The Benefits and Challenges of Modular Higher Education Curricula

Over the past twenty years, universities have increasingly employed credit-based modular curriculum structures in an attempt to cater to the needs of more diverse student groups and to allow students greater flexibility and choice in managing their studies. Scholars generally agree that modular degrees have many advantages for students in terms of their capacity to offer flexibility, choice, access and mobility.It is also widely argued that modular structures may be beneficial to universities in that they potentially allow institutions to respond to the needs of employers, expand student markets, develop more efficient uses of resources and increase opportunities for curricula breadth. However, it is also argued that modularisation creates the possibility of fragmentation and incoherence of the educational experience, potentially weakens learning outcomes and comes with epistemological, structural and pedagogical challenges.

Author: Sarah French

Published: 2015

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