ABSTRACT
In the rapidly changing face of higher education, there are increasing pressures on faculty with respect to providing an effective teaching and learning environment for all students. At a global level, the situation for staff in higher education has become increasingly complex. There are for example: the demands associated with wider levels of participation in higher education necessitating a shift from the rhetoric of student-centred learning to the development of a greater understanding of what it means to design, develop and deliver an ‘accessible curriculum’ for a diverse student population (Stefani and Matthew 2002). The complexities of the knowledge explosion and growth in the use of Communications and Information Technology (ICT) in teaching and learning require faculty to shift their focus towards enabling the development of key skills essential to student learning to include more emphasis on information literacy and other skills appropriate to learning via alternative media (Breivik 1998). The uncertain dynamics of the long-term needs of the employment market for graduates and of the skills that graduates should possess provide an imperative for ensuring that a major focus of higher education must be to enable students to develop the skills essential to lifelong learning. In addition to these factors, there are the additional issues relating to changes in the level and sources of funding of both institutions and students, and greater levels of scrutiny and accountability regarding both the use of resources and the quality of educational provision.
