For more than a decade I and colleagues have been working in partnership with the Scottish Lifesciences industry and other stakeholders to develop relevant, industry informed biosciences curricula at Â鶹ÉçÇø. This work has also been deeply impacted by upskilling initiatives I have led, funded by Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and most recently by the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. We sought external recognition and were proud that our degrees were among the first accredited by the Royal Â鶹ÉçÇø of Biology back in 2016, and were successfully reaccredited in 2022.
Recently the undergraduate bioscience courses were also recognised by the University as excellent in all five of the ENHance curriculum enhancement themes of employability, research and practice integration, sustainability, global outlook and inclusion, and the biomedical sciences course continues to be evaluated positively by students, being the top ranked biomedical sciences course in the UK according to the most recent NSS (2022).
Through the example of our undergraduate biomedical sciences curriculum, I will share lessons learned about how best to engage with stakeholders; the importance of partnership working to transfer industry-relevant knowledge skills and experience into the curriculum; how to avoid major pitfalls through dialogue and a shared sense of purpose; and the importance of maintaining focus on meaningful education experiences for the students at the heart of the process. There is still work to do, and I will also explore the need for scholarship and research to inform future curriculum development.