Overview of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)

Background

The Australian Learning and Teaching Council promotes excellence in higher education by recognising, rewarding and supporting teachers and professional staff through a suite of award, fellowship and grant schemes. Their aim to enhance the student learning experience by supporting quality teaching and practice.

The ALTC provides significant funding for a range of learning and teaching activities:

• three Grants schemes with funding up to $220,000
• an Awards scheme (41 awards at $25,000)
• a Citations scheme (210 citations at $10,000)
• A Fellowship scheme comprising National Teaching fellowships ($350,000 each) and Teaching fellowships ($100,000 each)

Mission Statement

The mission statement of the ALTC is "to promote and advance learning and teaching in Australian higher education".

Objectives

The ALTC's objectives are to:

1. promote and support strategic change in higher education institutions for the enhancement of learning and teaching, including curriculum development and assessment;
2. raise the profile and encourage recognition of the fundamental importance of teaching in higher education institutions and in the general community;
3. foster and acknowledge excellent teaching in higher education;
4. develop effective mechanisms for the identification, development, dissemination and embedding of good individual and institutional practice in learning and teaching in Australian higher education;
5. develop and support reciprocal national and international arrangements for the purpose of sharing and benchmarking learning and teaching processes; and
6. identify learning and teaching issues that impact on the Australian higher education system and facilitate national approaches to address these and other emerging issues.

Values

• Inclusiveness - by assisting the development of networks and communities which support higher education staff who have a direct impact on the advancement of learning and teaching.
• Long-term change - through a focus on systemic change.
• Diversity - by recognising and valuing institutional and discipline differences and similarities.
• Collaboration - through the programs it funds and in its work practices.
• Excellence - through the recognition of quality in its programs and awards and its encouragement of higher education institution's recognition of quality teaching and learning.