Curriculum Challenges for Universities

Professor Jim Nyland is Associate Vice-Chancellor (Queensland) at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), Australia. Prior to this, he held academic appointments at the University of Queensland, Australia, where he was the Director of Corporate Education, and Director of UQ (University of Queensland) Business School Downtown.  Previously, Jim was Manager and Principal Advisor in the Vice-Chancellor’s Office for Engagement at Griffith University, Australia, and has held managerial positions in a number of universities in the United Kingdom. He holds a doctorate in Education and has published research covering curriculum change, the nature of learning, and the impact of modernity on educational opportunity. Jim’s work is international in scope, and he has developed education programs in the United Kingdom and Australia, as well as published keynote academic papers in Ireland, Strasbourg and South Africa. He is particularly interested in extending knowledge and capacities in ‘new learning’, both in work and professional settings, and in communities which are in transition and face challenges. He is President of Engagement Australia, Editor of the new Australian journal Transform: Journal of Engaged Scholarship, and represents Australia on the International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility and Democracy.  Professor David Davies is Professor Emeritus at the University of Derby, United Kingdom. He has published many works on access, widening participation and equalities over a long period. After researching and teaching in Germany, David worked for the Open University in the United Kingdom and at the universities of Surrey, Cambridge and Derby. He pioneered further and higher education provision, as well as research and the development of new doctoral degrees. He has edited three academic journals and is currently working on university engagement and the significance of literature for social analysis.

• INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.- CRITICAL THINKING AND ENGAGEMENT.- 1 Critical thinking for an engaged university.- 2 The university’s social and civic role: time for an appraisal.- 3 The university as a public educator: learning and teaching for engagement.- 4 A crisis of knowledge: themes for an engaged university curriculum.- KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURE.- 5 Freedom through education: a promise postponed.- 6 Dancing in Nazareth: real knowledge beyond the boundary.- 7 A learning curriculum: exploring the professional doctorate of educational practice.- ENGAGEMENT AND DEMOCRACY.- 8 Academic and scholarly freedom: towards a ‘disputing’ university with critically engaged students.- 9 Ways of knowing: towards an ecology of learning and community.- 10 Towards a 21st century approach to civic engagement locally and globally: a conversation between Professor James Nyland and Professor Richard Teare.- THE FUTURE: SLOW BURN OR FAST FORWARD.- 11 The burning world: transformation and sustainabilityor apocalypse?.- 12 Indigenous knowledge in Australia: imagining a different society.- 13 The new normal after coronavirus: is there anyone here from education?.- CONCLUSION.- 14 Learning that matters.