Graduate Education Strand Dr Emer Cunningham QAA Scotland :The 21 st century Doctorate- Sharing European Developments 18 th March 2011, Brussels

DRHEA Graduate Education GRADUATE EDUCATION The Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) is a unique collaboration of higher education institutions across the greater Dublin region funded by the Strategic innovation Fund Cycle 2 There are four strands to the DRHEA 1) Graduate Education 2)Enhancement of Learning 3) Widening Participation and 4) Internationalisation

DRHEA Graduate Education GRADUATE EDUCATION The aim of the DRHEA Graduate Education Strand is to deliver a general, cost-effective and scalable approach to inter-institutional graduate programmes, encompassing advanced taught courses as a platform for research, which far exceeds the potential of six individual institutions working separately.

Inter-institutional Network GRADUATE EDUCATION An inter-institutional network with discipline leaders, academic staff (module coordinators, supervisors) and PhD students across six disciplines: Chemistry Physics Economics Biomedical Science Politics/Sociology/ Public Policy Engineering

Oversight & Coordination GRADUATE EDUCATION DRHEA Graduate Education Coordination Committee (Deans/Graduate Education Leaders) Chemistry Physics Economics Biomedical Science Politics/Sociology/ Public Policy Engineering

1.Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance 2.Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA 3.Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange 4.Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA Specific Goals GRADUATE EDUCATION

1.Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance 2.Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA 3.Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange 4.Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA Specific Goals GRADUATE EDUCATION

Modules and Master Classes GRADUATE EDUCATION Academic Year ModulesMaster Classes /Research Days 2008/ / /11905+

Module Offering 10/11 GRADUATE EDUCATION   

Module Offering 10/11 GRADUATE EDUCATION

1.Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance 2.Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA 3.Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange 4.Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA Specific Goals GRADUATE EDUCATION

Modules and Credits GRADUATE EDUCATION Module Descriptors with full information maintained locally within each institution and linked via web EQF level 7 & 8 (NQF level 9 &10) modules using European Credit Transfer System (ECTS)  

1.Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance 2.Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA 3.Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange 4.Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA Specific Goals GRADUATE EDUCATION

DRHEA Collaborative Agreement GRADUATE EDUCATION To enable module delivery, student mobility and credit exchange across the DRHEA Signed by the Registrar or equivalent from the six participating institutions in June 2009

Enrolment & Credit Transfer GRADUATE EDUCATION Challenges of capturing data for – Module Enrolment – Mobility – Student Record Online form with common interface to existing systems Local assessment with results and credits transferred at the appropriate time

1.Provide discipline-specific taught modules and Master Classes to doctoral students across the alliance 2.Establish an inter-institutional credit structure for students of DRHEA 3.Provide the administrative infrastructure within and across the institutions to ensure student mobility and credit exchange 4.Remove constraints on the development of graduate programmes across the DRHEA Specific Goals GRADUATE EDUCATION

1.Mobility Tracking 2.Joint Module Design & Delivery 3.Plenary Conference- held in UCD, April Website/ Plenary Conference Report Removing Constraints GRADUATE EDUCATION

Mobility Tracking GRADUATE EDUCATION Economics 09/10 Biomedical Sciences 09/10 08/09 & 09/10: local mobility tracking, varied reporting 10/11ff: centralised tracking enabling better and more uniform reporting

Template for Reporting Activities GRADUATE EDUCATION Title of module/ master class Host Institution Student attendance (No) UCDDCUTCDNUIM Policy EvaluationUCD Political and International Relations Theory DCU Introduction to Quantitative Methods TCD Spatial Data and GIS NUIM Research DesignTCD Conflict Resolution UCD

DRHEA Student taking a Module in partner institution GRADUATE EDUCATION Student completes the relevant DRHEA online registration form with the agreement of their supervisor Student contacts module coordinator to confirm that they have the prerequisite qualifications and there is capacity Administrator in Graduate Office registers student to module on institutional student information system ( Student Number generated) Module Coordinator inputs student results to student information system External student can access results online using their Student number Student transcript can be generated to give to home institution

Seeking good practice in GRADUATE EDUCATION Registering students Recording results of student activities Translation of results between institutions: Equivalency table in the making but try to guide towards Pass/Fail /Distinction for PhD level modules Transfer of the student data back to their home institutions International examples Harvard and MIT ‘cross-registration’:- manual system Western Canadian Deans of Graduate Studies Agreement:- manual system

GRADUATE EDUCATION Challenge : 6 partners 6 unique student information systems that do not communicate with each other 6 sets of processes and procedures for student registration

Questions 1.How best to registering students 2.How to keep a record of student activities 3.How do we translate of results between institutions 4.How do we transfer the student results to home institution GRADUATE EDUCATION GRADUATE EDUCATION GRADUATE EDUCATION