SENATE
SEN12-M3
Minutes of the Ordinary
Meeting of Senate on Friday 9 March 2012.
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In attendance: Mike Caine (for item 12/24), Chris
Dunbobbin, Anne Mumford (for item 12/23.1), Jennifer Nutkins, Jayde Savage, Andy
Stephens.
Apologies
for absence were received from: Simon Austin, Alan Bairner, Rebecca Bridger, Alistair
Cheyne, Laurence Clift, Sandie Dann, Janet Harrison, Chris Hewitt, Angus Laing,
Keith Pond, Chris Szejnmann, Tony Thorpe.
The
Vice-Chancellor welcomed the University’s new Director of Finance, Andy
Stephens, and thanked Paula Powditch for her work as Acting Director of
Finance.
12/22 Minutes
Senate RESOLVED to
confirm and sign the Minutes of the Ordinary meeting held on 25 January 2012
(SEN12-M1).
12/23 Matters Arising from the Minutes
SEN12-P16
23.1 Review of the Impact of
Students on the Local Community at the Start of the Academic Year (minute 12/13(ii) refers).
Senate RECEIVED a
report of a review undertaken by Dr Anne Mumford, on behalf of the VC and COO,
which had been initiated following concerns from local residents about the
impact of students on the local community, particularly during the first few
weeks of the academic year. There had been significant consultation in
preparing the report, including with LSU and with Hall and Community Wardens.
It was emphasised that student behaviour was not considered to be any more problematic
at Loughborough than at other Universities. Senate welcomed the report, and
noted in discussion that issues relating to student behaviour across the whole
academic year, and its impact both on and off-campus would continue to be
monitored by Student Experience and Student Discipline Committees.
SEN12-P50
23.2. Draft
University Marketing Strategy (minute 11/94 refers)
One of the priority
areas identified at the Senate/Council Away Day in October 2011 had been to
“improve marketing to raise reputation” and the Draft University
Marketing Strategy had been prepared to address this priority, with support
from Professor Phillip Stern, and other academic colleagues with relevant
expertise. The Draft Strategy would be considered by Council before being
brought back to for formal approval in July. Members were invited to send comments
by email to the COO or the Director of Marketing and Communications.
12/24 Developing an Academic Activity on the
Olympic Park
SEN12-P17
Senate RECEIVED an update on progress since
its last meeting.
12/25 Review of Information
Science, Information Systems and Information Management
SEN12-P18
Senate NOTED that
a Review of Information Science, Information Systems and Information Management
had been initiated, as part of the action plan following the Senate/Council
Away Day in October 2011. The Review Panel would consult with all interested
parties, including representatives of other Departments and Schools with areas
of subject-connectivity. It was intended that the outcome of the review would
be presented to Senate in July 2012.
12/26 Student
Residential Numbers in Campus Accommodation
SEN12-P19
Senate RESOLVED to
recommend to Council that a continued commitment to accommodating 45-50% of
undergraduate students on campus be confirmed.
12/27 Matters for Report by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Research)
SEN12-P20
Senate RECEIVED a report. The following
points were highlighted:
i)
Research Activity. Pre-award data
showed good progress at the six month stage, standing at 50% (volume) and 44%
(value) of the record-breaking totals achieved in 2010-11. The figures for new
grants and contracts awarded also indicated a creditable half-year performance.
ii)
Policy and Development Team.
·
A spreadsheet model of submissions to
Units of Assessment had been made available to Schools to help formulate and
enhance REF planning.
·
The University’s new
Publications Information Management System (LUPIN) had gone live on 23 November
2011, and had been successfully rolled out to Schools. Thanks were offered to
the Research Office, Library and IT Services for their collaboration on this
project.
·
The latest advice and guidance on the
REF from HEFCE, including Panel Criteria and Working Methods, had been
circulated to all Deans, AD(R)s and REF Champions. Further circulations would
follow, including additional guidance on the ‘environment’
criteria.
iii)
Post Award. The half year
income/overhead recovery position showed good progress towards surplus targets.
iv)
Other. There was a recent
trend for pockets of EPSRC funding to become available at relatively short
notice, and it was important that the University continued to be responsive to
these opportunities as they arose.
12/28 Matters for Report by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Teaching)
SEN12-P21
28.1 QAA Institutional
Review – Spring 2012
Senate RECEIVED a briefing paper. The VC
thanked all those involved in the process.
SEN12-P22
28.2 Student
Placements
On the recommendation of Learning and
Teaching Committee, Senate RESOLVED to approve proposals relating to student
placements.
It was noted, by way of background, that in
July 2011, Senate had considered a proposal from the PVC(T) that all
undergraduate students, commencing with the 2012 intake, be provided with the
opportunity to undertake a placement (broadly defined, and including academic
placements such as study abroad and student international exchanges) during
their studies. Senate had agreed that a feasibility study be undertaken,
specifically on work placement activity, and this study had resulted in seven
key findings/recommendations for action. (The outcomes of a separate study on
academic placements would be reported shortly). Anne Mumford was thanked for
her work on this project.
The benefits of providing more students with professional
work experience opportunities were clear: the offer of a such experience was a
powerful recruitment tool, and students who undertook year-long placements tended
to perform better academically upon resuming their studies, and enjoyed better
employment prospects. However, there was also a recognition that a significant
amount of staff time was expended in arranging existing placements, and that an
increase in the number of students undertaking placement would result in a
corresponding decrease in tuition fees - more detailed modelling would be
undertaken in this area. It would be important also to manage student
expectations carefully; the University could support and assist students in
finding professional work experience, but it was ultimately for employers to
select the students they wished to recruit, and Loughborough students would be
in competition with those from other institutions.
Other points noted in discussion were as
below:
i)
In relation to Key Finding 4: Schools
and the Development and Alumni Relations Office also had a key role to play in
sourcing a greater range of opportunities for all forms of professional work
experience.
ii)
It was suggested that placement
opportunities for research students and staff be considered as part of the
wider discussion about partnerships.
iii)
It would be useful to be able to
interrogate the database described in Key Finding 7 by employer as well as by
student.
SEN12-P23
28.3 Code of Practice on Student Feedback
Questionnaires
On the recommendation of Learning and
Teaching Committee, Senate RESOLVED to approve revisions to the Code of
Practice on Student Feedback Questionnaires (Appendix 13 of the Academic
Quality Procedures Handbook), and to delegate authority to Learning and
Teaching Committee to oversee revisions to the questions, with a view to implementing
the revised Code and questions for the Semester 2 module feedback process in
2011/12. The following comments were
noted in discussion:
i)
A number of minor amendments to
Appendix 13 were agreed, as below:
·
The sentence: “These comments
would be available to a limited range of staff only.” should be deleted
from the third bullet point of paragraph 7, as it was rendered redundant by
subsequent provisions.
·
Paragraph 12 should be amended to
state explicitly that data from questions 1-12, as well as that from 13-18
would be made available, via the Dean of School/Head of Department or their
nominee, to the staff member, appraisers, and/or to probationary supervisers.
·
Provision should be made for the
questions to be clearer when asking for comments on the lecturer, module tutor,
and module leader.
ii)
Concern was expressed that the
electronic sharing of reports on the outcomes of the questionnaire analysis with
students beyond those who were members of SSLCs would increase the potential
for data to be misused. It was noted that the Director of IT Services would
report back to L&TC on this issue, and that any further recommendation
would be brought to Senate.
iii)
It was agreed that the PVC(T) would
liaise with the Director of Human Resources in order to confirm, from a DPA
perspective, that data relating to questions 13-18 could be released to the
relevant SSLC, with the consent of the relevant staff member. It was noted in
this context that any further addition/amendment to Appendix 13, relating to
the sharing of data from questions 13-18 beyond a limited range of staff, would
be brought to Senate. ACTION: MB, RJA
28.4 Other Matters for Report
The PVC(T) reported on the following:
i)
Student Recruitment for 2012 Entry. Satisfactory
progress was being made. Conditional Firm offers were down only very slightly
compared to 2011.
ii)
NSS. The 2012 NSS was underway, and would
run until the end of April. The Vice-Chancellor thanked LSU for its help in
encouraging students to engage with the survey.
12/29 Matters for
Report by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Enterprise)
SEN12-P24
Senate RECEIVED a
report from the PVC(E), and:
i)
APPROVED
the definition for enterprise contained in the report.
ii)
NOTED the
key metrics which would be reported to future meetings of Senate and Council.
Members were encouraged to send further comments on these to the PVC(E),
iii)
NOTED that
a Synopsis of School Development Plans had shown a number of areas of common
interest which would be given high priority in the work of the Enterprise
Office in the year ahead. Deans of School had been urged to provide further
input on the question of key business partners as soon as possible.
iv)
NOTED that
thus far, over £20M of collaborative research income had been awarded to the
Midlands Energy Consortium (comprising Loughborough, Nottingham and Birmingham
Universities). Colleagues with interests in this area were encouraged to
contact the Loughborough-based MEC manager, Helen Turner.
12/30 Matters for Report by the Vice-Chancellor
The Vice-Chancellor reported on the
following matters:
i)
David Sweeney, Director Research,
Innovation and Skills at HEFCE had been one of the keynote speakers at the
University’s recent “Research That Matters” Conference 2012.
Thanks were offered to Ken Parsons and other colleagues involved in organising
the event.
ii)
Congratulations were offered to Phil
Eames and colleagues in CREST who had been successful in bidding to lead a new
£5M SUPERGEN PV Technology Hub.
iii)
Loughborough had been selected by Ford
to run, and take part in its prestigious Blue Oval Scholarship programme.
Congratulations were offered to all involved.
iv)
The Vice-Chancellor would be holding
two open sessions on 26 and 27 March 2012.
v)
Interviews for the posts of PVC(R) and
PVC(T) had been held on 2 March 2012, and Myra Nimmo and Morag Bell had been
appointed as PVC(R) and PVC(T) respectively. The Vice-Chancellor thanked Ken
Parsons on behalf of Senate for his contribution as PVC(R), particularly in
relation to research infrastructure.
12/31 Amendments
to Regulation
XXVI and to the Code of Practice on Research Degree Programmes
SEN12-P25
31.1 On the recommendation of Research
Committee, Senate RESOLVED to approve amendments to Regulation XXVI and to the
Code of Practice on Research Degree Programmes, to enable candidates for a
research degree to register directly for the award of PhD, rather than register
initially on an MPhil programme, with effect for students
registering from 1 October 2012.
This
item was unstarred to agree a minor amendment to the proposal: That it should
be possible to extend the probationary period into Year 2 or Year 3 by up to 6,
rather than 3 months. It was noted, however, that the wording of the revised
version of Regulation XXVI should make explicit that extensions of up to 3
months would be the norm, and that longer extensions would only be granted in a
small number of exceptional cases.
SEN12-P26
31.2 On
the recommendation of Research Committee, to approve amendments to Regulation
XXVI to
enable the award of posthumous research degrees for introduction with immediate
effect.
12/32 PhD with Integrated Studies
SEN12-P26A
On the recommendation of Research Committee, Senate
RESOLVED to approve in principle the introduction of a four year PhD programme
with an integrated taught element.
12/33 Enterprise Committee
SEN12-P27
33.1 Senate RECEIVED a report of the meeting
held on 12 January 2012.
SEN12-P28
33.2 Senate RESOLVED to approve the abolition of
the Enterprise Advisory Board, and related revisions to the Terms of Reference
for Enterprise Committee.
12/34 Estates Management Committee
SEN12-P29
34.1 Senate RECEIVED a report of the meeting
held on 15 December 2011, and on the recommendation of Estates Management
Committee, and RESOLVED to approve:
SEN12-P30
34.2 Revised Constitution for Estates Management
Committee.
12/35 Learning and Teaching Committee
SEN12-P31
Senate RECEIVED a report of the meeting held
on 16 February 2012, and on the recommendation of Learning and Teaching
Committee, RESOLVED to approve:
SEN12-P32
35.1 Amendments to Regulation XIV
Amendments to Regulation XIV to extend the timescale for dealing with appeals to a conclusion, and to allow more flexibility for additional rounds of submissions.
12/36 Programme Proposals
SEN12-P33
On the recommendation of Learning and
Teaching Committee, on the advice of Curriculum Sub-Committee, Senate RESOLVED to
recommend to Council new programme proposals, strategic changes, and other
matters.
12/37 Term Dates
SEN12-P34
Senate RESOLVED to approve revised term dates
for the 2013-14, 2014-2015, and 2015-16 academic years.
12/38 Review of University Strategy 2011 –
Action Plan
SEN12-P35
Senate RECEIVED an update on actions
following the Senate-Council Away Day in October 2011.
12/39 Reports from
Committees
Senate RECEIVED reports from the
following Committees:
39.1 SEN12-P36 Advancement
Committee of 8 February 2012.
39.2 SEN12-P37 Arts
Committee of 7 February 2012.
39.3 SEN12-P38 Ethics
Committee of 10 November 2011 and 7 February 2012.
39.4 SEN12-P39 Health,
Safety and Environmental Committee of 22 February 2012 (to follow).
39.5 SEN12-P40 Research
Committee of 9 January and 6 February 2012.
39.6 SEN12-P41 Research
Performance Monitoring Committee of 2 February 2012.
39.7 SEN12-P42 Student
Discipline Committee of 14 February 2012.
12/40 Date of Next
Meeting
Wednesday 4 July 2012
Author – Chris
Dunbobbin
Date – March
2012
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