ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION It is relatively easy to list the defi ning characteristics of an eff ective curriculum. Although there will be contestation about the relative importance of each element, it is generally agreed that curricula ought to be constructively aligned, informed by research, learning centred, future focused, discipline specifi c, communicatively clear, personally transformative, professionally and vocationally preparatory, intellectually engaging and stimulating – and preferably cost neutral to deliver. Curricula are obliged to ensure that students who complete the programme can demonstrate that they have the qualities that the institution advertises as graduate attributes: that specifi cally they are ready to enter the vocation or profession that their degree qualifi es them for and generally that they are better human beings for having completed the course of study. All of this rests Atlas-like on the shoulders of the curriculum.