Changes to the culture of 'how things are done' are an essential feature of transformation projects, but cannot be achieved by central edict or even by nurture and persuasion, though these may have a role. Cultural changes come about because people adopt new ways of carrying out their responsibilities or conceiving of their roles, and do so collectively rather than acting as individuals.

Participants in the Curriculum Design programme meeting (October 2011) described a number of indicators of cultural change, chiefly that academic staff are becoming more aware of themselves as an institutional community with shared responsibilities, as well as members of different academic/scholarly communities and tribes with different shared interests.

'We are part of a University, not just a school' (PALET)

Stakeholders recognise a wider range of issues beyond their own specific school (UG-Flex)

People in departments such as IT are saying 'I can see how the team might impact on curriculum design' (PREDICT)

There are some indications of shared ownership, particularly of the FLAG initiative (Enable)

As always with cultural change, there are noticeable shifts in the balance of power. Course teams at Birmingham City are being given the confidence to 'take ownership of curriculum design and question the institution', while at other institutions it is professional staff - often with considerable expertise in curriculum design for a range of subject areas - who are being more acknowledged and embedded in the process of design.