In 2018 an internal review of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) at Charles Sturt University identified a need for improved resources to scaffold student progress and support the timely completion of degrees. This presentation will describe the development of a new graduate attributes framework as part of this effort. Over 60% of the current HDR cohort at Charles Sturt study remotely or on small regional campuses and have limited or no personal contact with fellow research students or academics outside of their supervisory team, navigating their progress without the important interactions through which graduate attributes and behaviours are modelled, learned and socialised.
To help address this, an Individual Development Plan (IDP) tool was offered to encourage our HDR candidates to strategically plan for their research training, development needs and post-degree career outcomes. The IDP tool requires the reflective self-assessment of skills and development needs, identification of goals, training and development opportunities, writing and implementing an action plan, and the ongoing review and revision of that plan. This reflective approach is supported by literature that finds that it can lead to deeper levels of learning and is a central element of effective professional development.
In 2024, completion of an IDP within the first 6 months of candidature was added as a mandatory probation milestone for HDR candidates. However, a subsequent review of the IDP tool suggested it was too long, complex and impractical for candidates to use for their own self-assessment and provided little guidance as to what skills they should be developing. It was recognised that a new Graduate Research Attributes Framework (GRAF) was needed to support the IDP process, to map training and development opportunities, and inform the development of training offerings by Researcher Development staff.
As such, an evidence-based approach was taken to develop a GRAF starting with an online scan of the Australian University sector that identified nine examples of existing graduate attribute frameworks. These examples were mapped against the Vitae© Researcher Development Framework and from this a set of nine overarching graduate attributes emerged. Following the example from Flinders University, a set of three core skills were then developed to further describe each of the nine overarching attributes.
The resulting GRAF will now be used to develop a self-assessment tool for use by candidates to inform their IDP, and to map HDR training offerings to identify gaps and duplication leading to greater efficiencies and cohesion in the suite of training available to candidates. Moving forward a review of the efficacy of the GRAF and it’s uses will be conducted.
