Financial planning lecturer calls for education shake-up

In a LinkedIn post published yesterday, Dr Hunt – a former financial adviser now teaching financial planning at Griffith Business School – argued that universities need to pivot to a model of “curation” akin to art galleries or museums, whereby they would source the best professionals and experts to teach students.

“Looking at university courses now, almost none are taught by the actual expert in the topic,” Dr Hunt wrote.

“Few academics devote themselves to the entire breadth of content…Rather, research is more niche, more focussed, more nuanced than what is reflected in the content of university courses, by and large.”

This traditional model of courses being taught by professional researchers and academics no longer fits the type of education increasingly being sought by consumers and employers, she argued.

While some universities do allow ‘guest lectures’, these are often considered an “addition to the course material” rather than of core importance, despite being a “highlight” in the eyes of many students, the former adviser wrote.

“The future of universities…may be to approach course design as less about teaching, and more about selecting, presenting and organising the right experts,” Dr Hunt suggested.

“It is only through curating education that universities can maintain at the cutting edge of innovation and best practice.”

The comments come as government body FASEA prepares to determine which education courses will be approved under the new regime for mandatory financial adviser professional standards.

Yesterday ifa reported concerns that some academics sitting on the FASEA board may be prone to conflicts of interest arising from their professional ties to certain higher education providers.