Program curriculum alignment: designing for success

For students, success is completing their degree, graduating and getting a job! In this chapter, we discuss the role of program curriculum alignment in ensuring students achieve success in these terms. We describe the increasing expectations of higher education programs to develop graduate outcomes that are valued in the workplace, as well as how these expectations manifest at different institutional levels. In doing so, we argue that programs should be the focus of our (learning and) teaching efforts and demonstrate that program curriculum design needs to incorporate two dimensions of alignment: vertical as well as horizontal. As such, program curriculum alignment and management involve collaboration within and beyond universities, and we describe the program curriculum management process as a cycle consisting of four stages.