Learning and Teaching Academic Standard Statements have recently been published across a number of disciplines, and have contributed to the national regulation and quality assurance framework currently being developed in the higher education sector

Learning and Teaching Academic Standard Statements have recently been published across a number of disciplines, and have contributed to the national regulation and quality assurance framework currently being developed in the higher education sector. The Science Standards Statement (SSS) described the nature and extent of Science and articulated Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) representing minimum levels of achievement expected of a bachelor level Science graduate. Our project was to adapt the SSS for the Agricultural Science discipline and to seek national consensus on Agricultural Science TLOs from the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture, thus demonstrating that TLOs for Science can be adapted successfully for a specialist discipline. We report on the process and outcomes of developing TLOs and a statement on the nature and extent of Agricultural Science The consultation method was to facilitate workshops with teaching staff, gathering qualitative feedback and to administer a survey more widely in the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture and two interstate universities. Key findings are that a statement on the nature and extent of agricultural science needs to capture its multi-disciplinary nature and that TLOs should also incorporate minimum levels of achievement in vocational knowledge. The process will serve as a model for wider dissemination of TLOs within UTAS and other universities. The next phase of the project is to define course-level learning outcomes more specifically for Agricultural Science degrees at UTAS as a first step towards aligning our curriculum and assessment with the new Agricultural Science TLOs.