Upstairs-downstairs programs

An upstairs-downstairs program consists of two very similar qualifications at different levels running together. Students do mostly the same thing in class, but the assignments and assessments are usually different. In one program, two groups were taught separately, but students still enjoyed the advantages of the similar courses.

I have seen a Cert IV and a Diploma running this way, a diploma and Bachelor degree, and a Bachelor and professional Master. It also works quite well at three levels. One program tried to run at four levels but I think it was too much of a stretch.

The advantages of upstairs-downstairs programs are:

• Very capable students can be admitted directly into the higher course.
• Weaker (or higher risk) students can be admitted into the lower course.
• Students with weaker pre-requisites can aim for the learning they want.
• Successful students in the lower course can easily continue to the higher course.
• Very good students in the lower level can be offered assessment at the higher level.
• The lower qualification might be an excellent outcome for some students who might not need the higher one.
• Students in the higher course who leave earlier might still get the lower qualification.
• The lower course can be used to attract students so that they can easily continue to the higher course.

A lot depends on the abilities of your students. It doesn't work well if the students in the higher course are functioning at a level that is much higher than lower course students. In this case, you might run lectures together but you need to run separate tutorials.

On the other hand, I've also seen courses where admission pre-requisites forced students into different levels, although they all functioned at the same level; the groups were indistinguishable in general performance.