Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty Board

SSH03-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 Thirty-Sixth Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 20 May 2003.

Members: Professor T J Kavanagh (Chair)

Dr P B H Ackers (ab), Mr D J Allen, Dr K M Armour (ab),

Dr B M Bagilhole (ab), Mr J Base (ex-officio) (ab),

Professor S J H Biddle, Mr A Bunkum, Dr C Christie,

Dr G A S Cook (ab), Mr J Costello (ab), Professor I R Davidson,

Mr D N Deacon (ab), Dr J Demaine, Mr S Gibson, Professor P Golding (ab), Mr R Holman (ab), Professor B M J Houlihan (ab),

Mr D R Johnson (ab), Mr R E Jones, Dr R Kinna, Dr G Masselink (ab),

Mr W P J Maunder, Professor T C Mills, Dr J Mottram, Mr G Murdock,

Mr K Pond, Professor J M Porter, Dr C D Rhodes, Professor I Reid,

Dr J Seaton, Ms R Stubbings, Professor D J Wallace (ab),

Professor N P Wood, Mr P W Wormald, Ms M M Wőrsching

Apologies for absence: Dr B M Bagilhole, Dr G A S Cook, Mr J Costello,

Professor P Golding, Mr R Holman, Professor B M J Houlihan,

Mr D R Johnson, Dr G Masselink

Present: Ms L M Dutton

In attendance: Ms S J McKinley

17. Minutes SSH03-M1

The Minutes of the Thirty-Fifth Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on 4 February 2003, were CONFIRMED and signed by The Dean.

18. Business of the Agenda

Item 14.2 New Programme Proposals for Validation from the Markfield Institute of Higher Education had been unstarred.

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

(i) The Board NOTED that the purchase of Holywell Park site had now been completed. The allocation of space still needed to be resolved.

(ii) The Board NOTED that there had been a significant number of requests for new staffing posts that had been approved throughout the faculty. Recruitment to these posts had been healthy. The Business School had received seven acceptances out of ten offers. The Department of Economics had two offers of appointment. The Department of Geography had made one appointment. The Department of Social Sciences were still receiving applications. LUSAD had advertised for a graphics post.

(iii) The Board NOTED that at the next Social Sciences and Humanities Directorate, Heads of Departments would be presenting their departmental development plans. Key elements of the plans would be circulated to Directorate members prior to the meeting.

(iv) The Board NOTED that the Dean had reported to the Social Sciences and Humanities Directorate on emerging issues from the White Paper. The White Paper was a confusing picture of initiatives and directives. An example of a typical lack of clarity was the proposal for Centres of Excellence for Teaching. The Directorate would await more detailed information and criteria before any actions were considered on this and other issues.

20. Reports from the Dean and Associate Deans

20.1 The Dean

(i) The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities was reported to be in a good financial position with a number of departments showing a healthy surplus and others moving towards a break-even position. The 2003/04 Business Plan for the Science Faculty was projecting a deficit to the University of approximately £1.4m. The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities was expected to help reduce this by reducing its own budget by 1%, and, more recently, to find an additional £400,000 in the next financial year. This could only be found, largely, from freezing or deferring unapproved posts at the present time. Such an approach could be problematic particularly for the Business School and Department of Economics. A delay in securing appointments was seen as potentially damaging to the development plans of the departments and a significant risk to reputation that would harm future recruitment. The Dean intended to raise these issues and concerns with Operations Sub-Committee.

(ii) An Audit Steering Group would be set up, chaired by the PVC(T) in preparation for the University QAA audit in March 2004. The AD(T) would be requesting Heads of Departments to nominate a person in each department as the 'conduit' for liaison on audit matters.

20.2 The Dean on behalf of the Associate Dean (Research)

(i) The PVC(R) and Mr Peter Townsend had presented, at the Directorate on 25 March 2003, a talk on research support provided to the faculty. Mr Townsend would discuss with individual departments the support available from the Research Support Office. It was understood that only clerical support would be increased in the office to help with research grant applications at this time although it was recognised that Research Council expertise in the office that could help arts and humanities would be helpful. The Research Team would be considering a good practice protocol from the Business School as a model for improving the quality of research applications.

(ii) Geoffrey Crossack, Chief Executive, AHRB would be visiting the University in January 2004 and giving an hour and a half presentation to departments.

(iii) The formation of a faculty Graduate School had been discussed at Directorate. It had been suggested that a Graduate School would give the opportunity to bring a range of subjects within the faculty in a more cohesive way that might help recruitment. More discussion on the way forward would take place at departmental level upwards. The Graduate School would be a standing item on the Directorate agenda in the Autumn and would be brought back to the Board for further discussion.

20.3 The Associate Dean (Teaching)

The Board NOTED that Ordinance XIX with respect to Programme Boards was in contention with the constraints set by ARUA. Mr Chris Spendlove would be re-writing the ordinance.

21. Award of Degrees (SSH03-P5 - tabled)

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

22. Destination Statistics for 2002 Graduates (SSH03-P6)

The Board RECEIVED a presentation from Miss Gill Grigg, Careers Adviser, on the destination statistics for the Faculty's 2002 graduates.

The Board NOTED that there had been a 4.6% drop in graduates entering employment this year but a 0.5% drop in the unemployment figures for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. The graduate job market was getting tougher but Loughborough graduates were competing well and in recent league tables published by the FT and the Times, Loughborough scored highly on the employment factor.

The Board NOTED that postgraduate study had increased by 6.3%. Possible explanations were that many students were acknowledging the increase in competition for jobs and the need for additional, more specialised qualifications, and with the expansion of postgraduate provision at Loughborough, an increasing number of students were choosing to stay on.

The Board NOTED that in 2004 the process for the first destination data collection would change. The survey would officially be called Destination of Leavers from Higher Education. This would incorporate a number of administrative changes. The questionnaire would be much longer which would affect the return rate. The date for collection would be slightly later than previously and the time scale for completing would be stricter. It was perceived that it would be more time consuming to enter and analyse data and it would not be possible to undertake the same comparative analysis as had been carried out in previous years.

23. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and International Recruitment

This item had been withdrawn. Heads of Departments would be fully briefed via Directorate meetings and communications from the International Office if the impact of the illness were to affect recruitment or be a health risk on campus.

24. Annual and Periodic Programme Reviews for 2001-2002 (SSH03-P7)

The Board RECEIVED a report from the AD(T) on annual and periodic programme reviews.

The Board NOTED that the Faculty Board meeting had preceded the Periodic Review meetings this year. The Review in the Department of Social Sciences would take place on 22 May and in the Department of Economics on 23 May. When these had been completed the AD(T) would be reporting the findings to the University's Learning and Teaching Committee in June and subsequently to the Faculty Board in October.

The Board NOTED that the Drama had been scheduled to be the subject of a Periodic Review in early 2002. A sudden reduction in the number of teaching staff in the Drama section had made it more appropriate to conduct the Review at a later date when staffing had recovered sufficiently. LUSAD's Annual Review took place on 15 May.

The Board NOTED that on the whole recruitment and progression for the Faculty was reassuring. However, the growth in student numbers in recent years had put tutorial systems in several departments under some strain. There continued to be concern over deteriorating student:staff ratios and the quality of teaching rooms.

25. Increased Discretion for Undergraduate Programme Boards

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the AD(T) on the issue of increased discretion for undergraduate programme boards.

The Board NOTED that although the Director of Registry Services had produced a paper outlining ways to release pressure on discretion for undergraduate programme boards a consensus was not reached at PDQ. The subject would be raised again in the Autumn.

26. Prize Assessors

The Board NOTED the appointment of Professor David Llewellyn to the Prize Assessor panel in respect of the Sir Robert Martin Faculty (SSH) Prize.

27. Appointment of Associate Deans (SSH03-P8)

The Board NOTED the procedures for appointment of Associate Deans to be approved by Senate and Council.

28. Faculty Board Vacancies

The Board NOTED the vacancies for elected members of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board for the academic year beginning 2003 in the Department of Social Sciences and LUSAD.

29. Curriculum Sub-Committee

29.1 New Programme Proposals

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended the following new programme proposals to Learning and Teaching Committee, subject to certain requirements being resolved to the satisfaction of the AD(T), prior to the meeting of Learning and Teaching Committee on 5 June 2003:

· MSc Back Care Management (Oct 2003 entry)

· MSc Human Geography Research (October 2003 entry)

· MSc Environmental Dynamics: Monitoring, Evaluation and Management (Oct 2004 entry)

· MSc Sport and Exercise Nutrition (Oct 2003 entry)

29.2 New Programme Proposals for Validation from the Markfield Institute of Higher Education

This item was unstarred.

· MA Islamic Studies

· MA Islamic Management, Banking and Finance

· MA Muslim Community Studies

The Board COMMENTED that reassurance was needed about the amount of support needed for these programme proposals.

29.3 Change of Title

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended changes to the title of the following programme to Learning and Teaching Committee, prior to the meeting of Learning and Teaching Committee on 5 June 2003:

· BSc Sociology with a Minor Subject to BSc Sociology (Oct 2003 entry)

29.4 Discontinuation of Programmes

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended to Learning and Teaching Committee on 5 June 2003 that the following programme be discontinued:

· MBA Business Administration (Peterborough version) (September 2002)

30. Associate Dean (Teaching) Action

The Board NOTED the action of the Associate Dean (Teaching) in approving the following:

· Waivers of Programme Regulations

· Appointment of Programme Boards

· Credit Transfers

· Appointment of Examiners of the University

· Appointment of External Examiners/External Programme Assessors

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

31. Staff/Student Committees

The Board NOTED that reports of Staff/Student Committee Meetings had been deposited with the Faculty Board Secretary as follows:

LUSAD	11 February 2003
Department of English and Drama	15, 22 Jan, 26 Feb, 5 Mar, 30 Apr, 7 May 2003
Department of Economics (Postgraduate)	28 November 2003, 20 March 2003
Department of Economics (Undergraduate)	13 March 2003
Department of Social Sciences	27 November 2003, 26 March 2003
Business School (Undergraduate)	13 February, 20 March 2003
BSc Business Studies, Singapore	13 March 2003
MBA Engineering Management	21, 28 March 2003
Professional Certificate in Management (BPIF)	21 January 2003
Professional Certificate in Management (Thomas Cook)	11 April 2003
Semester 2 Executive MBA	2 April 2003
Semester 2 Executive MBA (Peterborough)	Semester 2 Executive MBA (Peterborough)
Loughborough University at Peterborough	29 February, 19 March, 7 May 2003

32. Senate

The Board NOTED that the Minutes of the 356^th and 358^th Ordinary Meetings of Senate held on 29 January and 5 March 2003 respectively were available on the University Web pages.

33. Reports of Committees

The Board NOTED that reports of the following Committees were available, or would be, on the University Web pages:

· Learning and Teaching Committee of 13 February 2003

· Curriculum Sub-Committee of 8 May 2003

34. Provisional Calendar of Meetings

Thursday 20 November 2003 (changed from Tuesday 28 October 2003)

Tuesday 3 February 2004

Tuesday 18 May 2004