There is more than hits and memories in Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis’s farewell year at the University of Melbourne.
Yesterday the university announced the Melbourne School of Professional and Continuing Education.
MSPACE will, “offer lifelong learning opportunities for professionals across all academic areas for people at all stages of their career.”
According to Professor Davis, “radical developments in the technology landscape, primarily associated with the rise of the internet and associated digital media and tools, have opened up new possibilities in the provision of, participation in, and access to, education.”
“There is a clear demand for education providers to respond to the needs of graduates in local and international communities who will increasingly be seeking opportunities to re-skill throughout their careers,” he says.
The school will be based in Business and Economics, with a head now being recruited, who will have to hit the ground less running than sprinting given MSPACE is scheduled to start on January 1.
But how will it work, you ask. Here’s how, PVC Teaching and Learning Gregor Kennedy explained to CMM;
“The school will bring together and integrate key areas of the university that already provide programs in continuing, professional and executive education. In partnership with the university’s faculties and graduate schools, MSPACE will deliver existing courses and it will also build a suite of new programs.
“A range of delivery models will be used and it is expected there will be a reliance on campus-based intensive, online-learning and custom modes of delivery, all designed to meet the needs of professionals interested in furthering their education.
“The programmes designed and delivered by MSPACE will be aligned with the current award, credit and fee arrangements in place at the university.
“The establishment of the school will also provide further opportunities for the university to investigate its credentialing ecosystem, such as its recent pilot of issuing certificates on the blockchain.”
Last month the university announced the flexible academic programming scheme, intended to reform and refresh courses and develop digital delivery for big-enrolment subjects (CMM October 9).
That was big, so is this.