The innovative Australian university: the role of 3rd generation postgraduate research programmes

The innovative Australian university: the role of 3rd generation postgraduate research programmes

There is overwhelming consensus that the time is right to reimagine higher education especially in the postgraduate research domain. Yet, universities are very slow to change with many exhibiting a monolithic group-think, defensiveness and resistance to change. This limits their ability to re-define the mission of their institutions through the awards they offer thus missing out on opportunities to optimise their value in times that demand greater higher education engagement. Postgraduate education has always been important to universities primarily in the area of research and / or contributing to professional practice. The emergence of professional postgraduate awards presented universities with a unique challenge: how to translate the advanced practice needs of professionals in the modern era, into postgraduate programs. The result to date has mostly focused on deepening (often dated) theoretical knowledge within a discipline area and applying this in a minor research component as a smaller proportion of the full award.

Universities should recognise that the governmental and workforce demands for higher education collaboration has doubled domestically. Yet governments and industry are increasingly frustrated by the lack of alignment with universities. As recently as 2015 the ‘rise of professional doctorates’ seems to indicate an increased need for postgraduate professional awards but little has changed in terms of the format, delivery and outcomes of the majority of these awards. This is a highly relevant issue that a) indicates the limited extent to which Australian higher education has responded to the shift and b) illustrates how higher education can contribute to the increasing demand for university / private sector collaboration and the generation of relevant original knowledge in professional practice. Universities should recognise the enormous potential of research undertaken by professionals that are in their mid- to senior-career. Driven by increasing lifelong learning aspirations, self- directed career development and a credential-driven employment environment, non-academic professionals are increasingly turning to higher education a) to validate and contribute knowledge informally gained in practice; and b) engage in contemporary non-traditional academic offerings that contribute to their professional development.

Traditional offerings, while still critical, fail to formally recognise the significant levels of multi-disciplinary professional knowledge of practicing professionals wishing to engage in higher education. Within current university offerings, the notion of more contemporary forms of multi-disciplinary postgraduate research aimed at recognising this unique need and opportunity, is limited and rare. A key premise of this paper is that current postgraduate research offerings in Australia are generally still embedded in traditional paradigms related to disciplinary knowledge acquisition (rather than professional practice research impact) and that their host institutions have been slow to adjust to rapid change and the priorities typifying the 21st century. A response to this ‘lack of fit’ between practice, further professional educational needs and the higher education sector, may lie in what are being termed ‘3rd generation’ postgraduate programmes.

This paper explores the notion of ‘3rd generation’ postgraduate studies and how they may address these issues. It describes an evidenced form of such a program and defines its underlying principles, delivery, community, assessment and rationale. The paper also outlines what tensions may emerge in universities in adopting such programmes.

Abstract only published in Conference Handbook.