The processes to support the incorporation of graduate attributes into University of New England (UNE) courses aim to facilitate academic staff understanding of the integral role that graduate attributes play in developing students' generic skills and readiness for employment. At the same time, they also aim to enable students to recognise and value their own development of these skills.

The Attributes of a UNE Graduate Policy www.une.edu.au/gamanual/policy.pdf was approved by the UNE Council in 1998. The program to implement this policy and integrate graduate attributes into all courses has faced the following challenges:

• to make graduate attributes explicit in units and courses through actual teaching practice, as well as in formal course and unit documentation
• to provide graduate attribute learning opportunities for all students, including UNE's significant off-campus student cohort
• to help students become aware of their graduate attribute development
• to ensure graduate attributes are included within UNE's quality assurance processes for units and courses.

For each graduate attribute, exemplars were listed to illustrate the kind of skills a graduate should acquire. Since the initial development of the exemplars, discipline groups and course teaching teams across the University have engaged in a variety of small and large projects in which they have reviewed their teaching in the light of the graduate attributes policy. These reviews have resulted in changes to the way units and courses are described in formal documentation. The following typical process has been followed.

Step 1: Refine graduate attributes for course-level implementation.

• Translate UNE graduate attributes into the context of a specific course or a specific major within a course.
• Break down each graduate attribute into levels if applicable.

Step 2: Map graduate attributes at course or major level.

• Map graduate attributes at unit level.
• Identify those attributes that are taught/assessed implicitly.
• Identify those attributes that are taught/assessed explicitly.
• Combine unit information into a course summary or map.

Step 3: Analyse the course map from Step 2 for gaps or overlaps in graduate attributes.

• Identify units for gap filling.
• Identify existing teaching and assessment strategies or develop additional strategies.

Step 4: Implement changes at unit and course level if necessary.

Step 5: Document explicitly, where necessary, within units (e.g. in stated learning outcomes and assessment criteria) and in course descriptions.

Proposals for new units must include statements indicating how graduate attributes will be taught, practiced and/or assessed. Ongoing quality assurance processes include regular reviews. In these reviews, the extent to which graduate attribute development is supported within and across a unit and course of study is an explicit element for evaluation.

University Teaching Development projects have promoted better understanding of graduate attributes among academics and their students. One outcome has been the production of the Graduate Attributes Resource Guide: Integrating Graduate Attributes into Undergraduate Curricula www.une.edu.au/gamanual/resource_guide.pdf, which provides examples of how attributes can be integrated into undergraduate degrees.

Plans for the development of a student portfolio have also begun. This electronic portfolio will record the way in which students' formal university study contributes to the development of their graduate attribute skills.

An additional feature, unique to UNE, is the New England Award www.une.edu.au/nea. This is a structured, non-competitive award acknowledging graduate attribute development outside the formal curriculum, in activities such as:

• participation in social, cultural and sporting events
• leadership in residential communities
• UNE committee membership
• major event organisation
• casual work, both paid and voluntary.

Positive anecdotal evidence from academic staff strongly suggests that graduate attribute mapping and integrating activities are exercises that generate great enthusiasm and interest in teaching. Quality assurance processes have served to ensure that formal unit and course documentation increasingly highlights graduate attribute development so that UNE publicly acknowledges and examines the support it provides for graduate attribute learning. Reviews of units and courses promote and support reflection on practice, and review reports comment on evidence of how graduate attributes are taught, assessed and practiced. Finally, the trend in Course Experience Questionnaire data shows an increasing student awareness of generic skills development.

Development and implementation of the graduate attributes systems has been assisted by competitive Teaching Development Grants allocated to specific projects. In 2004 a total of $120 000 was allocated to two such projects; otherwise, the primary resource required is staff time, normally provided within existing budget allocations. Teaching staff have provided input and ideas as they engaged in the mapping and analysis exercises. Course and unit coordinators have reviewed documentation to ensure that graduate attributes are reflected in formal statements about units and courses. Members of discipline groups, Boards of Studies, School and Faculty Teaching and Learning Committees, and the Academic Board Teaching and Learning Committee have all provided feedback in their role as quality assurance monitors. The Teaching and Learning Centre offers academic staff development resources to support the integration of graduate attributes into courses, including assistance in making graduate attributes explicit within teaching and learning.

Additions are being made to the list of graduate attribute exemplars to highlight an international perspective.

© 2010 Australian Universities Quality Agency