Joint report on learning and teaching quality

All Australian universities have made significant improvements in the core activity of learning and teaching, although the main improvements in the first half of this decade were in the development of policies, plans and processes.

Implementation, together with monitoring of the implementation through evaluation and feedback, were much less developed, according to a new study based on an examination of the first cycle of audits conducted by the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA).

‘Learning and Teaching in Australian Universities: A thematic analysis of Cycle 1 AUQA audits’ is a joint publication of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) and AUQA.

It was prepared for the ALTC by Professor Christine Ewan who emphasises the publication is a snapshot in time describing practices and situations as they were at the time of the review, in some cases up to six years ago.

AUQA Executive Director Dr David Woodhouse said the study, which covers the 43 institutional reports prepared between October 2002 and November 2007, provides a valuable historical reference.

“In addition, the study offers guidelines for future directions for the current audit cycle,” he said.

Welcoming the study, Professor Richard Johnstone, ALTC Executive Director said that while the analysis revealed room for improvement across a number of areas, it provided clear evidence of a noticeable shift in the profile of learning and teaching in Australian higher education.

“The study revealed that at the time the cycle 1 audits were conducted there was already a growing recognition of the core role of learning and teaching which has since strengthened considerably.”

The study identifies structures and mechanisms deployed by institutions to oversee curriculum design and review, assessment and academic benchmarking.

Furthermore, it highlights collegial and management processes required to achieve effective outcomes in these areas as well as summarising related sector-wide policies and practices.

The study reports on the range of factors identified by AUQA audits as conducive to effecting quality assurance for learning and teaching including the following:

• strategic plans that acknowledge the teaching and learning responsibility
• teaching and learning plans and policies that articulate a vision for achieving strategic goals in teaching and learning
• simple mechanisms for collecting evidence of performance against plans and feeding back for improvement
• mechanisms to link unit funding to outcomes in teaching and learning
• evidence of effective uptake of policies and ownership of objectives at all levels in the institution
• oversight of all aspects of academic quality, through specialist committees, by the academic governing body
• reporting and accountability mechanisms that foster compliance with policies
• external and professional involvement in course design and review
• mechanisms for course design and review that are linked with resource planning
• compliance with a designated schedule of course and unit reviews according to a designated process
• well-developed systems for ensuring comparability between delivery modes and locations
• policies that reward individuals for excellent performance in teaching and learning
• policies that reward academic units for teaching and learning related outcomes and compliance with quality assurance policies
• clear definitions of the purposes and processes for benchmarking and identified peer institutions for benchmarking partnerships
• a formal strategy to embed benchmarking as a development tool within  an institutional culture of improvement
• descriptions of benchmarking processes and evidence of actions following outcomes
• clearly defined graduate attributes, mechanisms for ensuring that they are embedded in curriculum, and for assessing their achievement, and
• well-defined policies on all aspects of assessment and evidence of compliance.

For further information contact:

Jacqui Elson-Green
Director - Communications, Networks and Secretariat
Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)
Mobile 0423 413 222
Phone 02 8667 8540
Email jacqui [dot] elsongreen [at] altc [dot] edu [dot] au

Dr Jeanette Baird
AOP Series Editor
Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA)
Phone 03 9664 1000
Email j [dot] baird [at] auqa [dot] edu [dot] au

AUQA/ALTC Report Download Document (953.33 KB)