ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1580611
This article is part of the Research TopicReimagining Higher Education: Responding Proactively to 21st Century Global ShiftsView all articles
Enhancing Curriculum Relevance and Student Engagement: The Role of Lecturers as Agents of Change in Higher Education
Provisionally accepted
- Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Paola, Malta
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This study investigates the role of lecturers as change agents in higher education, focusing on their ability to improve curriculum relevance and student engagement within rigid institutional structures. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with lecturers and analyzed using in-vivo and open coding, culminating in the development of the Conditional Matrix. The findings reveal that lecturers who integrate real-life experiences, foster collaboration, and adopt innovative teaching strategies, such as flipped classrooms, significantly enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and curriculum relevance. However, challenges such as resistance to change among faculty and outdated module descriptors were identified as barriers to progress. The study emphasizes the importance of granting lecturers greater autonomy in curriculum development and providing targeted professional development to align education with industry demands.Ultimately, empowering lecturers is essential to preparing students for the modern workforce and ensuring higher education remains relevant and impactful.
Keywords: Lecturers as Agents of Change, Curriculum Recontextualization, student engagement, constructivist grounded theory, curriculum innovation, continuing professional development
Received: 20 Feb 2025; Accepted: 04 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Micallef. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Bernard Micallef, Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Paola, PLA 08, Malta
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