oases Graduate School

oases Masters Program

In Integrative and Transformative Studies

(for the practice of personal, social and global well-being)

Why choose this program?

- We focus on important questions and issues, and give ourselves permission to spend lots of time with them.

- We explore the context within which problems occur before attempting to solve them.

- We discuss the nature of paradigms, including our own character and worldviews and perspectives and assumptions.

- We are willing to question underpinning systems and their guiding principles, with a view to reworking

o our understanding of the systems,

o our choices in interacting with them, and

o our options for changing the systems themselves.

In choosing the oases Masters program as a participant, or supporting it as an employer, you will be developing your talent and ‘prefiguring the new’.

At oases we contend

- that the crises (ecological, spiritual, social, political) challenging us today require transformed, integral practices in each and every one of us,

- that the way we perceive the world has important consequences for our actions, values and ways of being,

- that, whether we accept it or not, we bring our whole lives to work, and

- that organisations must share with individuals responsibility for the transformation.

Our Masters program is about taking responsibility for increasing and using our knowledge and skills in relating with and responding to the situations in which we find ourselves, our organisations and our society.

In this pursuit, we are all leaders … and this is where leadership needs to think and act differently.

Through each of us recognising our role, we can engage with each other and with the broader community in thinking, dialogue and actions that really change the course of the future.

Our program starts from this point ~ the whole person in their whole world.

We focus our attention on becoming increasingly mindful of our daily individual and collective choices and practice ~ as they hold the keys for integration and transformation.

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This program is for

- anyone wishing to bring ‘who they are’ to ‘what they do’

- anyone interested in pursuing knowledge about doing sustainable, sustaining work whilst undertaking relevant workplace-based projects

- those who understand that leadership occurs at all levels of an organisation and in every avenue of community life

- anyone committed to understanding the breadth of the world in which we live and practice

The oases Masters Program is accredited and part-time, with leaving points after one year (Grad Cert), two years (Grad Dip) and on completion of the Masters degree.

The core of the program is an ongoing Integrative Conversation which continues across the life of the Masters program, creating a place where participants can debrief and evaluate their learning.

In the first year, four entry units have been designed to give a base of theory and critical discourse for all participants. In subsequent years, participants will focus their efforts on a practical, work-based project supported by the Integrative Conversation and elective units from across our diverse range of offerings and the ongoing support of academic staff members.

At oases our learning processes enable respect for each person’s uniqueness as well as recognition of our social commonality.

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Content

This program is grounded in ‘practical’ skills, (discrete) abstract knowledge(s), as well as in our own, and others’, ways of being and knowing and doing. It is from within a critical exploration of our often unconscious and unexplored ways of being-in-the-world that our ways of knowing that world and our actions within it can be explored, critiqued, adapted and transformed.

Participants will learn how to:

· Develop frameworks for social, environmental and personal sustainability

· Work with and influence the processes of social change

· Relate with others for mutual benefit (working with the potential tensions and contradictions inherent in this work)

· Overcome the separations between different ‘expertises’ that operate within an organisation or society

· Integrate theoretical learning and insights with practice and action-learning with theory

· Be conscious of the choices they make every day and reflect on their (social, ecological, aesthetic, spiritual and other) implications

· Negotiate boundaries and work in the borderlands, including consideration of issues such as power and influence

· Maintain integrity in situations which challenge their ethics

· Maintain spirit in the midst of potentially dispiriting social and ecological realities

· Create learning moments and spaces in their lives and work

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Attendance is part-time with monthly two or three day workshops on a combination of weekdays and weekend-days (see below for program structure and dates).

Entrance requirements

We accept participants principally for their personal qualities, passion for learning and opportunity to put into practice what they learn. Participants will normally have a university degree and several years work experience. These requirements may alter if the applicant can demonstrate sufficient aptitude and motivation alongside relevant work experience and previous personal/professional development.

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Course fees for 2008 are $5600.

There may be small additional costs for access to the university Caval library system, reading packs, and occasionally for course materials.

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Program Structure and Dates

The 2008 oases program is designed around a series of 2 or 3 day workshops. The dates for all participants enrolled in the Masters program are:

Feb: 23-25 (Sat, Sun, Mon) Aug: 7-9 (Thurs, Fri, Sat)

Mar: 7-9 (Fri, Sat, Sun) Sep: 12-13 (Fri, Sat)

Apr: 11-13 (Fri, Sat, Sun) Oct: 18-20 (Sat, Sun, Mon)

May: 16-17 (Fri, Sat) Nov: 8-9 (Sat, Sun)

June: 20-21 (Fri, Sat) Dec: 5-7 (Fri, Sat, Sun)

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Can I take a single unit?

Yes. It is possible to take certain oases’ units singly or as an elective whilst studying in other programs.

Click here for more information about single units on offer in 2008

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