Learning and Teaching Committee

Subject: Report of Curriculum Sub-Committee – Matters for Information

Origin Unconfirmed Minutes of the Meeting on 17 January 2008

Learning and Teaching Committee is invited to note the following items from the meeting of Curriculum Sub-Committee held on 17 January 2008.

1. Matters Arising from the Minutes

.1 It was noted that all recommendations to Learning and Teaching Committee, and subsequently to Senate where appropriate, had been approved. The relevant minutes of Senate were noted.

.2 Minute 07/25 – FdEng Foundation Degree programme in Fundamentals of Powertrain Engineering: New Programme Proposals

It was noted that discussions with HEFCE were ongoing and the programme would therefore not be ready to start in January 2008.

.3 Minute 07/26 – Conversion of MSc Management (Professional) to MBA

It was noted that the Business School had decided not to proceed with the proposal.

2. Workload of Departmental Administrators

.1 Further to Minute 07/23.5 of the previous meeting, the Sub-Committee considered a paper from the Secretary. The Sub-Committee was advised that a number of factors, many not within the Sub-Committee’s remit, had been identified as being responsible for the high workload on Departmental Administrators particularly during summer 2007. The Sub-Committee’s requirement to revise the programme structure section in Programme Specifications had provided an additional burden to Departmental Administrators at this busy time, as this had required the presentation of programme structure in a format not used elsewhere. The value of this task had been questioned by some departments and in some cases had not been carried out. The Sub-Committee was therefore being asked to reconsider the requirements regarding section 4 of the Programme Specification.

.2 It was commented that whilst the new structure for section 4 had proved useful, it would be a time-consuming task for this to be maintained year on year as programme changes were made. In view of the approach being explored for producing Programme Regulations and Specifications from LUSI in the future, such that sub-sets of information (i.e. structure, content, assessment) would be held separately and brought together as necessary for multiple purposes such as Programme Specifications, it was AGREED that as an interim

measure a hyperlink should be provided from section 4 of a Programme Specification to the relevant set of Programme Regulations on the internet. This task would need to be completed centrally. Departments would have the option of adding an overview to the section. Programme Specifications would therefore not be required

to be submitted for approval during the Annual Update process if there were changes to programme structure that were being approved via Programme Regulations and which did not impinge on other sections of the Specification.

3. LUSI Module Specification for 2008/09

The proposed LUSI module specification for 2008/09 was noted.

Author – Jennie Elliott

Date – January 2008