Symposium on Curriculum Development in Higher Education
Changes in a society immediately require corresponding changes in the curriculum of higher
education institutions presumably because it is the end of formal education and the last
opportunity for entry into the world of work. Besides, higher education has the capacity to
constantly investigate itself in order to make adjustment to improve both its internal and
external efficiency. Also, new developments in various fields and new thinking and visions
necessitate changes in the curriculum in higher education.
With the explosion of knowledge and increasing sophistication of technology, higher
education programs need to be frequently reviewed and developed to keep pace with the
needs of society and the learners. This symposium is an initiative to brainstorm the most
suitable procedure to be adopted as a guide to undertaking curriculum review and
development at the higher education level. The participants, who are invited from relevant
fields in academia as well as the industry, will review the current practices of curriculum
development in higher education and will have focus group discussions to recommend changes
for improving the current practices.
Objectives
Advances in knowledge and technology also make curriculum revision necessary so as to
incorporate the new and relevant developments to keep pace with the needs of society and
industry. In some cases, a new subject may need to be added to the existing program and this
new subject should be developed using existing materials in similar programmes elsewhere as
resources.
This activity is initiated with a set of objectives in view:
1. Placing higher education in its local milieu from the international context that is kept in
view when transplanting educational practices.
2. Identifying and filling the gaps that currently exist in higher education curriculum
planning.
3. Responding to the needs of society.
4. Responding to the needs of related industries.
5. Fulfilling the curriculum development needs with regards to coordination and
alignment.
6. Improving horizontal and vertical relationship in curriculum
7. Responding to research evidence from internal and external efficiency studies of the
higher education sub-sector.
8. Reviewing and revising the curriculum on regular bases for continuous improvement
9. Development of an appropriate format for the construction of interdisciplinary
curriculum for different disciplines
Dimensions to be included during discussion
1. The concept of curriculum in its broader sense that may incorporate the learning
process outside the classroom
2. The basic components of curriculum
a. Aims/goals and objectives and their relevance with foundations of education and
also with the world of work.
b. Multi-resource Content and its selection criteria
c. Learning activities, their relationship with learning experiences and selection
criteria.
d. evaluation of curriculum
3. Current approaches of curriculum development in the advanced countries.
4. Approaches of curriculum development in different fields of education including
medicine, engineering, agriculture etc.
5. Horizontal and vertical relationship of curriculum.
6. Discussing the problems related to curriculum development specific to different fields of
education
7. Devising a mechanism for curriculum review and revision of curriculum on periodic
bases while maintaining the specificity of each field of education.
Expected Outcome
A white paper highlighting specific recommendations on the theme and the objective of this
symposium, including views of participants, will be issued after the symposium. The outcome
will serve as a guideline to improve the process of preparing the curriculum development
document/s at HEC. A web link for the symposium will be created, and the registration form,
documentation, statements and presentations will be posted there. A separate page for
comments and suggestions will also be there to get inputs from those who cannot attend the
symposium personally.
Format
The Symposium will begin with an inaugural session, followed by a key note speaker
session. After the inaugural session one hour parallel focus group discussions of eight
disciplines will be held. Then after the lunch and prayer break there will be a further two hours
focused group and one hour activity to develop recommendation sheets. A moderator in each
group with the help of three panelists may record all the key points and develop the
recommendation sheets.
The group discussions will focus on inventing the best way to develop curriculum in each
discipline. The goal of this interactive symposium is to enable participants to assess the options
from a policy as well as a practical and operational perspective, and to discuss proposals which
can serve as guidelines for HEC to set standards of curriculum development.
Second day of symposium will begin with the group representatives’ panel presentations.
There will open forum for questions and answers with each group. During the break the core
committee members with the help of group moderators will draft the white paper to be
presented at the closing session. This white paper will serve as guidelines for HEC to set
framework and standards of curriculum development.
Guidelines for Focus Group Discussion
Discussion Session 1
The moderator may describe the objectives and mode of discussion. Then the process of curriculum
review may be shared by the NCRC member. Discussion will be around the following guiding questions:
 How much the stakeholders feel involved in the process?
 Who feels excluded from it?
 How can the involvement of all stakeholders be ensured?
 What organizational mechanism is required to construct and review curriculum at higher level?
 What need to be the focus area at different procedural levels in the construction and review of
the curriculum?
Discussion Session 2
Take a look at the guidelines and SOPs of HEC and discuss:
1. If we have explicitly defined what we want students who complete our programme to know and
be able to do?
2. If we have explicitly defined what are the methods of content selection and organization?
3. How does the existing curriculum integrate needs of individual and society?
4. What is the mechanism to integrate curriculum with the needs of related industries?
5. How far these guidelines help/hinder in designing new and innovative courses?
6. How flexible /rigid do you find the national curriculum framework in bringing changes
periodically?
7. What do you find missing in it? (Keeping in view international trends)