Faculty of Science

Faculty Board
SCI11-M1

Minutes of the Meeting of the Faculty Board held on 19 May 2011

Members: Professor Chris Linton (Chair), Professor Paul Chung, Dr Louise Cooke, Dr Sandie Dann (ab), Professor Ray Dawson, Dr Eran Edirisnghe (ab), Professor Barbara Jaworski (ab), Dr Karima Khusnutdinova (ab), Professor Feo Kusmartsev, Professor Graham Matthews, Dr Sally Maynard, Ian Murray (ab), Professor Shirley Pearce (ab), Dr Iain Phillips, Dr Daniel Reidenbach, Dr Carol Robinson, Dr John Samson, Dr Sergey Savel’ev, Dr Martin Smith, Dr Alexander Strohmaier (ab), Professor Paul Thomas, Dr George Weaver, Professor Huaizhong Zhao.

Observers: Jo Corlett, Shirley Horner, Professor Rachel Thomson (ab).

Apologies for Absence: Professor Barbara Jaworski, Dr Karima Khusnutdinova, Dr Alexander Strohmaier.

In attendance: Martine Ashby (Secretary), Susan Reed (for 11/8), Professor Steve Rothberg (for 11/4).

11/1 Welcome

Members were welcomed to the meeting.

11/2 Minutes

The minutes of the Meeting of the Science Faculty Board (SCI10:M2) held on 11 November 2010 were confirmed.

11/3 Matters arising from the Minutes

There were no matters arising.

11/4 University Ethical Policy Framework

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Professor Steve Rothberg attended for this item

Members noted a draft ethical policy framework for the University. Faculty Boards had been asked to consider the framework and to offer feedback in preparation for a penultimate draft which would be presented to Senate and Council in July.

The framework spanned all areas of university activity. It set out principles, intentions and processes but did not seek to address specific ethical issues. It was noted that the framework was explicitly connected to the University Strategy and that sections of the framework would be owned by the senior member of staff responsible for the corresponding area of the University Strategy. With the introduction of the framework, a new ethics committee structure would be established, and a new overarching Ethics Committee would be charged with advising Council on ethical matters arising in the conduct of the University’s business.

Members APPROVED the draft framework.

11/5 Dean’s Report

i University Financial Position: The University had announced its intension to charge undergraduates entering in 2012 a tuition fee of £9,000 regardless of their subject area. The fee for the placement year and the PGCE programme had yet to be agreed. The Access Agreement submitted to OFFA included a proposal to give students with the lowest household income a £3,000 bursary consisting of a £1,000 fee waiver, a £1,000 contribution to their University accommodation fee and a £1,000 payment.

PGT tuition fees would remain at a similar level plus an inflationary adjustment for the time being but would be reviewed in due course. It was noted that HE may see a reduction in the number of students opting to do integrated Master’s programmes because of the increase in the undergraduate tuition fee.

Members noted that planned changes to HE funding would come into effect in the first half of 2012, several months before the higher fees were introduced, which would result in a shortfall in funding over a period of several months. In response to this situation, Council had agreed to the requirement for the University to achieve a three per cent surplus each year to be suspended for the 2011/12 financial year.

ii University Structure

Members noted the composition of the Senior Management Team for the new School. The team would include Professor Colin Creaser as AD(R), Dr Steven Kenny as AD(E) and Jo Corlett as Operations Manager. A new Head of the Department of Computer Science would be appointed in coming weeks. Dr Iain Phillips, who was to stand down as Head of that Department in the summer was thanked for his significant contribution to the Faculty in that role.

It was noted that the Senior Management Team would be considering what forum might be established in place of Faculty Board to take on its consultation and information dissemination functions within the School. Members were encouraged to discuss possible alternative forums to Faculty Board with their colleagues and to provide feedback to the Dean Elect. ACTION: All

Members noted that the infrastructure Project Management Board overseeing changes to the University structure had approved changes to the process for considering cases for promotion to senior lectureship. Interviews would in future involve School senior managers instead of Faculty senior managers, which for the School of Science would result in a minimal change to the process. The Provost would Chair the promotions panel. The Project Management Board had also agreed a change to the probation monitoring process. The three faculty probation monitoring groups would be replaced by two groups chaired by the PVC(R). Senate would consider the proposals for changes to both processes in due course.

iii Other Issues: Research Funding: The Government’s research concentration agenda was likely to result in a new funding mechanism for research. It was anticipated that proposed changes could result in the University receiving a similar level of funding as before overall. However, the Faculty may see a drop in income. Therefore, the importance of departments achieving a higher rating in the REF cannot be overestimated.

11/6 Associate Dean’s (Research) Report

i REF Update: Professor Graham Matthews from the Department of Information Science had been appointed as a member of the Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management sub-panel.

HEFCE was to publish further guidance on the REF in July. It was anticipated that subject panels would determine more of the working practices of their sub-panels than had been the case in the past. The University’s own timetable for preparation for the REF would be made known in the near future. Heads would remind staff that 2011 would be a critical year for research which was to be included in the REF. ACTION: HODs

ii Research Studentship Allocation: The Faculty’s PGR recruitment for 2011 entry was broadly to target. £1 million had been set aside to fund studentships across the University. 26 studentships had been allocated earlier in the year to departments and research schools. A further 24 were allocated as a result of a competitive process, with the Faculty being awarded seven. A further round of 50 was to be allocated strategically across the University. Members were made aware that, given proposed cuts to higher education funding, it was unlikely that a similar level of funding would be earmarked for studentships the following year.

iii Matters from the Research Team

a) Publication Management: The publication management system was under development and would be linked to the institutional repository. Therefore staff would be able to search for their publications electronically and to verify that they were recorded correctly. The University had purchased SCOPUS, an abstract and citation database, to allow it to search for papers and download them and the INCITE package so that citations could be sought and linked data evaluated.

b) PGR Student Regulations: The PGR student regulations had been amended to reflect the new University structure.

c) Research Student Progression: The PGR student annual review was to be recorded electronically from August. If a review was not recorded in this way, the student would not be able to reregister.

d) CIF: The University had been awarded £6.62 million for capital expenditure for the following five years. Preference is likely to be given to initiatives which involved the sharing of resources between two or more departments.

11/7 Associate Dean’s (Teaching) Report

i Recruitment 2011

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Members noted application statistics for the 2011 intake.

ii HEIF: The Faculty had been awarded £50,000 for initiatives linked to the teaching of enterprise. Members were reminded that the sum would need to be spent by the end of July. ACTION: Relevant HODs

iii School-level Roles: The AD(T) reported on the governance of learning and teaching within the new School. A School-level Learning and Teaching Committee would be complemented by a series of cross-School working parties which would focus on issues such as student feedback. Some of these working parties would have a temporary status to resolve short-term issues whilst others would have a long-term role.

The AD(T) was to identify a number of ad hoc School learning and teaching roles. These would include an e-learning champion who would share their expertise in the application of e-learning tools to enhance teaching. Staff were encouraged to volunteer for the roles when they were identified. ACTION: All

iv Other Issues

a) APR/PPR: The AD(T) reported that, during the recent PPR for the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, students in that department had provided very positive feedback on the service provided by the MEC.

b) Guardian League Table: It was noted that the University had maintained ninth place in the recently published Guardian University League Table. Departments within the Faculty had all improved their ranking with the exception of Chemistry which had nevertheless maintained a place in the top ten departments in its subject area.

11/8 Career Destinations

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Susan Reed, Careers Advisor, attended for this item

Susan Reed summarised key findings of the 2010 Graduate Destinations Survey. She noted that the reporting departments within the Faculty had reduced with the move of Ergonomics and Materials to other Faculties. This meant that an exact year-on-year comparison was not possible, and the results of the survey needed to be seen in this context. The survey findings are available on the Careers and Employability Centre’s website at: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/careers/about/reports.html

Members noted some of the initiatives that the Careers and Employability Centre had been engaged in in the 2010/11 academic year. During the year, the Centre had changed its name from the Careers Centre to reflect the work which it was undertaking and the significance of employability to the University. It had launched a new website and ‘Careers Online’, a new system to allow students to book appointments with advisors online. Alongside this new system, the Centre had increased the availability of careers advisors for quick advice to students. The new quick sessions had been found to be very helpful in preparing students for the more substantial follow-up sessions, where appropriate, and had resulted in more students receiving advice. The Centre had been successful in placing 24 students in local graduate internship schemes and had employed three students, one per faculty, as marketing assistants to work with students on various projects.

It was noted that many students did not search for employment until after graduation. The Centre continued to provide them with advice, but it was recognised that those who had returned home were not able to avail of this service so easily. The Centre was invited to consider making use of Skype or similar applications to allow its staff to conduct online interviews with students where appropriate. Susan Reed agreed to feed this suggestion back to the Centre. ACTION: Susan Reed

It was noted that the Centre also provided a service to staff who wished to gain interview practice. This could be a very helpful option for staff who were considering applying for internal vacancies. Members also noted that the formation of the School would provide an excellent opportunity for links with the Centre to be checked and rationalised. For the time being, the Centre’s staff should contact the Operations Manager if they were unsure of the most appropriate contact point within the School. ACTION: Susan Reed

11/9 Award of Research Degrees

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Faculty Board APPROVED the award of Higher Degrees to candidates whose examinations had been conducted since the last meeting of Senate.

11/10 Curriculum Sub-Committee

It was NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended to Learning and Teaching Committee approval of the following:

i Major Changes
BSc Information Management and Business Studies

BSc Information Management and Computing

BSc Information Management and Web Development

(from Oct 2012 entry)

ii Changes to Programme Awards

From: MComp Computer Science

MComp Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence

MComp Computer Science & E-Business

To: MSci Computer Science

MSci Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence

MSci Computer Science & E-Business

(for all current students; already approved from Oct 2011 entry)

11/11 Annual Programme Review

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A report from the AD(T) was NOTED.

11/12 Associate Dean (Teaching): Actions between meetings

It was NOTED that the AD(T) had taken action between meetings as detailed in the agenda.

11/13 Staff-Student Committees

It was NOTED that reports of Staff-Student Committee meetings had been deposited with the Secretary as detailed in the agenda.

11/14 Faculty IT Support Report

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NOTED.

11/15 Faculty Quality Enhancement Officer Report

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NOTED.

11/16 Any Other Business

Valediction: It was noted that this was to be the last meeting of the Faculty Board. The Dean wished the new School and its Senior Management Team the very best for the future.

In turn, the Dean Elect thanked the Dean for the considerable work which he had undertaken during his time in the post and wished him the very best for his new role as Provost.

M Ashby