Enhancing the student experience at higher educational institutions is currently considered to be one of the most challenging roles of academic staff at Australian universities. The reasons for this shift in focus are due partly to the changing nature of the students’ interaction with the institution: students today have less time on campus due to their commitment to work and other extra-curricula activities; the abolition of compulsory student union fees have contributed to the ‘university experience’ being significantly different to that of recent years; educators are expected to produce ‘work ready’ graduates, from increasingly diverse student populations. In addition, the increased financial burden on students has also contributed to the change in role of educators from that of ‘lecturer to student’ to that of ‘service provider to client’. All of these factors have driven the need to alter the traditional tertiary teaching pedagogy. In the Department of Mathematics at RMIT University, the academic staff have engaged in a number of incentives designed to address some of the issues faced by our students, both those entering and those leaving the university. These initiatives include projects funded by the University to improve course material and enhance the online presence of courses; funding for action research in teaching and learning; a peer mentoring project (Student Learning in Mathematics Education, SLIME); and courses in professional practice at both the first-year and third-year levels. This paper presents the details of some of these initiatives, with discussion of the objectives and the outcomes of each.

Keywords: student experience, action research, course enhancement, peer mentoring, professional practice