Review of graduate coursework: a report to the Graduate School of the Australian National University

Abstract

In response to a proposal from the Dean of the Graduate School the Vice-Chancellor in June 1996 provided an allocation from the University's Strategic Initiatives Fund for a Review of Graduate Coursework Degrees. In September the Dean proposed the following terms of reference: To review graduate coursework degrees and diplomas within the ANU and comparator universities, in particular: 1. To identify examples of good practice. 2. To determine the extent of undergraduate content in such awards, and to assess the desirability or otherwise of such content. 3. To report on the extent to which graduate coursework is targeted to particular professional groups. 4. To recommend areas in which the ANU should develop new courses, particularly having regard to the implications of the recent federal budget. 5. To consider how the ANU's offerings might be rationalised, eg by reducing the proliferation of named awards. 6. To consider ways in which the ANU's graduate coursework offerings might be made more attractive to international students. The Graduate Degrees Committee, at its meeting of 5 December 1996, referred to the Review an additional term of reference: 7. To examine explicitly the relationship of graduate diplomas to honours degrees and to the possible introduction of professional Master degrees as outlined in Professor Poole's memorandum of 25 November 1996 on re-naming of graduate diplomas