Graduate Qualities and Common Core to support lifelong learning

At its 25 July meeting, Transitional Academic Board endorsed two key aspects of Adelaide University’s teaching and learning experience: our Graduate Qualities, and our first Common Core subject areas. These elements will shape a shared, interdisciplinary learning experience for Adelaide University students and foster strong respect for lifelong learning within our university community. 

Graduate Qualities

In developing a new curriculum for Adelaide University, we have a unique opportunity to align our teaching and learning to our Graduate Qualities. Six Graduate Qualities are guiding our current course development program, shaping the educational journey of future students and reflecting the core values of the University:

• Lifelong Learner: This is our unifying quality, linking the other Graduate Qualities. Lifelong learners are resilient, versatile, and prepared to acquire new skills to adapt to ever-evolving circumstances.
• Ethical Leader: Ethical leaders exhibit courage, doing what is right over what is easy, driven by an inclusive approach and compassionate understanding of others.
• Strategic Problem Solver: Strategic problem solvers approach challenges using critical thinking, long-term strategies, practical knowledge, and innovative methods.
• Global Citizen: Our graduates will be profoundly aware of their role in the world and capacity to enact positive change, with deep respect for cultural values and sensitivities.
• Resilient Thinker: Personal and professional resilience will enable graduates to approach complex issues with tenacity, driving them to persevere and succeed amidst change.
• Trusted Communicator: Our graduates will learn to articulate ideas effectively and inspire change, communicating through vulnerability, words that match actions, and listening to understand.

Our Graduate Qualities are supported by five Graduate Values: Integrity, Respect, Excellence, Professionalism, and Compassion. The Adelaide University curriculum will embed opportunities for students to understand, develop, and demonstrate our Graduate Qualities and Values.

Common Core

The Common Core is a suite of interdisciplinary courses, aligned to our Graduate Qualities and Values, providing foundational and transferrable knowledge essential for success in modern society. These courses are not discipline-specific, but rather cover a broad knowledge base central to fostering our Graduate Qualities and Values.

Most undergraduate students will select one Common Core course per year, with selection student led, not dictated by program. Postgraduate coursework students will select a Common Core course where there is capacity within their program.

Our Common Core will develop highly sought-after knowledges and provides opportunities to study alongside peers from diverse disciplines. This contemporary approach ensures students are well-equipped to navigate the challenges of the future, enhancing their employability in an ever-evolving job market. The first Common Core areas are:

• First Nations Knowledges: This course will be developed with oversight by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Learning and Teaching Strategy Group, with extensive community consultation.
• Data Knowledges: Understanding data types, sources, and structures, and teaching best practices for collecting, managing, and analysing data, and for evaluating and communicating information.
• Ethical Knowledges: Exploring fundamental principles of moral reasoning and their application to real-world situations.
• Artificial Intelligence: Introducing students to fundamental principles, techniques, and real-world applications of AI.
• Cultural Competency: Helping students understand their own cultural background and how that shapes their perspective and experiences.
• Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking: Equipping students with the tools and mindset necessary to identify opportunities, develop sustainable solutions, and drive positive change.

There is scope to develop multiple courses within each area, and these areas will continually evolve to ensure the AU curriculum remains relevant and contemporary.

We are currently looking for passionate and visionary colleagues from all disciplines to bring their unique perspectives and expertise to the Core Content working groups. Expressions of Interest can be made through the form linked here before COB Monday 9 September. (Please note: The First Nations Knowledges course is not included in this expression of interest round. This course will require extensive time and community consultation and will be designed as part of a separate project.)

Lifelong Learning

Our Graduate Qualities and Common Core are central elements of the Adelaide Attainment Model, and will play a key role in establishing Adelaide University as an institution for lifelong learning. As our unifying Graduate Quality, support and respect for lifelong learning are being strategically embedded in Adelaide University’s curriculum in numerous ways.

Our stackable curriculum structure will provide multiple entry and exit pathways for students, making it easier to engage with study throughout life. In time, our modular structure will support a range of short courses and microcredentials, helping people learn new skills throughout life.

We are shaping our curriculum in close consultation with industry to ensure offerings, including our Common Core, support evolving needs of the workforce, and we’re developing innovative on-campus and online delivery methods to ensure offerings are accessible at all life stages.

Alongside these practical innovations, our Graduate Qualities will foster an understanding of the value of ongoing education among our students, to ensure lifelong learning and adaptability become foundational pillars of Adelaide University.

Professor Joanne Cys and Professor Katrina Falkner, Curriculum Domain Lead and Alternate 
Joint Committee, Building a new Adelaide University