The trifecta for curriculum sustainability in Australian universities

William Guo; Wei Li; Roland Dodd; Ergun Gide

doi:10.3934/steme.2021001

Article Contents

2021, Volume 1, Issue 1: 1-16. Doi: 10.3934/steme.2021001 open access

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The trifecta for curriculum sustainability in Australian universities

1.
School of Engineering and Technology, Central Queensland University, Bruce Highway, North Rockhampton, QLD 4702, Australia

* Correspondence: w.guo@cqu.edu.au; Tel: +61-7-49309687
* Correspondence: w.guo@cqu.edu.au; Tel: +61-7-49309687

Academic Editor: Hepu Deng

Received: November 30, 2020

Revised: December 31, 2020

Published: February 2021

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Abstract

Commercialization and internationalization of tertiary education has opened a new way for universities to grow and make more profit. This in turn has supported sustainable growth of the higher education sector for the last three decades in developed countries. Curricula offered by accredited tertiary institutions must meet the quality standards set by both the governmental agencies and the professional accreditation bodies. These programs must also provide graduates with employment opportunities. Hence, quality and employment opportunities are the two key factors for sustainability of any degree program offered by tertiary institutions. However, changes in regulations and policies by the national government sometimes play a vital role in creating new programs, and maintaining or disestablishing some existing programs offered by institutions in the nation. These changes are not controlled by individual institutions, which has become the third unpredictable factor in curriculum creation and/or sustainability. Using the journey of a new master's program in information technology (IT) in an Australian university as a case study, we explore how this third factor impacted on the initialization, creation, and short life of this program primarily targeting international students in the mid-2000s. We then extend our discussion to the implications of the recent changes to tertiary tuitions from 2021 by the Australian Government on the sustainable future of the Australian tertiary education sector on a broad scale.

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Mathematics Subject Classification: Opinion.

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Figure 1. The standard ISO Communication Model

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Figure 2. The modified ISO Communication Model

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Figure 3. The Internet Communication Model

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Figure 4. Networked communication models in relation to the design of MNDS

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Figure 5. Logical structure of MNDS

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Figure 6. Actual enrolments in PDSD (blue) and forecasted enrollments for MNT in 2005-2006

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Table 1. Initial program structure for the MNDS

Core units in first and second semesters
Network Technology	Distributed Systems
Network Technology 1 (NT1)	Principles of Distributed Systems Design (PDSD)
Network Technology 2 (NT2)	Administration and Programming in Linux (APL)
Network Technology 3 (NT3)	Programming for Distributed Systems (PDS)
Third semester
Either	Project Preparation
	Project 1
	Project 2
or three units from	Computer Security
	Information Security
	Network Security
	Wireless and Mobile Computing Security
	Internet Security 1
	Internet Security 2

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Table 2. Teaching evaluation for PDSD during 2005-2006

Semester	Students enrolled	Students returned feedback (rate)	Teaching satisfaction (%)
S1/2005	39	25 (64%)	89
S2/2005	28	22 (79%)	81
S1/2006	15	12 (80%)	100
S2/2006	11	9 (82%)	92

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