Construction graduate salaries : the real story

Construction degrees are in significant demand in Australian universities. Entry students believe that graduation will lead to well-paid industry employment. Previous studies have identified trends in graduate starting salaries, but often combine categories of graduates to produce inadequate generalisations and salary averages. This study, conducted at RMIT University, Melbourne, examined a specific cohort of construction management students and provided an insight into their employment conditions and starting salaries. The results provide useful up to date information for undergraduate students and academic staff alike.

The final piece of the puzzle : assessment of information literacy in graduate medical students

Deakin University graduate entry medical students come from a varied knowledge base with regard to information research.

Assessment for the learning outcomes of information literacy modules will help to determine effective development of information searching skills for future clinical practice, teaching effectiveness, and identification of skills requiring additional support.

Assessment aims to provide encouragement to engage with the content being taught.

Developing graduate knowledge and skills for the world of work: The case of the translation curriculum in Vietnam

National and global challenges have given rise to the need to prepare Vietnamese graduates for effective adaptation to the increasingly changing professional field, their community, their society and the globalised world. The tertiary education curriculum thus needs to take into account the employment market, socio-cultural demands and students’ individual needs in order to develop highly educated populations for the world of work and for the current knowledge economy.

Based on a case study of the translation curriculum in a B.A. (Bachelors of Arts) language program, this paper addresses the mismatch between the demands of the translation employment market and the curriculum within the context of Vietnamese tertiary education. It raises a number of important issues related to the tensions between the centralised curriculum, learner-centred education, the actual demands of the employment market as well as the issue of capacity building in response to the socialist-oriented market economy and the changing workplace context in Vietnam. Implications are drawn not only for the translation curriculum, but also for the reform of the Vietnamese tertiary education curriculum as a whole, in order to enhance graduate employability.

Constructive alignment in the built environment: enhancing teaching in line with graduate outcomes

The paper examines the manner in which to review an undergraduate degree in construction management using a top-down approach known as “Constructive Alignment”. The research addresses not only the perceived teaching problems, but it also discusses the methods used to rejuvenate the course in a manner that aligns with the graduate outcomes. However, it was also clear that teaching staff were not especially aware of the need to address the course learning outcomes. This highlighted the need for teaching staff to be involved in a process of constructive alignment to embed the course learning outcomes within their subjects, while also addressing the teaching issues involved with assessment. This process provided an opportunity to determine the incremental skill and knowledge development, both within the subjects, as well as between subjects across the course. The paper concludes with the production of a conceptual framework, which can be used to assist with the alignment of professional standards, course outcomes and graduate attributes into a discipline-specific degree program.

Graduate students lend their voices : reflections on the 10th seminar in health and environmental education research

Graduate students were invited by their faculty advisors to attend the 10
th Seminar in Health and Environmental Education Research. Afterward, they were encouraged to comment on their experiences, involvement, and positioning. Two main authors developed survey questions and retrieved, analyzed, and synthesized the responses of four other graduate students. The overall experience of attending an invitational research seminar evoked various ideas about graduate students’ present and future roles in research communities.