Learning and teaching: graduates of the future

Griffith has a proud reputation of educational innovation and achievement. We have received more national teaching awards than any other university, including being the home of four Australian University Teachers of the Year. Our students have a reputation with employers for their technical skills and work readiness, combined with being down-to-earth and easy to work with.

Yet we cannot rest on our laurels. Both education and work are undergoing rapid change and students are increasingly interested in opportunities to start their own businesses as well as find traditional employment. We have an opportunity through the implementation of our Digital First strategy, including the transition to the new Virtual Learning Environment and the underpinning Learning and Teaching Framework, to transform pedagogy, curriculum, and the student experience. We will ensure our transformed programs better prepare students for employment or entrepreneurial pathways in increasingly digital workplaces, and improve student retention. Importantly, we will engage our students as co-designers and partners in learning.

As a research-intensive university, we will also ensure that our undergraduate students are engaged with our research culture, and have opportunities to develop skills and undertake projects including placements within research institutes. In particular, our Griffith Beacons will contribute to undergraduate teaching through curriculum, internships, or workshops.

We also recognise that our relationship with our students is lifelong and we need to be agile and responsive in creating the right type of learning opportunities to assist people to thrive at every stage of their careers.

For our undergraduates, we will introduce the Griffith Graduates of the Future program. In addition to providing undergraduates with an excellent education in their discipline of choice, Griffith will:

• Create a wide range of digital badges that will allow Griffith graduates to demonstrate their capabilities in employment-related skills and activities.
• Ensure that every undergraduate has a capstone experience that is work-related (such as an internship, international mobility experience, research project, or participation in a national or international competition).
• Provide an extensive range of options for students looking to develop their innovation and entrepreneurship skills through curricula and co-curricula opportunities.
• Develop opportunities for students to learn outside their core disciplines by creating a suite of options designed to introduce students to areas such as: data science; business skills; innovation and entrepreneurship; behaviour science/ psychology; communications and journalism; Asian culture and languages; environment and sustainability; Indigenous cultures and knowledge; justice, ethics and human rights.

As well as continuing to provide excellent graduate degrees across a range of disciplines, we will develop, through the Professional Learning Hub, the Griffith Credentials Program, stackable micro-credentials and qualifications to allow people to undertake learning experiences in a more flexible, responsive and modular fashion.

We will offer a more distinctive value proposition to become a university of choice for international students. We will offer courses at campuses that are attractive to international students and improve the international student experience. Our aim of attracting more international students will be achieved while maintaining our admissions standards and by encouraging diversity in both country of origin and discipline mix. We will bring international and domestic students together for their mutual benefit.

Griffith’s teachers, already nationally recognised for their excellence, will have opportunities to develop their professional skills and capabilities in digital learning and transformed pedagogy to better prepare the graduates of the future.

In particular, we will continue the move away from the traditional ‘lecture, tutorial, exam’ approach to teaching and towards one that uses digital technologies creatively, encourages active collaborative, offers authentic approaches to teaching and assessment, and works in partnership with employers.

Learning Futures will engage in innovative practices and support academics to become national leaders in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Key actions

By 2025, we will:

• Increase our intake of students from low SES and rural and regional backgrounds.
• Improve retention and completion of students through coordinated academic and support services that deliver evidence-based interventions to support student success and through non-traditional pathways into Griffith.
• Create opportunities for as many undergraduates as possible to learn outside their core discipline.
• Implement a Learning and Teaching Framework that will enhance the student experience through active, authentic and collaborative learning focused on developing discipline knowledge and employability skills.
• Invest in our Digital campus and the digital capabilities of our teaching staff to ensure that all students have access to high-quality digital resources and technology-enhanced learning, and that our teachers are highly regarded professionals in both face-to-face and digital learning strategies.
• Develop a comprehensive suite of micro-credentials and stackable qualifications to address the need for people at all stages of their careers/lives to upskill. Many will be co-developed with employers and industry partners.
• Further strengthen our support for international students to help them to succeed in their studies and to have a rich experience of life in South East Queensland beyond the classroom.

Key outcomes

By 2025, we will have:

• Implemented the Griffith Graduates of the Future program.
• Established a sustainable and successful suite of micro-credentials, including stackable credentials that lead to qualifications, suited to worker-learners.
• Improved the retention and completion of Griffith students to above the national average.
• Improved outcomes in employment for Griffith graduates to above the national average.
• Solidified our position of having student satisfaction including teaching excellence in the top quartile in Australia for both undergraduates and graduates.
• 25% of our students coming from overseas.