[Minutes]
Minutes of the 318th (Ordinary) Meeting of Senate held on Wednesday
4 March 1998
Professor D J Wallace
Dr M Acar Dr C McKnight
Dr C Backhouse Professor I C Morison
Dr V J Black Mrs M D Morley
Dr P L Byrne Dr A Morris
Mr J S Chadwick (ab) Dr P N Murgatroyd
Mr C J Chamberlain (ab) Mr A Newton
Professor S Cox Professor K C Parsons
Dr R K Dart Dr A D Price
Professor J V Dawkins Dr A C Pugh (ab)
Mr A Dumbuya (ab) Professor I Reid
Dr D W Edwards (ab) Professor P H Roberts
Professor J P Feather Mr J F Rowland
Dr M Gilbert Professor H Schröder
Professor P Golding Professor M Shaw
Professor N A Halliwell Mr I K Smout
Professor V I Hanby (ab) Professor M Streat
Professor A G Hargreaves Dr G M Swallowe
Professor D J Hourston Professor R J Wakeman
Mr T P Jones Mr D R F Walker
Professor M J Kearney Professor T G Weyman-Jones (ab)
Mr P G Lewis Dr P Wild (ab)
Mrs W Llewellyn Professor F Wilkinson
Dr G Mason Professor C Williams
Professor R McCaffer Ms J Wilmott
Professor J J McGuirk Dr I Wright
Dr M P McIver (ab) Professor K R A Ziebeck (ab)
In attendance: Mr R A Bowyer
Dr D E Fletcher
Dr B P Vale
Apologies
for absence were received from Mr Dumbuya, Dr Edwards, Dr McIver, and
Dr Wild.
No items were unstarred.
The Minutes of the 316th Meeting held on 26 November 1997 (SEN 97:M5) were
confirmed and signed.
Members were consulted about the adequacy of making papers available on the
Web. There was general satisfaction as to their availability.
- .1
- Further to Senate's 316th Meeting:
- i)
- (Minute 97/84 i) refers) it was noted that data on the award of First Class
degrees would be initially considered by Teaching and Learning Committee for
report to Senate.
- ii)
- (Minute 97/84 ii) refers) it was noted that data on the provenance of
applications had recently been made available by UCAS and was currently being
analysed. An initial report would be made to the Student Recruitment Committee.
- iii)
- (Minute 97/90 refers) it was RESOLVED to approve a recommendation from
Research Committee concerning the role of the research supervisor in the
examination of a research degree. (SEN98:P1)
- iv)
- (Minute 97/85.2 refers) it was noted that the Vice-Chancellor had contacted
the CVCP.
- v)
- (Minute 97/95 refers) it was RESOLVED to recommend to Council proposals
concerning the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
(SEN98-P2)
The Vice-Chancellor reported that:
- .1
- Whilst the University could not condone the NUS action leading to non
attendance of classes on 4 March 1998, departments were requested not to
discriminate against those students supporting the action.
-
- The Students' Union President referred to the letter of explanation sent to
all departments regarding the action.
- .2
- The HEFCE grant letter was expected imminently. The funding situation was
extremely unclear. At present the University appeared to be funded at the
level of 8% above the norm and it was possible that this might lead to an
adjustment to the MASN. If this were the case the University was already
poised to meet its intake targets and there was no need to take any immediate
action.
- .3
- The University had recently announced the establishment of an Institute of
Youth Sport and an associated Chair. This was on the basis of a generous
donation from Mr John Beckwith and would provide opportunities for
young people to participate in sport. The formal proposal to establish the
Institute would come to Senate in due course.
-
- Substantial funding had also been received from Perkins for a Readership in
the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.
- .1
- The QAA audit of University systems would take place in mid-May. Heads of
Departments had already been alerted to the visit and received copies of the
submission. It was possible that the audit team would wish to interview
individuals and, if so, briefing sessions would be arranged. The preparation
of the documentation was a huge task and was largely undertaken by
Dr J Elliott, whose role was acknowledged by Senate.
- .2
- The University was developing a series of initiatives for financial support
for home and international students. These included providing support for
tuition fee payments to new and existing students from Indonesia, South Korea,
Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia, areas affected by the currency crisis,
making use of the Access Funds to assist home students with increased
liabilities in terms of fees and loans, and developing a prestigious overseas
scholarship scheme for students from the Far East. It was noted that mature
student applications were declining and this needed to be addressed. Support
for mature students was felt to be a priority, but assessing hardship prior to
arrival was very difficult.
-
- The University was adopting an approach similar to that of many
universities in introducing tuition fee bursaries. Some further consideration
could be given to the current level of tuition fees charged to international
students compared with UK/EU fees. It was noted that applications to the
Department of PE, Sports Science and Recreation Management from Singapore had
declined by 50% and that this market must not be overlooked even if the
currency situation appeared to be more stable.
-
- The schemes proposed would not impinge on any departmental bursary
initiatives. The Communications and Publicity Office were preparing
information on bursary schemes for distribution.
- .3
- The Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research thanked colleagues for their
contribution to the recent RAE consultation document. It was noted that HEFCE
appeared to be considering a five year rather than four year assessment period
for future exercises. The Vice-Chancellor reported that the RAE could be seen
to have a negative, dysfunctional and limiting impact on research behaviour.
Although it had assisted research management in the past, he felt that change
was now needed.
- .4
- Heads of Departments were asked to support and enable all relevant staff to
attend the meeting for advisors of probationary staff to be held on
11 March 1998.
(SEN98-P3)
Senate noted proposals in relation to the University's Estate Strategy with
reference to the West and Central sites and in particular noted a
recommendation from the Executive Management Group and the Estates Management
Committee that the engineering project be permitted to proceed to tender stage
within an overall cost limit to be agreed by Council.
- .1
- Senate was advised that there were three phases to the University's Estate
Strategy which had received initial approval in 1995 and further approval from
Council at its most recent meeting, subject to the receipt of satisfactory
tenders. The first phase, already accomplished, was the new Business Studies
and Economics building. The second phase was the development on the west site
of a new Engineering Building. The third phase was the refurbishment of
released space on the central site. The release of space on the central site
would benefit departments already in space deficit eg Social Sciences and
European Studies. It could also lead to the development of an Informatics
Centre involving the departments of Computer Studies, Department of Information
and Library Studies, Human Sciences and HUSAT, which proposal was supported in
principle by the Science Faculty and the departments concerned. It was also
proposed to create a Teaching and Resource Centre within the Pilkington Library.
- .2
- The Engineering Faculty's profile in terms of its RAE performance, TQA
outcomes, level of research income generated, the range of programmes
available, the employability of its graduates and the expansion of its
undergraduate population was well known. A new purpose built Engineering
building would permit a rationalisation of existing laboratory facilities. It
was aimed to integrate both teaching and research, to remove the duplication of
facilities and enhance the use of resources at Faculty level eg the employment
of technical staff. It was felt that in order to attract top quality staff and
maintain student recruitment in future the engineering facilities needed to be
improved. Poor facilities would lose staff, students and sponsors.
-
- The release of space on the central site vacated by Manufacturing
Engineering and Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering and Transport Studies
would benefit the Science Faculty whose income from research was in decline and
whose needs also needed to be addressed.
- .3
- Council had imposed a cost limit of £14.5M on the project. Up to £11.8M
would be provided by the University from reserves and additional borrowing.
Bids had been made to the Wolfson and Weston Foundations and to HEFCE for
funding the balance; VAT recoveries would provide £1.45M. The Engineering
Faculty would contribute £250K pa for 10 years towards costs. It was
anticipated that the rationalisation of space would lead to efficiency savings,
together with savings on the elimination of central supplements to departments
and the residential hall deficit.
- .4
- The University would need to make provision for restoring its capital
reserves to a level recommended by the Treasurer and approved by Council. The
minimum level of reserves was already set at £10.5M and this project would
still leave reserves of £17.6M. Nevertheless the University should recognise
that the need to service borrowing and to transfer monies into reserves would
impose spending constraints across all departments. It was estimated that the
additional revenue generated by the Engineering Building in terms of student
numbers and research income would amount to £1.21M pa. If however, this income
and the bids for additional income failed to materialise the University would
face a permanent cut of 2.5% on all budgets to pay for the project.
- .5
- It was noted that the level of reserves had yet to be determined but to
restore their level to £20M would require a 1% saving on the University's
annual turnover of £100M for three years.
- .6
- The Teaching and Learning Resource Centre was in the early stages of
planning, but its premise was to provide a user-focused resource centre. It
would create group study space, teach information skills and establish open
access clusters of IT workstations. The Flexible Learning Unit would be housed
in the Centre.
- .7
- Clarification was sought as to the commitment to and cost of refurbishing
the central site to the benefit of those departments in space deficit. It was
confirmed that the refurbishment of the central site was approved by Council as
an integral part of the Estate Strategy. It was noted that the cost of £1.5M
seemed low and that this figure was a preliminary estimate budgeted from two
years ago.
- .8
- Concern was expressed about the lack of car parking space on the west site,
the lack of provision for large lecture theatres in the new building and the
time already spent by staff travelling between James France and the west site.
It was felt that there was spare capacity in car parks on the West site. A
lecture theatre use survey was currently being conducted and it was important
that the needs in this area were fully recognised. There would be no major
catering facilities in the new building.
- .9
- It was felt that it would be useful for the University to have a central
reception area for visitors. It was recognised, however, that Security staff
already provided a good service and that there was insufficient room for
expansion in the new Security building.
- .10
- Concern was expressed that in the worst case scenario all departments would
suffer a cut to their budgets, including those which would not benefit directly
from the project.
-
- This concern was acknowledged. It was the case that every investment
carried a risk and it was a question of judgement about the right level of
investment. To a degree the impact on departments would be cushioned by the
recommendation of the Treasurer's Committee on what level of reserves should be
held. It was emphasised, however, that the reserves could not be used for
recurrent funding.
- .11
- It was noted that the project envisaged generating income from the
successful recruitment of additional engineering students. The national
picture of such recruitment was very poor with applications in decline. The
Engineering Council was expected to review its accreditation arrangements. The
scenario envisaged might therefore be too optimistic. The University,
nevertheless, had worked hard at its recruitment and ought to feel confident
about its position. Applications to Loughborough had increased by 5.2% against
a national decline of 15%.
- .12
- The Students' Union noted that this was an expensive project and that there
might be consequences for the departments' ability to delivery teaching quality
should they face a 2.5% cut.
- .13
- There was some discussion on student recruitment and the current
negotiations regarding the level of residential hall fees. Since negotiations
were ongoing it was not felt appropriate to discuss these in detail.
- .14
- It was noted that the £1/4M Engineering Faculty annual
contribution was fully budgeted for.
- .15
- In summary the project had potential benefits for all and should enable the
University to increase its market share in a declining market, by offering high
quality engineering education. The element of risk was recognised, but there
was a risk to the University in not proceeding.
(SEN98-P4)
- .1
- The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching) explained that the paper before Senate
began to map the University's understanding of standards onto national norms.
In many areas the University's standards were externally assessed. It was
important, however, for the University to evaluate its position as national
standards, eg with respect to programme specifications, were being developed.
It was intended to ensure that the University was well positioned as the
national debate emerged. There were a number of recommendations contained in
the document and it was RESOLVED to approve the proposals set out in the agenda
paper.
- .2
- A member of Senate reported that the culture of standards assessment was
changing very rapidly. It seemed likely that the TQA may be abolished by 2000.
The introduction of a register of External Examiners was under discussion and a
new scheme closer to that of OFSTED inspection might be introduced.
- .3
- It was felt nevertheless that the University could and should face the
issue of standards with confidence.
- .4
- A member of Senate requested that the arrangements for anonymous marking be
investigated and this request was supported by Loughborough Students'
Union.
(SEN98-P5)
It was RESOLVED on the recommendation of the Teaching and Learning Committee
and on the advice of the Curriculum Sub-Committee to recommend to Council:
- i)
- new programmes for introduction in the 1998/99 session.
- MA in Education Studies (Peterborough)
- MSc in Microbial Technology
- MSc in Banking and Finance, subject to approval of the resource
implications.
- MSc in Engineering Design and Manufacture (Peterborough)
- ii)
- the retitling of the programme in Electronic, Computer and Systems
Engineering as Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering and a change in
award from BSc to BEng with effect from the 1998 intake.
- iii)
- the retitling of the postgraduate programme in Geographies of Global Change
as Global Transformations with effect from the September 1998 intake.
It was RESOLVED on the recommendation of the Teaching and Learning Committee
and where appropriate on the advice of the Curriculum Sub-Committee:
- i)
- Undergraduate Modular Assessment: Credit Transfer
(SEN98-P6)
-
- To approve proposals for undergraduate modular assessment: credit transfer.
- ii)
- Code of Practice on Undergraduate Reassessment (SEN98-P7)
-
- To approve a Code of Practice on Undergraduate Reassessment.
- iii)
- Postgraduate Programmes
-
- To approve the following requirements for the award of Masters/LPD/LPC from
1998/99 under the new minimum tariff of 180/120/60 modular weights
respectively, for inclusion in the GRMPA.
Degree of Master 150 credits and Grade D in further
modules with a weight of 30.
LPD 100 credits and Grade D in further
modules with a weight of 20.
LPC 60 credits
iv)
Terms of Reference of the Committee
-
- To approve a revision to the Terms of Reference of the Committee to delete
reference to the review of Regulations relating to research degrees, which is
the responsibility of Research Committee.
It was RESOLVED on the recommendation of Ordinances and Regulations Committee:
- i)
- GRUA, Appendix 1: General Entrance Requirements (SEN98-P8)
-
- To approve amendments to the GRUA, Appendix 1, Entrance Requirements with
immediate effect.
- ii)
- GRMPA (SEN98-P9)
-
- To approve amendments to the GRMPA with respect to the modular weightings
and requirements for the awards of Master's/LPD/LPC from 1998/99.
- iii)
- Amendments to ARUA and ARPMA (SEN98-P10)
-
- On the recommendation of Teaching and Learning Committee to approve
amendments to the paragraphs on misconduct with immediate effect.
- iv)
- GRUA - Impaired Performance (SEN98-P11)
-
- Further to Minute 97/92 i) of Senate's 316th Meeting to ratify the action
of the Vice-Chancellor in approving a revised paragraph 9 of the GRUA.
- v)
- Code of Practice on Viva Voce Examinations (SEN98-P12)
-
- Further to Minute 97/91 ii) of Senate's 316th meeting to ratify the action
of the Vice-Chancellor in approving a revised Code of Practice on Viva Voce
examinations.
Reports were received from the following Committees:
- (SEN98-P13) Research Committee of 5 December and 5 February 1998
- (SEN98-P14) Ordinances and Regulations Committee of 6 February 1998
- (SEN98-P15) Resources and Planning Committee of 11 February 1998
- (SEN98-P16) Teaching and Learning Committee of 12 February
1998.
It was noted that the date of the winter degree congregation would be Tuesday
15 December 1998.
Wednesday 24 June 1998 am.
Dr D E Fletcher
March 1998
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