AGILITY IN ONLINE PROGRAMME DESIGN: THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC EXPERIENCE Alanieta Lesuma-Fatiaki, Neelam Narayan University of the South Pacific (Fiji) Abstract Time is a vital consideration in the educational management of any higher education institution. This is even more critical when higher education providers are faced with the dilemma of having to keep their programmes marketable and accessible thus ensuring more people have access to higher education qualifications. The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a regional university that is owned by twelve countries in the Oceania region and in its effort to address this dilemma within a reasonable time period, it has articulated a five year Strategic Plan from 2013-2018. Specifically, Priority Area 1 of this plan focusses on Learning and Teaching and one of its key initiatives is to undertake a large-scale conversion of USP courses for flexible delivery [1]. This paper provides a report on a new approach carried out by the University of the South Pacific in addressing this initiative through the flexible delivery conversion of two undergraduate programmes in the discipline of Teacher Education and Social Work. It will begin with a background on the design and development process at the USP followed by a discussion of the outcomes, challenges of this new approach including suggestions for improvement. Keywords: Higher education, educational management, flexible delivery, Teacher Education, Social Work, design, online, programme development 1 INTRODUCTION Educational management in any higher education institution is of paramount importance amidst the many challenges that it faces in trying to respond and adapt to changes to ensure that the programmes that it offers continue to be marketable and accessible thus ensuring more people are equipped with higher education qualifications. In the midst of this challenge is the key consideration of `time’ to ensure that the response to changes is done within a reasonable time period for maximum gain by any higher education institution. This sentiment is also expressed in the globally recognised 2014 Horizon Report, Higher Education Edition (2014) where it expresses that “there is a growing consensus among many higher education thought leaders that institutional leadership and curricula could benefit from agile startup models” [2]. One such response was attempted by the University of the South Pacific (USP) in 2013. The University of the South Pacific was established in 1968 and is a regional university that is owned by twelve Pacific island countries namely Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Solomons, Niue, Tokelau, Marshalls, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru [3]. It enrolls about 20,000 students per year [1]. This paper reports on a new approach carried out by the USP in addressing this initiative through the flexible delivery conversion of two undergraduate programmes in the discipline of Teacher Education and Social Work. It will begin with a background on the design and development process at the USP followed by a discussion of the benefits and challenges of this new approach and suggestions for improvement. 2 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS - BACKGROUND The Centre for Flexible Learning (CFL) is the section in the University of the South Pacific (USP) that is tasked to promote and facilitate excellence in learning and teaching in all delivery modes amongst all University staff and students [4]. This is carried out through the provision of instructional design input in all its academic programmes in addition to the provision of multimedia expertise and technical support for the learning management system known as Moodle. It also provides professional staff development activities that is specifically focused on enhancing the learning and teaching landscape of the university. At CFL’s inception in the 1970s when it was known then as Extension Services, it became involved in the instructional design input of print-based courses [5]. This development has carried on to the present time though the emphasis has shifted to offering courses in other modes in