As the inaugural Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning), I am committed to UQ becoming internationally recognised for the quality of its teaching and learning. The teaching and learning environment is in constant change, whether it comes from the new ideas and innovations of staff and students through the application of new teaching and learning methodologies or technologies, or external factors such as changes in government priorities and performance funding. My appointment signals UQ’s strong focus on teaching excellence and the importance we place on improving the UQ student experience.
This year, I have continued to support the Teaching and Learning Strategic Grant scheme that was put in place by Professor Michael Keniger, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). This year, a second round of grants totalling $1.1 million across 35 projects was awarded. This scheme has shown me that we have a large number of staff who are dedicated to ensuring students have a stimulating and rewarding learning experience.
In 2009, we will introduce early career researcher and new staff start-up grants for staff in teaching-focussed appointments. These schemes will provide funding to support teaching-focussed staff in their teaching scholarship. The guidelines are currently being finalised and the schemes will be launched during T&L week.
The review of the Curriculum & Teaching Quality Appraisal (CTQA) process signals my intention to tighten UQ’s policies and processes in these areas. To support the new processes, we have launched the CTQA dashboard in order to facilitate school and program access to the key teaching and learning indicators. The federal government’s Learning & Teaching Performance Fund will allocate $74 million for 2009 to universities based on excellence and improvement in teaching and learning. This means that both current and past indicators of teaching and learning performance will impact on the funding we receive.
If UQ is to retain its position as the premier higher education institution in Queensland, we need to be vigilant about our student recruitment strategies, admissions policies and program structures. This has seen a number of new initiatives, including academic scholarships, bonus ranks, changes to the process for deferring a place at UQ and credit for some International Baccalaureate subjects for students who demonstrate excellent performance. This has been an enormous undertaking and I want to thank Linda Bird, Academic Registrar, and her staff for their advice and assistance in implementing these changes.
A small team has also been working hard to upgrade the web interface used by current and prospective students to obtain program and course information. We succeeded in having this new interface in place for TSXPO, making the pages which link through courses and programs much easier to navigate and understand. I have been very pleased with the positive feedback I have received from staff but recognise there is still much to be done. I thank staff in OMC and SASD for their hard work in meeting the tight deadline and look forward to working with them to further improve the website.
The ResTeach program will now be administered from my Office. To ensure that the scheme is operating effectively, I undertook a brief review that clearly pointed to the success of this scheme. The scheme will continue to operate in 2009, with a budget of $4m. Guidelines for new applications will be released shortly.
UQ is currently preparing for its second AUQA audit. The trial audit will take place in November this year, with the final audit scheduled for the week beginning 30 March 2009. The audit will focus on two key aspects of teaching and learning – quality of teaching & curriculum and assessment. I am confident that the commitment we have made to quality assurance and continuous improvement in teaching and learning will provide a solid framework from which to present our case to the audit panel.
The Associate Deans (Teaching & Learning), the School Teaching & Learning Chairs, and both the President and Deputy President of the Academic Board have provided me with much encouragement. I appreciate their enthusiasm and energy in helping me to develop strategies for the continued improvement of the Teaching and Learning experience at UQ.