Grants Scheme

The Grant Scheme is designed to conform to the following principles:

• Compliance with the ALTC mission, objectives and values
• Transparency
• Value for Money
• High Impact
• Future Looking

There will be three separate grant schemes.

Priority Projects Program

Priority projects will focus on:

• benchmarking
• assessment
• standards
• related aspects of good practice in learning and teaching:
• creative and effective use of teaching and learning spaces
• collaborative, cross-institutional projects examining peer review in the enhancement of learning and teaching.

Competitive Grants Program

Competitive grants will focus on:

• Innovation in learning and teaching, especially new technologies
• Strategic approaches to increasing recognition of the importance of teaching in higher education
• Research and development
• the nexus between teaching and research;
• performance indicators for learning and teaching in higher education
• addressing the implications of the changing cohort in higher education.

Leadership Capacity-Building Program

There will also be a leadership development program to support systematic, structured and sustainable models of academic leadership in higher education.

Application Process

The process of application may be a two stage process with expressions of interest from which a number are selected to prepare a full proposal, or a full proposal may be sought in the first instance.

Collaboration between higher education institutions and between higher education institutions and relevant other bodies is encouraged.

Submissions from consortia will need to be submitted under a lead institution which must be a higher education institution.

When seeking funding for consortia, care should be taken to ensure the costs associated with the type of collaboration proposed are adequately addressed.

The assessment of applications for funding will be against

• the criteria set for the project
• the quality of the design
• value for money
• the importance of the outcomes proposed in the context of the ALTC's mission, objectives and responsibilities and
• the capacity of the project team to deliver the outcomes proposed.

Grants will typically go over two-three years grants, with staged development and reporting processes.

All projects designed to go beyond one year should be designed around stages which have particular outcomes/deliverables.

Funding for the subsequent years will depend on progress against agreed milestones and the quality of the work done.

Ongoing evaluation should be included as part of the project in its various stages.

Recipients of grants in excess of $150,000 are required to commission a formal independent evaluation of the project, included in the project proposal budget.

All project teams should appoint a reference group. The reference group should include some external participants who have appropriate expertise.

The ALTC will nominate a staff member as the ALTC Project Manager to support and monitor each project.