National standards for Higher Education programs in disaster management in Australia

Study/Objective: \ud \ud The aim of this project was to develop a framework for higher education programs in emergency and disaster management for Australia.\ud \ud Background: \ud \ud The development of such standards is of considerable value to Australia as it may contribute to national policy cohesion and also to capability development. The Generic Emergency and Disaster Management Standards define the scope and the domain in order to assist higher education institutions to develop programs that provide a relatively consistent and sound intellectual basis for the expertise required.\ud \ud Methods: \ud \ud The Generic Emergency and Disaster Management Standards were developed through a mixed qualitative research approach involving a systematic literature review, mapping of current course content, focus groups of experts and consultation with industry representatives.\ud \ud Results: \ud \ud The standards consist of three main domains. The knowledge domain included governance and policy frameworks, theoretical and conceptual basis for practice, and contemporary disaster management, skills and application. The skills domain included leadership, communication, and collaboration. Finally professional practice together with critical thinking is considered the means by which the knowledge and skills are applied.\ud \ud Conclusion: \ud \ud These standards are intended to provide a consistent and sound intellectual basis to assist higher education institutions to develop disaster and emergency management courses. While the focus is necessarily on the Australian context, it is recognized that University programs in Australia provide education to international students, and the methods used in developing these standards draw considerably from international sources, and thus they are likely to be of broader applicability. Additional mechanisms for the monitoring and ongoing development of these standards are required