Public Leadership (12285.1)

Required texts

Weekly reading will be indicated on Canvas and students must read this material before coming to class. The main reading task in most weeks, however, is that in the week before the visit by each guest speaker, students will be expected to develop a brief, accurate career biography of each speaker from publicly available sources. Source materials to be consulted might include both text and video. On the basis of this research, each student should prepare TWO questions that could be asked.

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Where possible, all assessment items will be submitted online via the teaching site in UCLearn. The first page of each assessment item should include the following information:

Student ID number:

Assessment Name Word Count (if applicable):

Students' names are not to be included on any assessment tasks/submission. Only Student ID numbers should be included (as per the Assessment Policy and Assessment Procedures).

Assessment items must be submitted to the assignment area in the UCLearn teaching site, relating to that piece of assessment. It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item, to the right submission section. Late submissions will only be accepted for a limited period. If more than one late submission is made within that period, only the first late submission will be accepted for marking and may be subject to penalties as detailed in the Assessment Procedures.

Additional Guidance on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this unit

The university's position is that generative artificial intelligence (AI) or large language models (LLMs) must not be used in constructing an assessment or in assessment preparation unless explicitly authorised in the assessment instructions or an assessment task published with the assessment task and/or in the unit outline. Please ensure that you are aware of the University's requirements for academic integrity (including avoiding plagiarism) – and stick to them. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can offer valuable tools for research and learning but it also poses risks to academic integrity and can hold back your learning if improperly used.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

This unit is based on a series of appearances, in person, by esteemed public leaders in a range of fields: politics and government, the public service and diplomacy, education, the media, the military, business, think tanks and the NGO (Non Government Organisation) sector. You cannot pass this course without attending these sessions.

We will be running these sessions according to a system called Chatham House Rule:

‘When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.'

It is a widely used ‘Rule' in a wide range of settings, used to allow full and frank discussion under circumstances of trust, and we will discuss how it will work for us in the opening weeks of the unit. You will, of course, be able to refer to the relevant information in your assignments but not more widely. You can find out more here:

https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/chatham-house-rule

It would be discourteous to our guests to fail to attend. If, for reasons of illness or as the result of a serious and unanticipated personal matter, you cannot attend one of the weeks, you must let me know in writing: Frank.Bongiorno@canberra.edu.au

To reiterate, in enrolling in Public Leadership, you are agreeing to attend the scheduled classes and to contribute to the collective responsibility as members of the University of Canberra to host visitors to the campus.

Please note that Week 10 (Tuesday, 13 October), we will be ‘ambassadors' for UC on Capital Hill. This class will require you to be at Parliament House by 8am to meet a member of the Cabinet at 8.30am. Details will be provided early in the unit. If getting to Parliament House by 8am is likely to cause you any problems, please contact the convener as soon as possible.

In planning your time commitments more generally, you should note that for a 3 credit point unit the total notional workload over the semester or term is assumed to be 150 hours.

Participation requirements

Students are required to attend weekly classes and to achieve at least 50% overall in order to pass this unit.

Required IT skills

You will be required to submit and engage with unit content via the Canvas website for this unit.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None.

• Semester 2, 2026, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (235200)