Curricula

A Curriculum is a versioned plan that defines which modules a program requires and how they are arranged across study periods. Each program can have multiple curriculum versions — for example, a 2024 version and a 2025 revised version. When a curriculum is published, it becomes available to be assigned to an intake, determining exactly what modules students in that cohort will study. Curricula go through a structured review and approval lifecycle before they go live.

How Curricula Work

A curriculum is always attached to one program. It specifies modules organised into numbered periods (Period 1, Period 2, etc.), which correspond to the terms students will be enrolled in. Each module in the plan can be marked as core or elective, and can be assigned a sort order within its period.

Curricula are versioned, which means you can update a program's study plan over time without disrupting existing students. Students who started under an older curriculum version continue under that version; new intakes are assigned the latest published version.

When a curriculum is assigned to an intake-program combination, it provides the module list that drives term-by-term module offerings and enrolment for students in that cohort.

Scenario: A polytechnic updates its Diploma in IT program to add a new Cybersecurity module in Period 3. The academic team clones the existing published curriculum, adds the module to Period 3, submits the new version for approval, and publishes it. Students who enrolled before the change continue under the old curriculum. New students joining the next intake are assigned the new version.

Curriculum Statuses

Create a Curriculum

To navigate to Curricula, go to Academic → Curricula.

1. Click New Curriculum.
2. Select the Program this curriculum belongs to.
3. Enter a Version label (e.g., 2025-v1, Revision B). This label distinguishes versions of the same program's plan.
4. Select the Effective From Year — the academic year from which this curriculum version applies.
5. Optionally add Notes.
6. Click Save. The curriculum opens in the Workspace where you can add modules.

Curriculum Workspace

The Workspace is a dedicated editing environment for building and reviewing a curriculum. It is available for any curriculum in Draft status. To open the Workspace, go to Academic → Curricula, find the curriculum, and click Open Workspace or Edit.

The Workspace has several tabs:

• Scope — set the program, effective year, version label, and delivery mode for this curriculum.
• Structure — define the number of periods (terms) in the curriculum.
• Modules — assign modules to periods. For each module you can mark it as core or elective and set its sort order within the period.
• Rules — configure completion rules, credit thresholds, or elective requirements if applicable.
• Validation — run a check to identify issues (missing credits, empty periods, mismatched prerequisites) before submitting for approval.
• Impact — review how this curriculum version differs from the previous published version and which intakes would be affected.
• Audit — view the full change log for this curriculum.

Pro Tip: Use the Compare view to see a side-by-side diff between this curriculum and another version for the same program.

Add Modules to a Curriculum

1. Open the curriculum in the Workspace and go to the Modules tab.
2. Select the Period you want to add modules to.
3. Search for a module by name or code and select it.
4. Optionally mark the module as Elective and set its Sort Order.
5. Click Add. Repeat for each module.
6. Save your changes.

Note: Only Active modules appear in the Workspace module picker. Archived or Suspended modules are excluded.

Approval and Publishing Workflow

Submit for Approval

1. Open the curriculum in the Workspace.
2. Go to the Validation tab and run a validation check. Resolve any blocking issues.
3. Click Submit for Approval.
4. The curriculum status changes to Approval Pending. The curriculum is now locked for editing.

Approve a Curriculum

1. Go to Academic → Curricula and find the curriculum with status Approval Pending.
2. Open it and click Approve.
3. The status changes to Approved.

Reject a Curriculum

1. Go to Academic → Curricula and find the curriculum with status Approval Pending.
2. Open it and click Reject.
3. Enter a Rejection Reason. The curriculum returns to Draft status and can be edited again.

Publish a Curriculum

1. Go to Academic → Curricula and find the curriculum with status Approved.
2. Open it and click Publish.
3. The status changes to Active. The curriculum is now available to assign to intakes.

Important: Once published (Active), a curriculum cannot be edited. To make changes, clone it and publish a new version instead.

Archive a Curriculum

Archive a curriculum when it is no longer valid and should not be assigned to new intakes. Existing intakes already using the curriculum are not affected.

1. Go to Academic → Curricula.
2. Open the action menu for an Active curriculum and select Archive.
3. Confirm the action.

Clone a Curriculum

Cloning creates a new Draft copy of an existing curriculum. Use this when you want to revise a published curriculum without losing the original version.

1. Go to Academic → Curricula.
2. Open the action menu for any curriculum and select Clone as Draft.
3. The new Draft curriculum opens in the Workspace for editing.
4. Update the Version label and make the required changes.
5. Submit for approval and publish when ready.

Permissions

Next: Academic Years