A $100,000 grant from the Carrick Institute has been awarded to researchers to consider how to identify and help solve the challenges facing business education in Australia.
The project, titled Business as Usual? A collaborative and inclusive investigation of the existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties, was awarded to the Teaching and Learning Network of the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) which consists of 37 university business faculties from across Australia.
It is the first time funding has been awarded to a scoping project of this type to be conducted by a discipline grouping rather than an individual or small team.
Business as Usual was one of fifteen applications considered in the Carrick Institute’s 2006 round of Discipline-Based Initiatives Scheme which will fund discipline-based initiatives to address contemporary and future-oriented challenges to higher education including globalisation, internationalisation, collaboration, generic and discipline specific graduate capabilities, and quality assurance.
ABDC Teaching and Learning Network Chair Professor Mark Freeman said the project would consider what opportunities and barriers face Australian business faculties and what resources and strategies are available to address them.
“The grant will allow us to scope and research key issues affecting the business discipline and develop a baseline of information to guide future planning to address commonly agreed priorities for business education,” Professor Freeman said.
“Discussion among universities, employer associations, industry groups and international business support networks will be a key component in this project.”
The project will build upon a 2002 AUTC-funded work Australian Business Education Study that considered the state of business education in Australia, and will consider domestic and international activities that have impacted the discipline area in the five years since the study’s completion.
It is expected the completed scoping investigation will be used by the Carrick Institute to identify possible research, development and innovation projects in teaching and learning in business education which could be eligible for funding in later rounds of the Institute’s research grants.
The grant follows a recent ABDC-commissioned report into the value of business education in Australia. The 2005 Access Economics study confirmed that the average business graduate adds considerably more value to the economy, the sector and the individual in the form of higher taxation revenue, personal income and greater productivity than the net benefit generated by graduates with non-business tertiary qualifications.
Professor Freeman said the successful grant application was evidence of a concerted group effort from representatives of the Network’s 37 member institutions.
“The grant reflects the Network is working exactly the way it should be and is well on its way to making major contributions to teaching and learning in business education across Australia,” he said.
The ABDC is a national council comprising Deans, Heads and Directors of Australian University business faculties and schools. The council seeks to advance and promote business education and research and does this through collective representation of business faculties and schools and their needs to government, industry and the community.
Membership of the Teaching and Learning Associate Deans Sub-Group comprises Teaching and Learning Associate Deans, Sub Deans and coordinators from Business Schools and Faculties that are members of the ABDC.
For further information please contact:
Associate Professor Mark Freeman
Chair, ABDC Teaching and Learning Network
Telephone: 02 9036 5030
Email: m.freeman@econ.usyd.edu.au
|
|
|
The promotion of excellence
in business education and research, and recognition
of their value and contribution to the Australian economy
and community in general
