College Education Strategy 2021-2025
Executive Summary
To deliver an internationally competitive portfolio of high-quality educational programmes that inspire, challenge, and prepare our graduates for a wide range of careers and professions.
Introduction
The University of Glasgow has an ambitious five-year strategy to be The World-Changing University. As part of that, outstanding teaching and life-changing experiences are two of the key themes. As such the university recognises that our internationally renowned degree programmes are shaped by our rich, dynamic research environment which connects learning with global challenges; the importance of adopting evidence based approaches that are supported by world-class physical and digital learning environments; the benefits of working in partnership with our students to cocreate knowledge; and the importance of curating an enriching world of social events, sport, volunteering, internships, international experiences and more in which students can connect, develop new skills and enhance their prospects. More importantly, we give them the space, time and guidance to forge their own path – and take their first steps as future world changers.
The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences (MVLS) currently offers a broad suite of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees that prepare students for a wide range of careers including those aimed at improving human health, animal health and welfare, and investigating planetary biodiversity. Our current success is characterised by our established international reputation for teaching excellence in many of our teaching disciplines as evidenced by key performance indicators such as National Student Survey (NSS) and THE world rankings, our staff who are inspirational and committed to develop and support our students, our talented and engaged students with whom we have a strong partnership, and our growing reputation for innovation in evidence-based approaches to learning, teaching and assessment. But we have opportunities to raise our ambitions much further.
The University’s Learning and Teaching (LT) Strategy 2021-2025 sets out ambitious goals for the University to stimulate evolutions in our approach to teaching, to curriculum and assessment design, and in students skills development that serve our educational purpose. The three pillars of the LT strategy are shaped by the values, creativity, ambition and commitment of students and staff, that are needed to support students and staff to thrive in a rapidly shifting higher education sector. In MVLS we have the talent and expertise to play a key role in the implementation of the University's LT Strategy. Our success will be characterised by the collaborative spirit that will arise from the closeness of our community of educators and learners, the strength of our connections between teaching and disciplinary research, and our relationships with our stakeholders and with industry.
This strategy for Education sets out a framework to ensure that MVLS plays a leading role in the successful delivery of the University’s world-changing ambitions. Through this strategy we will deliver a world class student experience in a supportive educational environment that values the contributions of all staff to teaching and celebrates excellence in learning and teaching practice, and scholarship.
The scope of this strategy is broad but segmented into four defined ‘strategic pillars’ which have been informed by wide consultation with senior staff. There is a place in the Education strategy for everyone who is engaged with teaching, and in particular for those who aspire for excellence in learning and teaching practice, and scholarship.
Professor Maureen Bain, MVLS Dean of Learning and Teaching
Pillar 1: Evolving our approach to teaching
This pillar consists of two cross cutting priorities:
- Student centred active learning and
- Learning Analytics
Our aim is to develop a supportive community of learners and educators, where students have more opportunities to interact and build relationships, and staff are empowered to adopt new teaching methods and use innovative technologies to deliver their teaching and support learners.
Our priorities:
- Share best practice on effective learning design in our Virtual Learning Environment to support traditional, blended, and online delivery.
- Encourage all staff who contribute to teaching to engage with our bespoke upskilling training provision.
- Re-design lab-based activities to maximise the time students spend learning new practical skills and developing their critical thinking.
- Promote the evaluation of new teaching methods with support from a college learning teaching and scholarship development fund (LTSD).
- Embed peer support and peer-assisted learning schemes in all schools.
- Review roles and responsibilities associated with our student advisory system (UG/PGT).
- Apply the use of learning analytics to identify students who are at risk of disengaging with their education.
- Provide opportunities for staff to undertake scholarship projects that contribute to the evidence base on the use of learning analytics to enhance student learning.
Pillar 2: Transforming our curricula and assessment
This pillar consists of three cross cutting priorities:
- Reimagining our portfolio,
- Embedding our core values into the curricula and
- Assessment and feedback
To thrive in an increasingly competitive and globalised job market our students will require a world-class educational experience which provides international perspective and ideally outward mobility. Our aim is to recruit strong numbers of international students across all cohorts, maintaining the high calibre of applicant we currently enjoy, wherever possible from diverse geographies to a wide-ranging portfolio of programmes that emphasise our distinctiveness in healthcare, veterinary medicine and life sciences.
Our priorities:
- Apply an ‘evidence-based approach’ to inform strategic decision-making around UG/PGT programme review, development and student recruitment.
- Accredit as many of our UG/PGT degree programmes as possible.
- Work with other national and international institutions to improve student mobility and engage in university initiatives that enhance the intercultural experience of our students.
- Integrate emerging good practice on embedding diversity and equality into our curricula and making our teaching materials accessible.
- Support active inclusion of all learners and decolonisation of our curricula.
- Embed sustainability into our curricula.
- Engage and support initiatives arising from the Universities Student Well-being Framework.
- Incorporate the approach of learning through assessment into our curricula.
Pillar 3: Students' Professional and Skills Development
This pillar aims to improve the employability of our graduates through better alignment of our practical skills training and graduate attributes with those of future employers, and to ease transition to study by offering new routes of entry that support part-time learning.
To prepare our students to be ready for careers outside academia we will:
- Listen to our key stakeholders about the skills they are looking for in new graduates.
- Embed employability into our curricula, with industry experts and our global alumni involved with masterclasses and training workshops.
- Provide opportunities for students to volunteer and engage with local communities and schools.
- Work in partnership with our key stakeholders to create new opportunities for workplace learning, and industry sponsored student projects.
- Promote student engagement with external/internal short courses that enhance their digital literacy and personal development.
- Develop a college-wide graduate skills award scheme for undergraduate students.
- Explore opportunities to develop Professional/ Graduate Apprenticeships and new upskilling continuous professional development (CPD) courses and microcredentials with our key stakeholders and industry partners.
Pillar 4: Excellence in Learning, Teaching Practice and Scholarship
This pillar aims to foster a collegiate and supportive approach to the design, delivery, and management of our UG and PGT degrees to ensure we are agile enough to respond to emerging opportunities across all strategic priorities. A further aim is to create new opportunities for our educational focused staff (LTS) to develop their expertise and engage in the scholarship of learning and teaching.
Our priorities:
- Form a college-wide network to support the sharing of good academic practice that enables our more teaching focused staff to engage in the Scholarship of learning and teaching.
- Create a teaching framework that captures the requirements of different teaching delivery modalities (traditional/blended/online) for planning purposes.
- Provide funding opportunities that encourages collaborative working in partnership with students to address specific strategic goals.
- Establish a college wide scholarship buddy scheme that supports the development of our LTS staff and encourages cross college collaboration.
Vision
To deliver an internationally competitive portfolio of high-quality educational programmes that inspire, challenge and prepare our graduates for a wide range of careers and professions.
Values
- Integrity and Respect
- Curiosity and Creativity
- Critical Enquiry and Openness
- Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
- Wellbeing
Evolving our approach to teaching
Recognizing the importance of promoting student-centered active learning:
- Upskilling and promoting excellence in teaching and innovation
- Collaboration and working in partnership with students
- Peer support and peer-assisted learning
- Learning analytics to support learning
- Adopting and sharing good academic practice -GAPS network
- New scholarship opportunities
Transforming our curricula and assessment
Recognizing the importance of a world class student experience:
- An attractive suite of accredited UG/ PGT programmes
- Diverse international student population
- Greater opportunities for students
- Core values embedded in curricula
- Learning delivered through assessment
- Efficiencies in managing assessment and feedback
- Students feel part of a community of learners
Students' Professional and Skills Development
Recognizing the importance of gradate employability and providing new routes of entry to study:
- Embed employability into curricula
- Stakeholders involved in program design and projects
- Graduate Skills Award Schemes (UG/PGT)
- Better connected - global alumni/employers
- Greater student mobility
- International opportunities
- Head of college Scholarship Scheme
Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Scholarship
Recognising excellence in learning and teaching practice and scholarship:
- Equitable workload
- Flexibility in teaching delivery
- Improved efficiencies
- Research-led teaching
- Funding opportunities for Scholarship
- Staff upskilling and training opportunities
- Academic support- GAPS network
Inputs
- Investment to underpin excellence in learning and teaching practice and scholarship
- Informed decision making to support teaching delivery
- Investment in technology to enhance learning and teaching
- Porous structures to encourage collaboration
- Improved efficiencies to allow greater flexibility to manage teaching resource
Outcomes
- Enhanced reputation for providing a world class student experience.
- A modern attractive suite of internationally competitive UG /PGT programmes that are accessible to a more diverse group of learners.
- Staff who work in partnership with students to develop innovative teaching methods and approaches.
- Better alignment of UG and PGT teaching and pathways to study (UG/ PGT/PGR).
- Greater student mobility and opportunities for work-based learning.
- Graduates whose softer skills/graduate attributes are recognized through attainment of a graduate skills award.
- An increased reputation for excellence in Learning, Teaching and Scholarship.
- A college culture that celebrates excellence in teaching and invests in technology, training and developing their teaching staff.
- Enhanced opportunities for staff to share good academic practice and expertise through the GAPS network.
- Improved efficiencies in how we manage our teaching resource, offering greater flexibility to sustain future growth.
- Equitable workloads and more opportunities for teaching focused LTS staff to engage in scholarship.