The Core Curriculum and Undergraduate Education: Reflections on an Experiment

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the implementation of a common core curriculum in undergraduate programs at University College of Southern Queensland (UCSQ) in 1990. A justification for the core structure, and a specific core unit titled “Australia, Asia and the Pacific” is argued in detail. Opposition from Schools within UCSQ which considered the core units took away limited time from specialist and professional studies resulted in a review of the curriculum one year after its introduction. The paper argues that the changes proposed for 1993 by the review are likely to effectively dismantle the core structure, and that the changes proposed to “Australia, Asia and the Pacific” are symptomatic of an inwardness in Australian culture and will marginalise the study of Australia's relations with regional societies at a time when there appears to be general, community‐wide agreement that studies of this kind are an urgent, national priority.