Principles for course accreditation and review of Indigenous curriculum

Universities Australia, in partnership with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium (NATSIHEC), released its Indigenous Strategy 2017-2020 in March 2017.

The strategy brings all member universities together to achieve common goals to advance Indigenous participation and success in higher education, including to make Australian universities more reflective of Indigenous Australia.

On graduate success and curriculum, the strategy states that all member universities commit to have:

processes that ensure all students will encounter and engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural content as integral parts of their course of study, by 2020 (p.14).

In addition to this, the UA Deputy Vice-Chancellors (Academic) Committee (DVCA) have been tasked under the strategy to develop initiatives that:

ensure that internal course accreditation processes within our member universities formally involve Indigenous consultation and input to curriculum development and subsequent review processes (p.34).

Following lengthy discussions and consultation between 2017 and 2019, the DVCA committee has developed a set of principles and guidance for each Universities Australia member to incorporate into their internal course accreditation processes, and, therefore, course design delivery and review/reaccreditation processes.

In doing so, it is recognised that Australian universities are autonomous, self-accrediting institutions and can adopt or adapt this guidance in ways that are best suited to their own situation.

Find the principles here.