WHAT FOR
To foster curriculum reform based on the student-centred approach in 6 South American countries, with impact on others, covering 4 subject areas representing 4 educational sectors/domains and directly involving 20 programmes.
WHY
The ACE project comes as a response to a global discussion taking place among Higher Education stakeholders to strive for higher education that does more justice to the needs of the learner and of society. ‘Relevance of HE programs‘ is probably the most pressing issue in HE today worldwide; and this is no different in the 6 South American countries involved in the project: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru.
Besides, the present educational models, still highly based on expert driven education focusing on knowledge acquisition and limited skill development, are no longer fit for purpose and sustainable in a Lifelong Learning context.
It is necessary to give students an active role in the process, and together with students make a break-through in the process of implementing the Student-Centred Approach in Higher Education Programmes.
HOW
To achieve the desired alignment, the ACE Project Participants worked on creating the conditions and instruments necessary for the effective implementation of the Student-Centred Approach.
The ACE Partner Universities have worked to showcase
1) what Student-Centred Programmes can look like in 4 different educational sectors – Environmental Engineering, History, Nursing and Teacher Education; and
2) how institutions can build on the resources they have and join students’ and academics’ efforts to ensure that both the programme design and delivery are in line with the student-centred approach
The project applied a bottom-up approach, but at the same time intended to inform and influence higher level of management and policy making. That is why it also involved three strategic members from South America.
The ACE Project is unique in a number of aspects, but if one had to be chosen, this will be the active participation of students in all the project activities and the intentional building of institutional teams composed of both academics and students – teams in which students and academics worked together on promoting successful adoption of Student-Centred Approach.