Learning and
Teaching Committee
Subject: Students’
Department Committees
Origin: PDQ
Team
The PDQ Team at its
meeting on 20 February 2006 considered revised proposals in the light of
consultation with departments (appended).
It was the view of LSU that the majority of Department Committees were
working well, notwithstanding the rather mixed response to the consultation
exercise. It was the intention therefore
to withdraw the more specific operational proposals but to encourage
departments to recognise the benefits of the initiative and to be generally
supportive of it, and to allow them as much flexibility as possible in handling
links between the students’ department committee and the Staff/Student
Committee(s. It was hoped that Becky
Dicks, Vice-President (Education and Welfare) of LSU, would attend the March
round of Directorates to speak to the proposals.
It was agreed to recommend the proposals set out in
the attached paper to LTC.
Programme
Development & Quality Team
Subject: Department
Committees
Origin: Robert
Bowyer
Original proposals and consultation with departments
1.
PDQ considered a
paper from Becky Dicks at its October 2005 meeting. This included a number of proposals for
building on the current arrangements, including amendments to the University
Code of Practice on Staff/Student Committees.
2.
The current
arrangements were felt to work well in providing a network of support for
students within departments and it was agreed to consult departments on the
following proposals to strengthen procedures:
(i) that
the elected Department Committee Chair be an ex officio member of the SSC;
(ii) that
the chairing of the SSC be alternated between the HOD (or their nominee) and
the Chair of the Department Committee; and
(iii) that
the programme reps (ie the student members) on the SSC be elected following
procedures co-ordinated by the Department Committee under guidance and with
support from LSU.
Departments
were also invited to comment on changes to the Code of Practice to incorporate
these proposals.
3.
The consultation
took place during November. 16
departments responded, some at length. (Full responses available from RAB.) There was support for some of the new
proposals, but this was not universal: a majority of departments responding
would agree to (i), and a substantial proportion to (iii); there was little
support for (ii). Many departments
raised issues of practicality to explain their reservations or opposition to
specific proposals, and many made additional observations (several regarding
the name for the committee). More
positively, several departments commented on the success of the Department
Committee in improving communications and many acknowledged the supportive
intentions behind the new proposals.
4.
As suggested at the
previous meeting, MB and RAB met with Becky and Katie Hyslop, the second
student member of LTC, to discuss the responses. The following proposals arise from these
discussions and PDQ is invited to recommend them to LTC.
Revised proposals
5. The University
should support in principle the intention of LSU to establish a Department
Committee in each academic department, comprising students from that department
who have already served as programme representatives. It should be for the students themselves to
decide whether a Department Committee should be formed.
6. LSU
should be encouraged to provide for postgraduate students to be represented on
Department Committees.
7. Departments
should be encouraged to include the Department Committee Chair in membership of
the Staff/Student Committee. In
departments that operate with more than one SSC, the HOD and the DC Chair
should be encouraged to meet each summer to agree arrangements for the DC Chair
to keep in touch with the business of the SSCs in the year ahead (whether
through membership or other means).
8. SSCs
should be chaired, as up to now, by the HOD or his/her nominee, or by an
individual elected by the members of the SSC from amongst their own number. (Arrangements for the chair or alternate between
the HOD/nominee and a student member of the SSC, which are known to operate in
some departments, may continue.)
Departments should not be under any compulsion to allow the DC Chair to
act as chair of the SSC, except where he/she is elected to this role by the
members of the SSC.
9. Departments
should be encouraged to discuss arrangements for the election of programme reps
to their SSC(s) with the Department Committee Chair before the beginning of the
academic year, and to agree whether any input from the Department Committee would
be helpful.
10. The name
should be changed to avoid confusion, from ‘Department Committee’
to ‘Loughborough Students [department name] Committee’, eg the
‘Geography Department Committee‘ becomes ‘Loughborough
Students Geography Committee’.
11. Changes in
the Code of Practice for Staff/Student Committees should reflect the
above. These would be less extensive
than previously suggested. (See attached.)
12. Deans
should be asked to invite LSU representatives to forthcoming Directorates to
promote the role of Department Committees.
13. LSU should
clarify (for the benefit of relevant departments) how they see Department
Committees relating to subject/department-based student societies (eg Chemical
Engineering Society).
Code of Practice for Staff/Student Committees
Proposed amendments and additions highlighted
1. Each
department shall have at least one formally constituted Staff/Student Committee
(SSC) where staff and students may meet together for discussion and consultation
about the Department's programmes of study and other matters relevant to the
quality of students' academic experience. Departments may prefer to operate
with separate SSCs for each programme and / or to have separate committees for
consultation with postgraduates.
2. Students from
each year of each undergraduate programme shall be represented on the SSC,
together with postgraduate programme and research students. Departments may
wish to consider providing in addition representation on the SSC for minority
groups amongst the students such as mature students, part-time students or
international students. There should be at least one representative per
programme per year, with the exception of programmes with less than ten
students.
3. In the
situation where large groups of students are being represented there should be
one representative for every 50 students or part thereof.
4. The Head of
Department shall be a member of the SSC ex officio.
Relevant Programme Directors or Tutors shall be included in the membership.
Departments may also wish to consider whether teaching staff of other
departments contributing to the Department's programmes should be represented.
Staff representation on the SSC should not exceed that of the students.
5. Student
members shall be elected by the year groups they stand to represent on an
annual basis following procedures agreed by the SSC. Elections shall normally
take place at the beginning of each academic year. Prior to the election of
first year representatives the year group as a whole should be briefed on the
role of the SSC and the responsibilities involved and a written handout
summarising this information should be provided by the Department.
6. The SSC shall
either be chaired by the Head of Department (HOD) or his /her nominee, or by an
individual elected by the members of the SSC from amongst their
own number. (An arrangement
for the Chair to alternate between the HOD/nominee and a student member of the
SSC is known to operates in
some departments.) The HOD or his/her
nominee is responsible for any decisions reached by the committee and that
specific action points from meetings are carried out.
7. The secretary
of the SSC shall either be nominated by the HOD (typically the Departmental
Administrator) or be elected by the members of the SSC following procedures
agreed by the committee.
8. Reasonable
and agreed expenses incurred by any member of the SSC should be fully
reimbursed by the Department. Full access to relevant facilities(e.g.
photocopier) should be available for members to ensure that they can keep the
group that they represent informed of the decisions and actions of the SSC.
9. A minimum of
3 meetings of the Committee should be held in each academic year, or a minimum
of 2 meetings if the Committee is for part-time students only. Meetings should
be scheduled to allow full student participation. Meetings should be timetabled
to avoid narrow time constraints where members do not have time to raise points
deemed to be important. Mechanisms should be available to allow groups of
members to have additional meetings called in case of need.
10. In the case
where there are a large number of members on any SSC there may be pre-meetings
to determine a priority of discussion points. This may consist of the chair and
any sub-committee deemed appropriate by the SSC.
11.
Contributions for the agenda should be called for two weeks prior to the
meetings and an approved agenda should be circulated at least one week prior to
the meeting. In the case where sub-committees are being used, the agenda should
be viewed and agreed at pre-meetings prior to the main meeting of the SSC.
Every member of the SSC shall have the right to submit items for inclusion on
the agenda and to submit papers for discussion.
12. Student
members of the SSC should be encouraged to attend training sessions offered by
LSU.
13. Full minutes
shall be kept of each meeting. It is suggested that these include a note of
action required.
15. The minutes
shall be circulated to every member of the SSC and forwarded to the next
Departmental Staff Meeting. A copy shall also be sent to the Dean and to the
Secretary of the relevant Faculty Board. It is suggested that a copy should
also be displayed on a notice board in the Department for information, and that
a copy be sent to appropriate staff in other departments contributing to the Department's
programmes of study.
16. The
following minimum information should be made available to all student
representatives:
·
Departmental
Handbooks
·
Programme
Handbooks
·
Programme Regulations
and access to the module database on the World Wide Web
Internet
·
University
Degree and Assessment Regulations for
Awards and associated matters
·
Past Departmental
SSC Minutes and papers
·
Briefing on the
role of the departmental SSC and other academic decision-making bodies
·
Briefing on the
role of student representatives and training in the skills required to perform
this function.
17. The University
encourages links between SSCs and Loughborough
Students Committees in Departments (Annex).
Annex
Loughborough Students
Committees in Departments
1. Loughborough Students’ Union, with the
support of the University, seeks to establish a student committee within each
department. This is known as
‘Loughborough Students [department name] Committee’ (the ‘student
committee’ in what follows). It is
made up
of students from that department who have already served as programme
representatives. Such student committees will be the responsibility of
Loughborough Students’
2.
Departments are encouraged to include the student committee Chair in membership
of the Staff/Student Committee. In
departments that operate with more than one SSC, the HOD and the student
committee Chair are encouraged to meet each summer to agree arrangements for
the student committee Chair to keep in touch with the business of the SSCs in
the year ahead (whether through membership or other means).
3.
Departments are encouraged to discuss arrangements for the election of
programme representatives to their SSC(s) with the student committee Chair
before the beginning of the academic year, and to agree whether any input from
the student committee would be helpful.
Amended February 2006 – subject to approval by
LTC and Senate