What is a graduate profile?

Our University graduate profile makes clear to staff, current and potential students, employers, the community, accrediting agencies and other academic institutions, the qualities the University seeks to foster in all its graduates - regardless of their discipline or field of study. It plays an important role in communicating a university’s strategic aspirations for its graduates and the value of an education from that institution, shaping the contribution they can make to their profession and as a citizen. A graduate profile should engage the institution’s academics and, in turn, students.

The University’s graduate profile forms the foundation from which the specific graduate profiles for each degree or other programmes are formed.

Read more about the current UoA graduate profile.

In 2015 the University adopted a three-tier structure for its graduate profile: aspirations, themes and capabilities (see Appendix 1). The current refreshment pertains to the aspirations and themes, with the capabilities to be refreshed in the embedded graduate profiles for each programme from 2022.

• Level 1: Aspirations capture the University’s overarching strategic aspirations for all its students. We currently aim to give students the opportunity to become scholars, innovators, leaders, and global citizens.
• Level 2: Themes represent the groups of capabilities which the University seeks to foster in all its graduates. Currently they are: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice; Critical Thinking; Solution Seeking; Communication and Engagement; Integrity and Independence; and Social and Environment Responsibilities.
• Level 3: Capabilities are specific to each qualification and are expressed as concrete outcomes which can be assessed.

Within our current graduate profile, there are areas of alignment with the strategic vision Taumata Teitei. However, we want to take this opportunity to see where there are gaps, identify how we might address these gaps, and see if there are areas we need to explore more.

This is intended to spark your thinking and inspire discussion and feedback. It’s an indication of how we believe the current graduate profile could be updated to improve its alignment with the University’s values and strategic ambitions.

As part of our gap analysis, we have prepared Level 1 and Level 2 tables, with Level 1 titled Current Aspirations for University of Auckland Graduates, and Level 2 Current Graduate Capability Themes. Each has been outlined against the spirit of Taumata Teitei.