MIT Academic Board Newsletter - June 2026

The Academic Board met online on 18 June 2026 to consider a broad range of strategic academic matters relating to teaching quality, curriculum, research and academic governance.

Welcome

The Board welcomed Dr Hong Pham as a new Academic Board member and acknowledged the significant contribution of Professor Mohini Singh as Research Director prior to her retirement from the role in July.

Strengthening Academic Governance

The Board agreed to introduce annual reflective reports from Academic Board committees (other than the Learning and Teaching Committee). These reports will focus on committee achievements, emerging issues, risks and opportunities for improvement, providing a stronger evidence base for continuous enhancement of academic governance.

The Board also agreed to continue development of the Academic Board Newsletter as a way of improving communication with staff across the Institute.

Teaching and Research Excellence Awards

The Board confirmed that Teaching Excellence Awards and Research Excellence Awards will again be conducted during 2026.

Members discussed possible improvements to the nomination and evaluation processes to ensure they are transparent, equitable and aligned with the purpose of recognising outstanding academic achievement. Revised processes will be considered at the next meeting.

Teaching Quality

The Board endorsed MIT's new Teaching Quality Framework, which provides an integrated approach to monitoring and improving teaching quality across the Institute.

The framework will underpin future revisions to the Learning and Teaching Plan and provides a clearer relationship between curriculum design, teaching practice, student outcomes and the institutional systems that support high-quality learning.

Preparing Graduates for the AI Era

A major focus of the meeting was the impact of generative artificial intelligence on higher education.

The Board agreed that MIT should commence a staged review of:

• Graduate Attributes;
• Course Learning Outcomes;
• Unit Learning Outcomes; and
• assessment approaches,

to ensure graduates are well prepared for professional practice in an AI-enabled environment.

The discussion also considered future assessment models that appropriately balance authentic use of AI with demonstrated individual achievement.

Academic Governance and Curriculum

The Board discussed the increasing complexity of MIT's expanding portfolio of courses and units.

Members expressed concern that continued growth in the number of offerings places increasing demands on curriculum maintenance, assessment mapping and academic quality assurance. The Board will continue to consider ways of strengthening academic governance while maintaining curriculum innovation.

Course Development

The Board endorsed Concept Plans for proposed new programs in:

• Cybersecurity;
• Software Engineering; and
• Engineering Management.

These approvals allow development of full course proposals, which will return through the Institute's academic approval processes before accreditation is considered.

Members also discussed the implications of rapid advances in AI for Software Engineering education and the importance of ensuring graduates remain well prepared for future industry needs.

Professional Accreditation

The Board considered a review of professional accreditation practices across Australian higher education.

It endorsed an approach whereby Schools continue to prepare accreditation submissions while Academic Board provides governance oversight through monitoring accreditation outcomes, associated risks and significant curriculum developments.

Student Success

The Board approved the 2025 InSPIRE Annual Report and its recommendations.

Members noted the positive outcomes achieved through the program and supported further work to strengthen reporting by integrating aspects of the InSPIRE and Unsatisfactory Academic Progress reports.

Research

The Research Director was unable to join the meeting because of technical difficulties. Research reports were therefore deferred to the next meeting.

The Board did, however, receive a verbal update on the recent HDR Mid-Cycle Review, noting positive progress together with recommendations aimed at strengthening supervision and research quality.

Looking Ahead

The Academic Board will next meet on 13 August 2026. Major items scheduled for consideration include:

• revised Teaching and Research Excellence Awards processes;
• the AI Curriculum Project proposals;
• recommendations arising from the HDR Mid-Cycle Review; and
• further work on academic governance of course accreditation.

Professor Doug Grant
Chair, Academic Board