HE Course Planning
Support with higher education course concepts, course design planning, academic rationale, governance approval pathways and documentation for proposed courses of study.
Developing Course Concepts With Academic and Regulatory Discipline
E-Skills Australia assists higher education providers and prospective providers to plan proposed courses of study in a structured, academically credible and HESF-aware manner.
Higher education course planning should begin well before a course accreditation application is prepared. The provider needs a clear course concept, rationale, qualification level, intended student cohort, graduate outcomes, admission requirements, learning outcomes, course structure, staffing profile, learning resources, assessment approach, scholarship expectations and quality assurance pathway.
Our support focuses on helping providers move from an initial course idea to a coherent course planning framework that can be considered by academic governance bodies and further developed into high-quality course documentation.
HESF Domain 3 focuses on teaching, including course design, staffing and learning resources. TEQSA expects course documentation to provide enough detail about the conceptual underpinning of course design for a relevant subject expert to form a view on whether the course meets the Standards.
Key HESF Areas Relevant to Course Planning
Our HE course planning support is guided by relevant HESF areas, including:
- HESF 3.1 Course Design: course rationale, learning outcomes, structure, assessment design, advanced knowledge, inquiry and alignment with AQF level.
- HESF 3.2 Staffing: academic leadership, staff capability, qualifications, scholarship, supervision and teaching expertise.
- HESF 3.3 Learning Resources and Educational Support: access to appropriate learning resources, systems and academic support.
- HESF 5.1 Course Approval and Accreditation: internal academic scrutiny and approval before external accreditation.
- HESF 5.3 Monitoring, Review and Improvement: planned course monitoring, review and improvement over time.
- HESF 7.1 and 7.2 Representation and Student Information: accurate public course information and sufficient information for prospective and current students.
Course Concept and Planning Support
We can assist with:
- Initial course concept development
- Course rationale and market need framing
- AQF level and qualification type analysis
- Proposed course structure and sequencing
- Graduate attributes and course learning outcomes
- Unit structure and indicative unit profiles
- Admission requirements and student cohort assumptions
- Assessment strategy and academic integrity considerations
- Staffing and academic leadership planning
- Scholarship and disciplinary currency expectations
- Learning resources and library/resource planning
- Work-integrated learning or placement concept planning, if applicable
- Professional accreditation considerations, if applicable
- Academic governance approval pathway
- Course proposal papers for internal academic consideration
From Course Idea to Governance-Ready Proposal
Our work can support the development of documents such as:
- Course concept paper
- Course rationale and strategic fit paper
- Course design brief
- AQF alignment summary
- Graduate outcomes and employability rationale
- Course structure and unit map
- Draft course rules or course requirements
- Draft admission criteria
- Teaching, learning and assessment approach
- Staffing and academic leadership plan
- Learning resources plan
- Industry and academic consultation plan
- Academic governance submission paper
- Course development action plan
Through Academic Governance and Course Development
Once a course concept is endorsed, E-Skills can continue to support the provider through the next stages of development, guided by the academic governance body and management team. This may include:
- Coordinating course documentation development
- Supporting consultation and external review processes
- Assisting with course accreditation evidence preparation
- Developing course management and quality assurance documentation
- Supporting learning and assessment framework documentation
- Preparing course monitoring and review templates
- Supporting policy and procedure alignment
- Preparing documentation for governing body or academic board consideration