The Federal Government has announced $4 million in funding to support projects at a number of Australian universities to improve teaching and learning outcomes in higher education.

 

Federal Minister for Tertiary Education, Senator Chris Evans, said the funding was directed to 10 Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) fellowships valued at $1.4 million and 21 OLT grants worth $2.7 million.

 

"The OLT fellowships and grants will support projects that improve the quality of our teaching across a range of important disciplines, including areas where education shortages have been identified such as science, maths and advanced nursing education,” Senator Evans said.

 

"This year, the introduction of seed grants will allow smaller scale projects at universities to explore ideas that have the potential to make a big impact on learning and teaching, with the view to expanding the models to be adopted sector-wide."

 

Grant and fellowship recipients this year include projects to foster national engagement in science and maths learning and teaching, identify at risk students in their first year to enhance their learning outcomes and investigate how regional higher education campuses can better collaborate with TAFE.

 

The OLT offers a range of grants, awards and fellowships each year to assist in the promotion of excellence in learning and teaching in higher education.

 

A further round of grants will be considered later this year, taking expenditure on the program to $6 million in 2012.

 

The funding provided for these grants and fellowships is part of the Government's $38.8 billion commitment for teaching and learning over the next four financial years to support the increasing number of students attending university as a result of its higher education reforms.

 

A complete list of fellowship and grant recipients can be found at: www.olt.gov.au/grantsandprojects