Prizes Committee

P02-M1

Minutes of the 58^th meeting of the Prizes Committee held on Thursday 31 January 2002

Present: Dr J Leaman (Chair), Dr J E Bullard, Dr E V Ferapontov, P G Lewis, Professor A C Pugh

Apologies: P P Conway

Absent: C Hewitson, P D King, D Smirnova

In attendance: M T Whyte, A B Johnston (for items relating to minute 02/1-02/6)

02/1 Apologies

Apologies were received from P P Conway.

02/2 Minutes

The Minutes of the Fifty-seventh meeting of the Committee held on 26 November 2001
(P01-M2) were confirmed.

02/3 Matters Arising from the Minutes

.1 Senate and Council Action

It was noted that Senate and Council had:

i) approved the establishment of the following prizes:

· Architecture and Surveying Institute Prize

· Best Second Year Student Prize (Economics)

· BP Perry's Prize

· Special Departmental Prize (Chemical Engineering)

· Chiltern Railways Teamwork Design Project Prize

· English Special Prize

· First and Second Year Prizes (Information Science)

· Ford Prize

· Head of Department Prize (PE, SS & RM)

· IOM (Midlands Group) Bob Mills Prize for Best Polymer Project Prize

· National Instrument Prizes

ii) approved amendments to the following prizes:

· Lancaster Synthesis Prize (re-named to Charnwood Catalysis Prize)

iii) approved the appointment of assessors for the following prizes by Chair’s Action:

· Sir Robert Martin University Prize

· T S Shipman Prize

· Loughborough College of Education Commemorative Awards

· John Guest Phillips Memorial Travelling Scholarship and Ede and Ravenscroft Prize

· Ursula Lockley Travel Bursary

· Lilian Elizabeth Bowmaker Bursary

· National Westminster Bank Award for Graduating Engineers

.2 Faculty Board Action

i) It was noted that the Engineering Faculty Board had approved the appointment of assessors for the Sir Robert Martin Faculty (Engineering) Prize by Chair’s Action.

ii) It was noted that the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board had approved the appointment of assessors for the Sir Robert Martin Faculty (Social Sciences and Humanities) Prize by Chair’s Action.

.3 Economics - Head of Department Prizes

The Committee was reminded that it had deferred a decision on the establishment of these prizes at its last two meetings. Members had expressed concern at the variable value and availability of the prizes. It was noted that the Chair had contacted the Head of Department to a) clarify the conditions on which the prizes were to be awarded and b) ensure that the prizes would be available every year if students met the conditions but was still awaiting a response.

02/4 Establishment of Travel Prizes

The Chair welcomed Bryan Johnston from the Development Office and thanked him for the work he was undertaking in relation to seeking external funding for the establishment of university and departmental prizes.

The Committee noted that a bid to the Development Trust fund to establish two University Travel Awards had been unsuccessful. A second bid for the establishment of 30 departmental prizes had been successful (minute 02/5 refers).

Bryan Johnston presented the agenda paper to the Committee, outlining both the advantages of establishing additional travel awards and the difficulties in securing the funds required. The proposed value of the prizes (£1,000) was a lot of money for an individual donor and securing funds from companies was becoming increasingly difficult. One of the major tasks was balancing the large investment required against benefits for the donor. The Development Office would continue its efforts to seek funds for this initiative and would keep the Committee appraised of progress.

During discussion the following points were clarified:

· It was recognised that some donors may wish to provide funds to establish a travel award to benefit students in a specific department or on a specific programme. The Committee did not wish to put any restriction on this project and therefore AGREED that the establishment of departmental or programme specific travel awards would be acceptable.

· The Committee was supportive of a suggestion that multiple donors could "pool" resources (eg 4 x £250) for the establishment of travel awards.

· If requested, the Committee would be willing to assist with the definition of selection criteria for awards. Distribution of travel awards across the University would be taken into account and the Committee would use its discretion to determine the most appropriate use of funds.

· The Committee felt that it might be appropriate to establish travel awards specifically aimed at assisting under represented groups. The Development Office could suggest criteria such as social background or ethnic minorities when approaching potential donors with interests in these areas. The Secretary would liaise with the Widening Participation Officer and the Development Office on this issue.

02/5 Loughborough University Development Trust Prizes

The Committee noted that a bid to the Development Trust fund to establish 30 new departmental prizes (10 first year prizes @ £50, 10 second year prizes @ £75 and £10 final year prizes @ £100) for a period of 5 years had been successful. The Committee was appreciative of the generosity of the Loughborough University Development Trust in supporting this initiative.

The Committee considered proposals for the allocation of the prizes across academic departments. It was recognised that a balance needed to be struck between achieving a more equitable spread of prizes across departments and not penalising those departments who had been successful in securing external funds or who had contributed departmental funds to establish prizes. Following an in depth discussion, it was suggested that the prizes be split across faculties according to the number of undergraduate students and the number of existing undergraduate prizes. On this basis it was AGREED that the prizes should be allocated as follows:

Faculty of Engineering (2479 UG students & 113 existing UG prizes)

6 prizes (two 1st year @ £50, two 2nd year pries @ £75 and two final year @ £100)

Faculty of Science (2197 UG students & 32 existing UG prizes)

6 prizes (two 1st year @ £50, two 2nd year pries @ £75 and two final year @ £100)

Faculty of Soc Sci & Humanities (4798 UG students & 38 existing UG prizes)

18 prizes (six 1st year @ £50, six 2nd year pries @ £75 and six final year @ £100)

The Secretary would formulate new proposals for the distribution of the prizes within faculties and circulate them to members of the Committee for comment. Once agreement was reached amongst members of the Committee, recommendations would be submitted to Faculty Boards for consideration.

In line with a request from the Development Office, it was AGREED that the prizes should be awarded to students for overall contribution to their department, not simply on academic merit. Final selection criteria would be defined by departments but must take non-academic achievement as well as academic effort into account. Departments selected by Faculty Boards to receive these prizes would be provided with a brief for the establishment of suitable criteria.

The title of the prizes would be the “Loughborough University Development Trust Prize for an outstanding (first, second, final) year student in (department name).” One of the conditions on which Loughborough University Development Trust had allocated the funds was that the prizes received adequate publicity. Departments would be expected to advertise the existence of the prizes on an annual basis. The minimum should be inclusion in the departmental handbook but departments would be encouraged to consider other approaches for publicising these particular prizes.

Further arrangements for publicising the awards were AGREED as follows:

· The Loughborough University Development Trust Prizes would benefit from the publicity associated with prizes (University Calendar, Prizes Webpage, Degree Day Programmes, Academic Transcripts). In addition, an annual article detailing the prize winners would be submitted to news@lboro.

· An article publicising the establishment of the new prizes would be submitted to news@lboro once Senate and Council approval had been obtained.

02/6 Funding and Duration of Prizes

At the request of the Development Office, the Committee considered proposals for the funding and duration of prizes. The Committee APPROVED recommendations detailed in the agenda paper as follows:

· For prizes valued £100 or less, the minimum length of a donor’s involvement would be pitched at 10 years.

· For prizes valued between £101 and £500, the minimum length of a donor's involvement would be pitched at 5 years.

· For prizes valued above £500, the minimum length of a donor's involvement would be pitched at 3 years.

· For prizes valued £500 or less, donors would be allowed to donate over a maximum of 3 years. This would keep the level of funding for a prize reasonably attractive to the donor, and financial administration at a reasonable level. The Development Office would seek to get the donation as a lump sum where possible.

02/7 Value of Prizes from Endowment Funds

The Committee received a paper detailing the value of prizes funded from endowment funds, based on current interest rates.

The Committee considered proposals to increase the value of some prizes and AGREED to make the following recommendations to Senate:

· Frank Carter Memorial Prize (European Studies) increase from £150 to £250 per year.

· Michael Edwards Memorial Prize (Chemical Engineering) increase from £60 to £200 per year.

· TS Shipman Prizes (University) increase from £200 to £300 per year.

The Committee considered whether action should be taken regarding endowment funds earning less per year than the annual value of the prize they supported. It was noted that as the calculations erred on the side of caution, not all prizes earning less than they paid out on an annual basis were in trouble. Most of the shortfall would probably be addressed by a relatively small increase in interest rates.

Whilst the following funds were identified as earning less per year than the annual value of the prize they supported, it was noted that a 1% increase in interest rates would rectify the situation:

· Conoco (UK) Prize

· Conoco Telecommunications Prize

· J D White Memorial Prizes

· John S Webber Memorial Prize

· Maurice Line Prize

· Wynne Harries Memorial Prize

It was AGREED that these prizes should be put on a "watch list" and that departments be informed of the situation but advised that no further action was required at this time. The position of the prizes on the "watch list" would be reviewed next year.

Unfortunately there were a number of funds earning significantly less than the prizes they supported. The following prizes would be difficult to sustain even if there was a 1% increase in interest rates:

· Appleby Prize

· John Guest Phillips Memorial Travelling Scholarship

· J N Butters Memorial Fund

· Roger M Eley Memorial Prize

It was noted that the John Guest Phillips Memorial Fund was probably large enough to sustain the annual shortfall in the short to medium term but that the position would need to be monitored on an annual basis. If the situation worsened, the Committee would need to consider a more serious course of action.

With regard to the Appleby Prize, the J N Butters Memorial Fund and the Roger M Eley Memorial Prize, the Secretary would contact the department and suggest that they considered one of the following options:

1. Supplement the annual earnings with departmental funds to meet the value of the prize

2. Make a one off contribution to the endowment fund to increase its annual earning potential.

3. Continue to pay out at the current rate with no departmental contribution. It was noted that this option would run the risk of eating into the capital thereby reducing potential earning capacity in future years.

4. Reduce the value of the prize to bring it in line with annual earnings of the fund

The Committee agreed that departments should be discouraged from adopting option 4, as this would disadvantage students. Particularly in the case of memorial prizes, the Committee would urge departments to supplement the fund to protect the value of the prize. This should be done as a mark of respect to those in whose memory the prize had been established. Departments could either supplement the prizes on an annual basis or by a lump sum addition to the endowment fund. The latter could form part of a fund raising drive, which would help to increase awareness of the memorial fund, and the prize it supported.

It was important to alert departments to the financial position of these funds but it would be difficult to be prescriptive about what action they should take. It was AGREED to review the position of all endowment funds on an annual basis.

02/8 Establishment of New Prizes

02/8.1 Civil and Building Engineering

At the request of the Department of Civil and Building Engineering, the Committee considered the establishment of the M J T Smith Prize to the value of £100 to be awarded annually to the best student on the MSc Airport Planning and Management programme.

It was AGREED to recommend the M J T Smith Prize to Senate.

02/8.2 Electronic and Electrical Engineering

At the request of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, the Committee considered the establishment of the TRL Technology Prize to the value of £200 to be awarded to the best final year individual or group project in one of the following topics:

· Wireless/mobile communications

· Bluetooth

· FPGA/reconfigurable systems

· Microprocessors

It was AGREED to recommend the TRL Technology Prize to Senate.

Secretary's Note: The funding for this prize is for 3 years until 2003/04

02/8.3 IPTME

At the request of the Institute of Polymer Technology and Materials Engineering, the Committee considered the establishment of the Professor D R Gabe Prize to the value of £250 to be awarded annually to the best student on an MSc programme.

It was AGREED to recommend the Professor D R Gabe Prize to Senate.

02/9 Amendments to Existing Prizes

02/9.1 Business School

At the request of the Business School, the Sub-Committee considered amendments to the 3M UK Prize and AGREED to make a recommendation to Senate.

02/9.2 Physics

At the request of the Department of Physics, the Sub-Committee considered amendments to the Siemens Prize and AGREED to make a recommendation to Senate.

02/10 Discontinuation of Prizes

02/10.1 Physics

The Committee noted that the Department of Physics no longer awarded the GE Lighting Prize.

02/10.2 IPTME

The Committee noted that the Institute of Polymer Technology and Materials Engineering no longer awarded the Professor R J W Reynolds Prize, the Morgan Matroc Prize or the Cabot Carbon Prizes.

02/11 Terms of Reference for Individuals wishing to sponsor a new Prize

The Committee noted the action of the Chair in approving the Terms of Reference for Individuals wishing to sponsor a new Prize.

02/12 Reports from Prize Winners 2000/2001

The Committee received a report the winner of a Loughborough College of Education Commemorative Award 2000/2001.

02/13 Valediction

The Committee thanked retiring members, including the Chair.

02/14 Date of Next Meeting

Thursday 10 October 2002, pm