Breadcrumb Links:

Graduate Attributes

Discipline-specific skills in many areas have only a short life and what will be needed in even the medium term cannot be predicted with any great precision. Therefore "higher level" graduate attributes are seen as critically important. The term "Graduate Attributes" refers to the set of qualities and skills that a university defines as core outcomes for their students. These provide a foundation for students' employability as well as underlying the development of their human capabilities. The qualities and skills in CQUniversity's Graduate Attribute set complement students' discipline-specific skills. This ensures that CQUniversity graduates are flexible, aware, and ethical individuals who are well prepared for the global job market.CQUniversity graduate attributes that our graduates should possess upon graduation are:  

  • Communication
  • Problem solving
  • Critical thinking
  • Information literacy  
  • Team work
  • Information technology competence
  • Cross cultural competence
  • Ethical practice

Eight attributes have been identified as the preferred CQUniversity graduate attributes. CQUniversity also recognises that each program may have their own discipline-specific skills that may be required for external accreditation purposes or to enhance the employment outcomes of graduates. To ensure that graduate attributes are embedded within courses at CQUniversity, graduate (and discipline) attributes are identified within each new program or course proposal prior to approval by the University's academic governance committees. 

Fact sheet: CQUniversity Graduate Attributes

CQUniversity's Graduate Attributes are organised into three categories: Generic skills, Intellectual nurturing,  Discipline specific skills

and each category is organised into three levels of achievement: Introductory (end of Year 1); Intermediate (at the end of Year 2 or 3); and Graduate (end of final year).

How can I get assistance in mapping or teaching  my course's graduate attributes?

The Educational Development Team in the Office of Learning and Teaching can provide advice and assistance in considering, mapping or assisting your students to achieve graduate attributes. Please contact them on ed-dev@cqu.edu.au. Our Educational Developers work in liaison with different areas of the University. Their assigned roles are available here.

Why should I be interested in graduate attributes?

Graduate Attributes describes the qualities or characteristics that graduates of undergraduate programs are expected to acquire as a result of their study. These attributes are the responsibility of the academic providers and award granting institutions. Graduate attributes are not separate elements of courses and programs, but are embedded and integrated, and now they are explicitly noted.

Why the focus on graduate attributes?

Graduate attributes, also known as generic skills or generic attributes, are becoming increasing important to Australian universities due to increased scrutiny over graduate quality by both government and industry accrediting bodies. Graduate attributes have emerged as an important outcome due to a number of factors including these provided by UTas:

  • It is no longer sufficient for graduates to simply acquire disciplinary knowledge to guarantee them a job at the completion of their degree.
  • Increasingly, employers expect their recruits to be able to function efficiently in an ever-changing work environment. In order to be able to do this, graduates must be able to solve problems, communicate effectively with clients and colleagues, work in teams, think critically, be creative and have sound information technology skills.
  • These days, knowledge becomes very quickly dated. Graduates, in order to maintain their place in the employment market, must become flexible and adaptable to the changing conditions. They need to become lifelong learners, open to new ideas and new ways of learning and thinking.
  • Graduates need to achieve and demonstrate to employers their acquisition of generic skills that can be applied in a number of contexts.

Embedding of GAs in courses at CQUniversity

To find out about the embedding of GAs in courses at CQUniversity, please watch a short (4 minute) video   demonstrating the work the Educational Development Team has been doing to support academic staff in mapping graduate attributes. The link to this video is:

http://www.screencast.com/t/NWVjYmI3OGY

Other graduate attributes projects

The B Factor Project: Understanding academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes

Visit The B Factor Project website for information about a nationally funded discipline-based project on academic staff beliefs about graduate attributes. This is a two-year project funded by the Australian Learning & Teaching Council, led by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

You are invited to view these resources for ideas that may aid you in   developing your own models and strategies for teaching CQUniversity Graduate Attributes.