Educational Report
Murdoch University
Senate
July 2004
STRATEGIC PLAN 2003-2007
Goal: To provide quality contemporary education which empowers the students of today to live and work in the world of tomorrow.
To achieve this goal, the University is committed to the following key strategies:
· Provide a student-centred learning environment for all students
· Provide coursework curricula that are pedagogically sound, academically coherent, robust and relevant for society and the learner
· Enable graduates to achieve good employment outcomes
· Enhance the quality of courses
· Provide ongoing learning opportunities for graduates and the community
These key strategies will be measured and reported using the following Key Performance Indicators
1. To maintain student satisfaction with the quality of teaching within the top 20% of the Australian public universities, as measured by the Course Experience Questionnaire (that is to retain our five star teaching rating).
2. To maintain the rate of student satisfaction with the quality of teaching above 80%, as measured by unit surveys.
3. To increase the percentage of graduates who demonstrate their commitment to lifelong learning by undertaking further study.
4. To increase to within 2% of the state average the percentage of graduates who are able to gain their preferred mode of employment.
STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT
The following report provides a brief overview of
· Key environmental factors
· University performance - report against KPIs in the Strategic Plan 2003 - 2007
· University performance in other indicators
· New initiatives that underpin key strategies in the Strategic Plan 2003 - 2007
· Risk management for education at Murdoch University
1. KEY ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
1. There is a new Federal Government initiative the “Learning and Teaching Performance Fund” worth $54 million in 2006, increasing to $83 million in 2007 and $113 million in 2008. In announcing the fund, the Minister for Education, Science and Training noted that it was established “to reward those institutions that best demonstrate excellence in learning and teaching”. The fund will be administered as a Departmental programme with guidelines and funding allocations to be approved by the Minister. The issues paper was released in April 2004. Advice regarding the criteria for eligibility and allocation are currently being sought from the sector.
It is proposed that institutions demonstrate their eligibility to apply by submitting the following documentation
· A current learning and teaching plan
· Systematic support for professional development in learning and teaching for sessional and full time staff
· Probation and promotion practices and policies, which include effectiveness as a teacher
· Systematic student evaluation of teaching and subjects that inform probation and promotion decisions for academic positions
· Strategies, practices and policies relating to teaching being publicly available, and
· Results of student surveys publicly available (to field of education)
Once deemed eligible, an application for funding is to be developed and may take the form of evaluation of outcomes indicators such as Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), or possibly, via a portfolio. DEST has made it clear they will be rewarding excellent performance rather than improved performance.
2. A new National Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (NILTHE) is being established in 2004 for full operations in 2006. It has the goal of enhancing the profile of learning, and teaching in Australia. Consultation with the sector has occurred, with DEST specifying the following guiding framework for the consultation process
· The NILTHE will focus on:
o Dealing with emerging issues in teaching and learning
o encouraging dissemination and adoption of effective methods of enhancing learning, and
o promoting collaboration
· The priority areas for activities will reflect Government policy for higher education and addressing any concerns, for example: enhancing and assuring the quality of teaching; ensuring equity; retaining Australia's competitive position in the recruitment of international students; and continuing to be at the forefront of developments in virtual learning
· In its operation, there will be recognition of the institutional diversity of Australian higher education. As well as varying traditions, higher education institutions have very different patterns of demand and regional need, which will be reflected in increasingly diverse teaching and learning strategies
· It will support Australian higher education to remain responsive to international developments in teaching and learning
Murdoch University has submitted its views regarding the organisational structure and function of NILTHE, particularly its preference for a centrally coordinated, distributed model in each institution, or if necessary in each state. In a distributed model NILTHE staff would be located at each university or state with a very small central coordinating office.
3. The Graduate Skills Assessment is now being promoted by DEST and funding is available for those Universities who actively promote uptake of this assessment.
4. Murdoch University Senate has approved the introduction of privately funded places for Australian students and is debating the introduction of HECS top up fees under the new Federal Government policy on 28th June 2004. The introduction of income contingent loans available for privately funded Australian students (FEE-HELP), and higher limits of full fee paying Australia student numbers has increased the opportunity for universities to gain growth and financial benefits of scale from these places.
5. Universities are to be paid according to the discipline mix actually delivered. We need to be focussed on student demand, experience and outcomes, while simultaneously managing the University’s sub and total funding targets.
6. There has been a national trend upward in student: staff ratio for last 10 years. At Murdoch University the trend has stabilised and declined slightly but this has been at the expense of casual teaching budgets meaning that workloads for substantive staff have increased.
7. New HECS subsidised places have been allocated to Western Australia. This is to address increasing demand and unmet need in WA. This is likely to decrease the number of applications for privately funded places.
8. Murdoch University has a long history of good outcomes in Course Experience Questionnaire results and these have been maintained in recent years. However, others within the State are making rapid advances and showing a relative improvement. We must not be complacent.
9. Murdoch University has a long history of lower than average graduate employment, but this is predominantly due to the course mix that we offer. However, compared across the fields of education, we rate well in many areas.
10. There is an increasing public awareness of the nature of a quality education and an increasing expectation of high quality by students, families and government.
11. There is increasing pressure on students to work to pay for living expenses while studying full time. At Murdoch University, full time students worked a median of 13.6 hours per week in 2003.
12. Murdoch University has a new regional campus that needs rapid development and an established regional campus to maintain and improve.
2. UNIVERSITY PERFORMANCE – REPORT AGAINST KPIs IN STRATEGIC PLAN 2003-2007
KPI 1 To maintain student satisfaction with the quality of teaching within the top 20% of the Australian public universities, as measured by the Course Experience Questionnaire (that is to retain our five star teaching rating).
The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and Graduate Destination Survey (GDS) are conducted nationally and administered through the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER). Currently they are both mailed to all graduates 4 months after graduation. The CEQ asks a series of detailed questions about the course experience. Graduates are asked to indicate agreement or otherwise on a Likert scale over a range of statements, which are then clustered into the compulsory categories of Good Teaching, Generic Skills and Overall Satisfaction. Universities can choose other categories for their individual needs, however these then become difficult to benchmark. Responses are then aggregated into percentages of those in agreement and strong agreement over total responses. Nationally the response rate for such a survey averages about 60%.
Research indicates that the changes within 10 percentage points of national mean are not significant unless there is a continuing trend. Most Universities, including Murdoch, fluctuate above and below the mean by less than 10 points.
The graphs below indicate the percentage of graduates in agreement with statements relating to good teaching, development of generic skills and overall satisfaction. Whilst Murdoch’s graduates are consistently happier in all areas, the margin is narrow in most areas and makes us vulnerable.
Table 1: CEQ: Generic Skills Development - Percentage of students who agree or strongly agree with a set of statements relating to their development of generic skills (such as communication).
1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003Murdoch / 89.0 / 87.3 / 88.3 / 90.2 / 90.9
National / 86.4 / 86.4 / 86.5 / 87.5 / 88.1
Table 2: CEQ: Good Teaching - Percentage of students who agree or strongly agree with a set of statements relating to the quality of teaching they have experienced
1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003Murdoch / 84.0 / 84.7 / 84.8 / 86.8 / 87.9
National / 78.4 / 78.5 / 78.4 / 80.1 / 81.3
Table 3: CEQ: Overall Satisfaction - Percentage of students who agree or strongly agree with a set of statements relating to their overall satisfaction with their undergraduate course experience.
1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003Murdoch / 91.2 / 91.2 / 93.0 / 93.3 / 92.4
National / 89.2 / 89.5 / 89.0 / 89.4 / 89.6
Summary Statement: Murdoch University continues to improve its rating in generic skills and teaching quality, but it is stable in overall satisfaction. These figures remain not significant in a statistical sense. However the desirable outcome is that we remain in the top 20%, which then depends on others’ performance.
KPI 2 To maintain the rate of student satisfaction with the quality of teaching above 80%, as measured by unit surveys.
Unit surveys are conducted on 50% of the units offered each semester providing there are more that 10 enrolled students. The survey asks students to rate their perception to a series of statements which cover the three aspects of the unit of study: quality of teaching, availability of resources to support teaching and value of units. Students are also asked to rate their perception of overall satisfaction with the quality of the unit.
Table 4: Student Surveys: Percentage of students who agree or strongly agree with the statement “Overall I was satisfied with the quality of the unit”
1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003Agreed or Strongly Agreed / 84 / 86 / 85 / 86 / 85
Response Rate / 58 / 60 / 62 / 60 / 59
Summary Statement: Murdoch has remained stable over the last 4 years, well above 80% satisfaction.
KPI 3 To increase the percentage of graduates who demonstrate their commitment to lifelong learning by undertaking further study
As part of the Graduate Destination Survey: (GDS), four months after completion of their studies graduates are surveyed regarding their re-enrolment as postgraduate students. As the full time study data captures those who enrol directly into post-graduate study, many will be research students rather than coursework students. Nor does this survey capture our graduates who go on to further study after a period of time in the workforce. The following table indicates the study rates as measured by the GDS.
Table 5: GDS: Percentage of graduates who immediately progress to further study
Full Time Study / Part time Study / Not Studying / Total Studying / Response Rate1999 / Murdoch / 12.9 / 11.2 / 75.9 / 24.1 / 66.4
WA / 19.7 / 60.6
National / 19.4 / 63.0
2000 / Murdoch / 17.8 / 11.1 / 71.1 / 28.9 / 58.0
WA / 22.4 / 55.4
National / 20.0 / 58.0
2001 / Murdoch / 17.6 / 11.9 / 70.5 / 29.5 / 55.7
WA / 19.4 / 52.5
National / 20.4 / 57.5
2002 / Murdoch / 23.8 / 12.4 / 63.8 / 36.2 / 55.1
WA / 24.3 / 53.7
National / 21.3 / 55.4
2003 / Murdoch / 21.6 / 7.6 / 70.8 / 29.2 / 51.5
WA / 21.5 / 53.9
National / 20.0 / 57.1
Table 6: Measuring Graduate Outcomes by Further Study Rates (% in work mode of choice - mean for all courses offered in Division)
SSHE / BITL / SE / VBS / Total Murdoch / State Average1999 / 13 / 12 / 15 / 3 / 13 / 20
2000 / 19 / 12 / 23 / 2 / 17 / 22
2001 / 14 / 16 / 22 / 20 / 16 / 19
Arts / SE / HS
2002 / 20 / 27 / 26 / 23 / 24
2003 / 18 / 29 / 23 / 21 / 31
Summary Statement: Murdoch University has had a positive trend compared to the State Average over the last 5 years. This is particularly evident in the two science Divisions, likely reflecting an increase in postgraduate research students. The University may need to develop measures other than GDS to accurately reflect the intention of KPI 3.
KPI 4 To increase to within 2% of the state average the percentage of graduates who are able to gain their preferred mode of employment.
As part of the Graduate Destination Survey (GDS), four months after completion of their studies graduates are surveyed regarding their employment. Murdoch has scored at the high end in this measure, in part due to the course mix that we offer. This is clearly an area which we would like to see improve. The following table indicates the broad employment rates as measured by the GDS.
Table 7: GDS: Graduate Employment Outcomes as a percentage of graduates
Full Time Employment / Part Time Employment / Unavailable for Employment / Unemployed / Total in Employment / Graduates in their work mode of choice1999 / Murdoch / 56.3 / 17.3 / 4.2 / 9.3 / 73.6 / 76.5
WA / 53. / 15.0 / 4.0 / 7.5 / 68.7 / 80.1
National / 56.4 / 13.4 / 4.9 / 5.9 / 69.8 / 83.8
2000 / Murdoch / 52.9 / 15.7 / 4.8 / 8.9 / 68.6 / 77.9
WA / 53.6 / 13.3 / 4.3 / 6.4 / 66.9 / 82.3
National / 58.4 / 12.0 / 4.7 / 4.9 / 70.4 / 86.2
2001 / Murdoch / 55.0 / 15.3 / 4.1 / 8.2 / 70.3 / 79.2
WA / 56.7 / 15.1 / 2.8 / 6.0 / 71.8 / 83.5
National / 58.9 / 12.2 / 3.3 / 5.2 / 71.1 / 85.8
2002 / Murdoch / 44.7 / 15.9 / 6.1 / 9.4 / 60.6 / 73.4
WA / 50.8 / 12.4 / 5.1 / 7.5 / 63.2 / 80.2
National / 55.6 / 12.9 / 4.2 / 5.9 / 68.5 / 83.6
2003 / Murdoch / 49.0 / 15.8 / 3.0 / 10.6 / 64.8 / 73.3
WA / 53.1 / 13.8 / 3.9 / 7.8 / 66.9 / 79.1
National / 55.8 / 13.0 / 4.5 / 6.4 / 68.9 / 82.3