Graduate Education StrandDr Emer Cunningham

QAA Scotland :The 21st century Doctorate- Sharing European Developments 18th March 2011, Brussels

DRHEA Graduate Education

GRADUATE EDUCATION

The Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) is a unique collaboration of higher education institutions across the greater Dublin region funded by the Strategic innovation Fund Cycle 2

There are four strands to the DRHEA 1) Graduate Education 2) Enhancement of Learning 3) Widening Participation and 4) Internationalisation

DRHEA Graduate Education

GRADUATE EDUCATION

The aim of the DRHEA Graduate Education Strand is to deliver a general, cost-effective and scalable approach to inter-institutional graduate programmes, encompassing advanced taught courses as a platform for research, which far exceeds the potential of six individual institutions working separately.

Inter-institutional Network

GRADUATE EDUCATION

An inter-institutional network with discipline leaders, academic staff (module coordinators, supervisors) and PhD students across six disciplines:

Chemistry

Physics

Economics

Biomedical Science

Politics/Sociology/Public

Policy

Engineering

Oversight & Coordination

GRADUATE EDUCATION

DRHEA Graduate Education Coordination Committee

(Deans/Graduate Education Leaders)

Chemistry

Physics

Economics

Biomedical Science

Politics/Sociology/Public

Policy

Engineering

1. Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance

2. Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA

3. Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange

4. Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA

Specific Goals

GRADUATE EDUCATION

1. Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance

2. Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA

3. Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange

4. Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA

Specific Goals

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Modules and Master Classes

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Academic Year

Modules Master Classes /Research Days

2008/9 50 10

2009/10 60 12

2010/11 90 5+

Module Offering 10/11

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Module Offering 10/11

GRADUATE EDUCATION

1. Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance

2. Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA

3. Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange

4. Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA

Specific Goals

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Modules and Credits

GRADUATE EDUCATION

• Module Descriptors with full information maintained locally within each institution and linked via web

• EQF level 7 & 8 (NQF level 9 &10) modules using European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)

1. Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance

2. Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA

3. Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange

4. Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA

Specific Goals

GRADUATE EDUCATION

DRHEA Collaborative Agreement

GRADUATE EDUCATION

• To enable module delivery, student mobility and credit exchange across the DRHEA

• Signed by the Registrar or equivalent from the six participating institutions in June 2009

Enrolment & Credit TransferGRADUATE

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• Challenges of capturing data for

– Module Enrolment– Mobility– Student Record

• Online form with common interface to existing systems

• Local assessment with results and credits transferred at the appropriate time

1. Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance

2. Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA

3. Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange

4. Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA

Specific Goals

GRADUATE EDUCATION

1. Mobility Tracking2. Joint Module Design & Delivery3. Plenary Conference- held in UCD, April 20104. Website/ Plenary Conference Report

Removing Constraints

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Mobility Tracking

GRADUATE EDUCATION

UCD

TCD

NUIM

Bilateral Flow Chart of Credits2009-10 Academic Year

45

45

20

10

90

65

each module: worth 5 credits

Economics 09/10 Biomedical Sciences 09/10

• 08/09 & 09/10: local mobility tracking, varied reporting• 10/11ff: centralised tracking enabling better and more

uniform reporting

Template for Reporting Activities

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Title of module/ master class

Host Institution

Student attendance (No)UCD DCU TCD NUIM

Policy Evaluation UCD

Political and International Relations Theory

DCU

Introduction to Quantitative Methods

TCD

Spatial Data and GIS

NUIM

Research Design TCD

Conflict Resolution

UCD

DRHEA Student taking a Module in partner institution

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Seeking good practice in

GRADUATE EDUCATION

• Registering students• Recording results of student activities• Translation of results between institutions: Equivalency table in the making but try to guide towards Pass/Fail /Distinction for PhD level modules• Transfer of the student data back to their home institutions

International examples

Harvard and MIT ‘cross-registration’:- manual systemWestern Canadian Deans of Graduate Studies Agreement:- manual system

GRADUATE EDUCATION

Challenge :

6 partners6 unique student information systems that do not communicate with each other6  sets of processes and procedures for student registration

Questions

1. How best to registering students2. How to keep a record of student activities3. How do we translate of results between institutions4. How do we transfer the student results to home institution

GRADUATE EDUCATIONGRADUATE

EDUCATIONGRADUATE

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