changes in study interests, direction and career, now and in the future, including:
- Depth of specialisation through curriculum review and introduction of “capstone” experiences aimed at providing and consolidating intellectual coherence in students’ chosen disciplines.
- Breadth of learning requirement, providing perspective, capacity for innovation and adaptability, and ability to work across disciplinary boundaries and in interdisciplinary settings through exposure to alternative domains of knowledge, methods of enquiry and/or the interdisciplinary study of major social issues
- Research-infused teaching – a curriculum that is permeated at all levels with methods and experience of advancing and applying scholarship, and developing more effective researchers and practitioners. To give every student access to research leaders, to incorporate a research experience into the undergraduate curriculum, to develop research methods in the coursework curricula, and to build capacity in and better prepare our future researchers
- Knowledge exchange – a curriculum that: engages students with local and international contexts for the application of knowledge; enhances students’ appreciation of cultural diversity, and of social, ethic and civic responsibilities; and provides opportunities to develop skills for leadership and global citizenship.
2. Graduate schools
Offer Masters-level qualifications that provide professional levels of education distinguished by deeper disciplinary coherence, specialist expertise and intensive learning applications. The specialist and professional nature of a graduate education enables bachelors-qualified students to strive to achieve the next step in their education. We provide the challenges of a targeted, higher level curriculum to well-equipped, highly-motivated students who have made considered educational decisions.
3. Strong and engaged learning communities
Promote engagement and connectedness with peers, scholars, individuals and communities. The Melbourne curriculum objectives in this area are also supported by a student-focussed service delivery model and new learning, study and social spaces.
4. Access
For those most likely to succeed, regardless of financial or educational disadvantage. The Melbourne curriculum provides increased access to professional programs by students from disadvantaged backgrounds, because entry into those programs will be much less dependent on the form of secondary education to which applicants had access.
Flexibility in choice of course and entry point enables students to pursue their educational and personal aspirations by recognising that intellectual growth and personal opportunity come at different times to different people. The Melbourne curriculum incorporates a second step, second chance ethos – providing renewed and reinvigorated access through opportunity and variety.