About this project
As Mark Andrews and Debbie McVitty have noted in WonkHE ‘curriculum change is everywhere’ in Higher Education. Across the sector, institutions are embarking on—or considering—wide-scale programme reform. These changes are driven not only by financial pressures but also by a growing demand for inclusive teaching and learning, and for graduates who are ready to thrive in the workplace.
Yet, the current financial climate and post-pandemic context make this a challenging time for universities to undertake large-scale institutional change. Strategic curriculum reform can sometimes feel imposed—done to staff and students rather than done with them. Proposals aimed at fostering interdisciplinarity, improving consistency in student experience, and enhancing skills development can also raise concerns about the preservation of disciplinary identities and academic freedom.
This is the backdrop and motivation for our QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Project.
Who’s involved?
The project is led by senior academic and professional services colleagues at the University of Exeter, in partnership with their counterparts at the Universities of Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle, SOAS, and Salford. Amongst the partners:
- Leeds and Reading are well advanced,
- Exeter and Bristol are beginning implementation,
- SOAS, Salford, and Newcastle are in the early discovery and development phase.
This diversity offers a rich opportunity to reflect on and evaluate curricular reform from multiple perspectives—whether starting out, delivering change, or reviewing impact. These insights are shaping the development of our project resources and are vital to understanding the full lifecycle of whole-institution curriculum review.
Who Benefits?
Our project is designed to support a wide range of stakeholders across the university and the broader HE sector:
🎓 University Education Leaders
- A community of practice for those leading curricular reform
- A student co-designed toolkit for multi-stakeholder engagement in programme (re)design
👩🏫 Educators
- Practical guidance on curriculum innovation
- Resources for skills mapping, piloting, scaling, and stakeholder engagement
🧑🎓 Student Community and Leaders
- Case studies and resources to support student leadership in curriculum (re)design
- Focus on inclusion, belonging, wellbeing, and employability
🏛️ UK HE Sector
- Support for long-term sector sustainability
- Insights from institutions already engaged in reform
- Resources to help providers develop market-attractive curricula aligned with TEF, graduate outcomes, and financial resilience
What’s next?
This blog site will host open-source resources to help universities engage their whole community in curriculum reform—through consultation, participation, and collaboration. In addition, we’ll also be running online and on-campus events, offering opportunities for networking and shared learning.