Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty Board

SSH07-M2

Minutes

The Minutes of Meetings of the Faculty Board are posted on the Web for three years after the relevant date.

Minutes of the Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 13 November 2007

Members: Professor Dave Allen, Professor Barbara Bagilhole, Dr Malcolm Barnard,

Grahame Boocock, F Brown (ab), Dr Paul Byrne, Dr Ian Campbell (ab), John Costello (ab),

Dr Oliver Daddow (ab), Professor Ian Davidson, Dr Jack Demaine, Professor Alan France (ab),

Dr Adrian Gourlay, Dr Mick Green, Johnny Hardstaff (ab), Dr John Harrison,

Professor Roger Haslam (ab), Professor Elaine Hobby, Tony Hodgson, Dr Dennis Howitt,

Professor Terry Kavanagh, Professor Malcolm King (ab), Dr Moya Lloyd (ab), Dr Marsha Meskimmon, Dr Jonathan Millett, Johanne Mills, Dr Graham Murdock (ab), Professor Myra Nimmo, Professor Shirley Pearce (ab), Professor Eric Pentecost, Professor Ian Reid, Phil Sawdon (ab), Professor Dennis Smith, Dr Chris Spray, Dr. David Stensel, Ruth Stubbings (ab), Dr Neal Swettenham

Apologies for absence: F Brown, Dr Ian Campbell, John Costello, Dr Oliver Daddow,

Johnny Hardstaff, Professor Roger Haslam, Professor Malcolm King, Dr Moya Lloyd,

Phil Sawdon, Ruth Stubbings

In attendance: Dr Paul Byrne, Annette McQuillan

20. Business of the Agenda

20.1 New and returning Faculty Board members

NOTED: New and returning Heads of Department were welcomed – Professor Myra Nimmo, Professor Eric Pentecost, Professor Ian Reid and Dr Marsha Meskimmon. New and returning members to the Board were also welcomed.

20.2 Unstarred items

NOTED: Items 16 and 18 were unstarred.

21. Minutes (SSH07-M1)

NOTED: The minutes of the Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on Tuesday 22 May 2007 were CONFIRMED subject to the correction of a minor typing error from Item 8. The third line should read ‘complement’ and not ‘compliment’.

22. Matters Arising from the Minutes Not Appearing Elsewhere on the Agenda

22.1 British University in Egypt (BUE)

NOTED: Final approval had been given to the validation of programmes at BUE. The appointment of Dr David Twigg as Associate Dean (Teaching) from the Engineering Faculty for the British University in Egypt had been approved. Subject specialists were visiting BUE in February 2008. Many initial concerns had now been addressed. The quality of students were good and the facilities were found to be excellent. David Kirby, Dean of the Business School at BUE, was committed to taking on some UK staff and was initially considering pre-retirement staff. He had also been encouraged to look at post doctorates.

22.2 Information Systems

NOTED: Philip Wilkinson-Blake gave an update to the Board on new information systems. It was reported that fifty percent of the new e-mail system had been installed although the server had experienced a few glitches and had been slow-running at times. The on-line diary was proving to be very beneficial and it appeared there was now a need to translate this to mobile devices. The current storage quota for staff was 250 megabytes but this could probably be increased to 350. The Faculty would shortly be moving to IE7. Vista which was expected to be introduced in early 2008 would need training and support for its users. XP would carry on in parallel for another eighteen months. Microsoft Office 2007 will be the next office system to be upgraded and PC and Microsoft users will need more training. It was hoped that all labs would be running this from summer 2008. Voiceover IP (similar to Skype) was being developed in Computing Services. At some point, Computing Services hoped to introduce a few phones in some departments to sample in a test environment. High performance computing services had been moved to the Hazelgrave Building. Enhanced Learn had been piloted in three academic departments and the general feedback was that the new system had provided much improved service to students. Ruth Stubbings will be contacting departments to explain how modules will be migrated across. LUSI had encountered teething problems but they were currently being dealt with by the team. AGRESSO had been a difficult implementation and full training had still to be carried out. Some on-line training was currently available. There had also been problems with the help line and there was a need for off-campus access. CIS were considering buying a content management system for the University website to enable Departments to manage their own websites.

The Board were concerned over the timings of all the new IT and IS developments, as Departments were being expected to cope with multiple changes in a short space of time.

22.3 School of Sports Science Initiatives

NOTED: Professor Nimmo reported on the progress of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences with the Department of Human Sciences. Weekly joint meetings had been arranged between the Heads of Department/School and they had been invited to attend both Faculty Boards. A common workload model was currently being developed and some joint teaching had commenced.

23. Constitution and Terms of the Faculty Board (SSH07-P6)

RECEIVED: The constitution and terms of the Faculty Board and to consider whether they were fit for purpose.

NOTED: Members (other than Heads of Department) had a responsibility to inform others in their Department of issues through staff meetings. The Board agreed that a meeting of Faculty Board twice a year was sufficient. The Board commented that it might be helpful to distinguish Faculty from Directorate.

24. Faculty Business for 2007/08

CONSIDERED: The main Faculty business agenda items for 2007/08.

NOTED: The following key issues:

(i) Departments’ Development Plans to link to the University Strategic Plan. Heads of Department were currently working on this.

(ii) Completion of RAE.

(iii) Development of East Park. It was expected this would be ready for occupation within a year.

(iv) The ongoing relationship between the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences and the Department of Human Science and the envisaged collaboration between the Department of Economics and the Business School.

25. Dean’s and Associate Deans’ Reports

25.1 Dean’s Report

RECEIVED: A report from the Dean.

NOTED:

(i) Condolences were extended to the family and colleagues of a postgraduate student in the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences who was tragically killed at the weekend.

(ii) Not enough names had been put forward for Honorary Degrees. The Dean suggested that it would be useful to receive feedback from the University on unsuccessful nominations.

(iii) The Faculty had generated a healthy surplus last year.

25.2 Associate Dean (Teaching) (SSH07-P7)

RECEIVED: A report from the Associate Dean (Teaching).

(i) Recruitment

NOTED: The Faculty had responded well to requests for increased undergraduate intakes, the increases being shared across the University. A working group had been established to consider future Departmental student populations.

(ii) Draft E-learning strategy

NOTED: It was expected that E-learning would sit side by side with conventional learning. The Associate Dean (Teaching) asked the Board to note points 2.2 of the report: that E-learning will be embedded within the curriculum as a standard element used to enhance the student learning experience, point 3.2: that academic staff will be enabled and encouraged to exploit the potential of e-learning, and point 4.2: that E-learning must be addressed in all student feedback mechanisms and procedures. The Board was content to endorse the draft strategy and implementation plan.

25.3 Associate Dean (Research) (SSH07-P8)

RECEIVED: A report from the Associate Dean (Research).

(i) RAE

NOTED: The RAE submission was nearly completed University-wide. RA2 and RA5 still required some final detailed work. RAE teams were likely to look at websites so these should match what was written on RA5’s. Thanks were expressed to mentors and the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) with special thanks to the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research).

(ii) Research applications

NOTED: The University was now required to increase the success rates of research applications. The Research Office will be looking at detailed figures and breakdowns of where they have been successful. Currently Loughborough University was ranked 58 out of 108 institutions.

26. Periodic Programme Reviews (SSH07-P9)

RECEIVED: The periodic programme review report from the Business School and to consider the School’s response.

NOTED: Many positives had been reported and the Business School was congratulated for its effective internal quality assurance processes and its excellent student feedback. Following concerns expressed by the Business School there will be a trial to reinstate exams on a Saturday. A Board member expressed interest in Item 10.8 in the Review Report regarding a support staff training budget and development scheme.

27. Award of Degrees (tabled)

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

28. Marketing Loughborough University

RECEIVED: A verbal report from the Director of Marketing, Ian Cairns.

NOTED: It was felt that current marketing at Loughborough University lacked consistency. There appeared to be duplication of effort and marketing spend and marketing materials varied in consistency and quality. The current situation was that student expectations had risen. The aim was therefore to have a coherent and integrated marketing strategy university-wide. Loughborough University was acknowledged as a top institution for sport but this needed to be broadened to include other University strengths. The Faculty should consider appointing a Faculty Marketing Officer similar to the Engineering Faculty. A Web Development Manager had now been appointed to head the web development action group.

29. The establishment of History at Loughborough University (SSH07-P10, 10a)

RECEIVED: A report and two papers from Professor Allen, Head of the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies, on the reintroduction of History as an undergraduate subject at Loughborough University.

NOTED: Following subject specialist consultations, the intention was to appoint a professor or reader in the first half of 2008.

30. Loughborough University – Towards 2016: Strategic Plan 2006/2007 (tabled)

CONSIDERED: The University Strategic Plan booklet and a headline paper from the Dean.

NOTED: Departments were currently considering the strategy in the context of development planning particularly in internationalisation and enterprise. Promotion and other HR issues were being considered at the Human Resources Working Group. The Dean reported on the East Park development being an important part of the Strategy. Faculty Deans had recently visited Canada to learn about the ‘cultivation of alumni’ and fundraising.

31. Associate Dean (Teaching) Action

RATIFIED: Actions taken by the Associate Dean (Teaching) in approving the following:

i. Waivers of Programme Regulations

ii. Appointment of Programme Boards

iii. Credit Transfers

(Further details of the actions were available from the Faculty Board Secretary upon request)

32. The role of the Faculty Board (SSH07-P11)

NOTED: Information on the role of the Faculty and Faculty membership for new Board members.

33. External Examiner Reports

NOTED: Reports of External Examiner’s had been deposited with the Faculty Board Secretary and were available for consultation on request.

34. Personal Titles

NOTED: Agenda item 16 had been unstarred. The following personal titles had been awarded and the Faculty offered their congratulations.

Dr. David Lavallee, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, (effective from 8^th March 2007) -

Dr Lavallee had since departed for Aberystwyth.

Dr Julian Wolfreys, English and Drama (effective from 21^st February 2007) Professor of Modern History and Culture.

35. Curriculum Sub-Committee

35.1 Changes to Programme Title/Awards

NOTED: Curriculum Sub-Committee will be recommending the following proposed programme title changes from the Business School to Learning and Teaching Committee, prior to their meeting on 8 November 2007 (effective date shown in brackets):

Postgraduate Certificate in Management (British Printing Industries Federation) to Postgraduate Certificate in Management and Leadership (Print and Packaging)

Postgraduate Certificate in Management (Federation of Sports and Play Associates) to Postgraduate Certificate in Management and Leadership (Federation of Sports and Play Associations)

Postgraduate Programmes in Management: Higher Education Administration to Postgraduate Programmes in Management and Leadership: Higher Education Administration

Postgraduate Programmes in Management (N G Bailey) to Postgraduate Programmes in Management and Leadership (N G Bailey)

Postgraduate Programmes in Management (Thomas Cook) to Postgraduate Programmes in Management and Leadership (Thomas Cook)

Postgraduate Programmes in Management (Professional) to Postgraduate Programmes in Management and Leadership

BSc (Hons) Retail Management to BSc (Hons) Retailing, Marketing and Management

35.2 Discontinuation of Programmes

NOTED: Curriculum Sub-Committee will be recommending to Learning and Teaching Committee prior to their meeting on 8 November 2007 to discontinue the following programme:

Postgraduate Programme in Management (FKI) from the Business School

36. Staff/Student Committees

NOTED: Agenda item 18 had been unstarred. The following reports of the Staff/Student Committee meetings had been deposited with the Faculty Board Secretary. The Dean reminded the Board that it was a requirement that a ‘minimum’ of three Staff/Student Committee Meetings should be held per annum and the minutes sent to the Dean and Faculty Board Secretary. Currently only a small number of minutes were being sent to Sally McKinley.

Business School (Healthcare Risk Management)	September 2006
Business School (PG Diploma in Management NGB)	7 June 2007
Business School (MSc Management/MSc International Management/ MSc Marketing & Management/MSc Finance & Management)	9 May 2007
Department of Design & Technology	23 May 2007
Department of Geography	9 May 2007

37. Prizes

NOTED: The following students from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities had been awarded prizes and the Faculty offered their congratulations:

Ede and Ravenscroft Prize	· Hayley Giles (PIRES)
Hannah Community Prize	· Joanne Mary Cheetham (Dept of Social Sciences)
John Guest Phillips Memorial Travelling Scholarship	· Beverley Mari David (Dept of Human Sciences) · Lorin Taranis (Dept of Human Sciences)
Loughborough College of Education Commemorative	· Augustina Sarpong (Dept of Design and Technology) · Fangyuan Zhuang (School of Sport and Exercise Sciences)
T S Shipman Awards	· Fiona Jane Jamieson (School of Sport and Exercise Sciences)
Ursula Lockley Travel Bursary	· Julia Karen Grosspietsch (Department of Geography)
Mavis Prize for Music Awarded by the Arts Centre	· Hugh Rashleigh (Department of Design and Technology)
Graduate School Research Student Prizes Social Sciences & Humanities	· William Alexander Langdon Prichard (PIRES)
Loughborough Experience Awards	· Kate Costin (Business School) · Pardeep Dhillon (Dept of English & Drama) · Sophie Driscoll (Dept of Social Sciences) · David Goss (PIRES) · Suzanne Hartwell (Dept of Human Sciences) · Bruce Hutchison (Business School) · Rachel Wilson (Dept of Social Sciences) · Tracey Young (Dept of Social Sciences) · Matthew Rogers (Dept of Education)
Sir David Wallace Trophy	· Sophie Victoria Driscoll (Dept of Social Sciences)

38. Membership (SSH07-P12)

NOTED: Membership of the Faculty Board for the session 2007-2008.

39. Representation on Other Bodies (SSH07-P13)

NOTED: Representation of the Faculty on other bodies.

40. Any Other Business

NOTED: The Dean thanked Dr Paul Byrne and Annette McQuillan for taking notes in the absence of Sally McKinley.

41. Date of Next Meeting

The next Faculty Board meeting will take place prior to a Directorate meeting on Tuesday 20 May 2008.

Author – Dr P L Byrne, Ms A McQuillan
November 2007