Senate

Subject: British University in Egypt: Update

Origin: Robert Bowyer / Chris Dunbobbin

1. Background

At its meeting on 4 July 2007, Senate AGREED that a final decision to approve the validation of degree programmes at BUE should be deferred until the BUE Validation Sub-Committee had considered in September 2007, key aspects of the further material requested from BUE by the end of August, by which time reports would also be available from the planned scrutiny of student work from Semester 2 by subject specialists. Senate delegated authority to the Sub-Committee to approve the validation on its behalf in September if it judged the documentation received to be satisfactory.

2. BUE Validation Sub-Committee Meetings in September 2007

The BUE Validation Sub-Committee met on 5 September 2007. It received:

(i) an update on BUE staffing.

(ii) a report from the AD(T)(BUE) on the reports from subject specialist advisers (SSAs) on the standard of student work and the standards of marking, as demonstrated by samples of semester 2 student work received from BUE in July.

(iii) a statement from BUE on progress with development of its library facilities and staffing, and a statement on progress with staff development.

In the light of its discussions on the further material provided by BUE, the Sub-Committee resolved that the validation of BUE degree programmes be approved.

The Sub-Committee agreed that developments in respect of library provision and staff development could now be followed up through the monitoring and review procedures approved by Senate at its July meeting. Matters identified in relation to the student work provided by BUE would be followed up by the AD(T)(BUE) in the first instance and subsequently through the general monitoring and review procedures.

It was noted that in approving the validation, the University was committing itself to 7 cohorts of BUE students, starting with the first intake who commenced the preparatory year in September 2005 and degree studies in 2006. There would be a re-validation by LU in spring 2010.

The Sub-Committee met again on 12 September to receive initial comments from the SSAs on updated programme and module documentation for 2007/08, as well as a large amount of material supplied by BUE following up essential actions identified in the institutional and subject validation reports. The Registry is developing means of charting progress on individual items to support the monitoring and review processes. Decisions have to be taken on what issues should be covered in the first annual institutional and programme reviews.

3. Subsequent Developments

Bill Simpson, retiring University of Manchester Librarian, has been appointed UK Library Advisor to the BUE, and will be visiting BUE frequently during 2008. He is also visiting Loughborough on Wednesday 28 November 2007 to meet with the Librarian and other members of the BUE Validation Sub-Committee.

Discussions are ongoing in relation to BUE’s intended recruitment of a UK Staff Development Adviser.

Author – Robert Bowyer/ Chris Dunbobbin

Date – November 2007