Graduate Qualities

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Writing program outcomes

Overview

The learning outcomes of a program are a specific statement of what will have been learned by students who have completed that program of study. They clarify for stakeholders, particularly employers, the knowledge, skills and attributes a successful graduate can be expected to have when they begin professional practice. They are measurable or assessable components of the program. Student academic results reflect the relative degree of success in achieving the graduate qualities defined in the program outcomes.

Writing program outcomes

In Section 5 of the Program approval document, you are required to write program specific outcomes against each of the seven graduate qualities. To write your program outcomes, you must imagine the ideal graduate not the ideal student. Define and describe this desired graduate by asking members of the program team the following questions:

• What can an employer expect your graduates to be able to do?
• What can an employer expect your graduates to know?
• How can an employer expect your graduates to behave?

Use consultation with employers and professional societies to help you identify what is required of your graduates in various employment situations.

Graduate qualities as program outcome

At UniSA the desired graduate embodies the graduate qualities. However, the list of graduate qualities are only a generic description of the ideal UniSA graduate. Your program outcomes must indicate the interpretation of those qualities within your industry or sector. To do this, you need to identify the particular form of each of these qualities in the specific industry.

• What does each graduate quality 'look like' within the particular professional context your graduates will enter?

To answer this question, you need to ask what each graduate quality means in this field and indicate how your ideal graduate will display that quality in their professional activities.

• Graduate quality 1: What constitutes a working body of knowledge in this field?
• Graduate quality 2: What role does lifelong learning play in this field? How will your graduate’s practices indicate a willingness to update skills and knowledge in this kind of workplace?
• Graduate quality 3: What kinds of problems are common in the field? How will your ideal graduate approach solving problems in the workplace?
• Graduate quality 4: What kinds of group work are common in the workplace? How important is autonomous practice? What kinds of relationship management experiences has your ideal graduate had?
• Graduate quality 5: What are the frameworks which produce ethical and socially responsible practice in this field? What experience of industry ethics has your ideal graduate encountered through his/her program?
• Graduate quality 6: What are the different forms of communication used in this field? Which skills will a graduate have in relation to these different forms?
• Graduate quality 7: What is the global form of the industry your graduates will enter? What skills will your graduate have that will enable him/her to work within this international context?

These form the indicators of the graduate qualities in your program. It is important to map out the courses in your program and identify how the assessment contributes to the development of the graduate qualities required for your program (for more information, see Assessment tasks and development of graduate qualities. Remember that there should also be a progression of development throughout the program (for more information, see Progression through a program).

For further assistance in developing your program or courses in relation to graduate qualities, please contact the Academic Development team.

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