Checklist for a Program Description (Barker 2016)

  • A clear statement of general purpose and characteristics
  • Program objectives and alignment to institutional mission
  • Program length, content and level
  • Sponsoring school/college/department
  • Formal contact persons
  • Qualification to be awarded with links to NQF
  • Proposed start date and anticipated first cohort graduation
  • Partner institutions and evidence of academic relationships
  • Target students, prerequisites/co-requisites and admissions requirements
  • Anticipated numbers of students and staff
  • Program/content complexity and specialization
  • Alignment to identified needs (institutional goals)
  • Learning focus (distribution of learning from theory to practice)
  • Curriculum source and credibility
  • Assessment methods and marking scheme
  • Assessment balance (from theoretical to applied)
  • Achievement standards and international benchmarks
  • Learning facilities and resources
  • Community / industry linkages and resources
  • Staff types, qualifications and experience
  • Teaching-research nexus
  • Credit allocation of core and elective learning
  • Completion requirements:  core courses and number of credits
  • Graduate attributes with assessment strategies
  • Rules of progression (pathways) to other types of qualifications
  • Quality assurance strategies and measures
  • Medium-term and long-term development plans
  • A list of all courses with intended learning outcomes aligned to course objectives.
  • Other