A week after its announcement the completely new curriculum structure proposed for Macquarie U is going down with staff ok-ish. Changes to date run to the cosmetic, for example, varying the names of core and optional subject groups from “red/purple zone” to “core/fexible zone.” And the most adamant opposition appears confined to people whose fave courses will not easily fit into the new models.

But overall, observers of the process say the generality of responses range from acceptance to enthusiasm as staff get their heads around the structure of the system and the shape of new degree programmes.

The challenge now is to get it into shape for the 2020 academic year and that means administrators working on translating around 25 000 students from the old degree architecture to the new – which only seems easy to people who will not have to do the work.

But once done that will be that? Not quite. There is still the matter of course content. Management says this is a matter for the people who run courses but that the new architecture, “provides an excellent opportunity for departments and faculties to review course and unit content.”