Developing practice oriented undergraduate courses in a quality framework. A case study: bachelor of event management
| Pages | 395-409 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-04-2015-0017 |
| Date | 07 September 2015 |
| Published date | 07 September 2015 |
| Author | Paul A. Whitelaw,Jeffrey Wrathall |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Developing practice oriented
undergraduate courses in a
quality framework
A case study: bachelor of event management
Paul A. Whitelaw and Jeffrey Wrathall
William Angliss Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reect upon the stakeholder, scholarly, academic and
jurisdictional inuences on course development for a vocationally oriented bachelor’s degree.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes the form of a case study.
Findings – Vocationally oriented bachelor’s courses can be developed, especially when the developers
focus on scholarly rigour while paying due heed to jurisdictional requirements as well as the needs of
key stakeholders.
Research limitations/implications – This case study is limited to a specialist vocational college in
Australia.
Practical implications – The paper provides a framework by which others can develop vocationally
oriented bachelor’s degrees.
Social implications – The study can provide impetus to the development of scholarly, and
academically rigorous, yet industrially relevant vocational degrees.
Originality/value – This is a relatively novel paper from a non-self accrediting higher education
provider.
Keywords Quality assurance, Curriculum development
Paper type Case study
Introduction
This paper provides an insight into current requirements and practices in course
development in the Australian Higher Education sector. It does this by using the
development of an undergraduate degree in Event Management as an exemplar.
Quality in the Australian environment
The “quality debate” in Higher Education in Australia is currently in a state of ux, with
an increasing focus, especially from government, on both academic standards and
process quality. Academic standards are framed by a series of “reference points” that
indicate achieving “assurance of learning” at the systemic and course, not student, level.
Broad academic standards, posited in the Australian Qualications Framework (AQF)
are framed and set by the Australian Qualications Framework Council. Rened and
contextualised standards (known as Threshold Learning Outcomes – TLOs) are
proposed by the Higher Education Standards Panel (HESP) and are enforced by the
regulator, the Tertiary Education Standards Agency (TEQSA). As such, courses must
be developed in terms of producing graduates who meet identied and enunciated
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Practice
oriented
undergraduate
courses
395
Received 19 April 2015
Revised 12 July 2015
Accepted 13 July 2015
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.23 No. 4, 2015
pp.395-409
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-04-2015-0017
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