Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

 

Faculty Board

 

SSH03-M3

 

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-Seventh Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Thursday 20 November 2003.

Members: Professor T J Kavanagh (Chair), Dr P B H Ackers (ab), Professor D J Allen (ab), Dr K M Armour (ab), Dr B M Bagilhole, Mr J Base (ex-officio) (ab), Professor S J H Biddle, Dr C Christie, Dr G A S Cook (ab), Mr J Costello, Professor I R Davidson, Dr J Demaine, Professor P Golding, Professor B M J Houlihan (ab), Ms D Hurst (ab),  Mr D R Johnson, Mr R E Jones, Dr R Kinna (ab), Mr G Masselink (ab), Mr W P J Maunder, Ms S Middleton, Dr S Pink (ab), Mr K Pond, Professor J M Porter, Professor C D Rhodes, Professor I Reid, Dr J Seaton, Ms R Stubbings (ab), Mr S Vermani, Professor D J Wallace (ab), Professor T G Weyman-Jones (ab), Professor N P Wood, Mr P W Wormald, Ms M M Wörsching (ab)

                                   

Apologies for absence:   Dr P B H Ackers, Professor D J Allen, Dr G A S Cook,

Professor B M J Houlihan, Dr R Kinna, Dr G Masselink, Ms S Middleton, Dr S Pink,

Miss R Stubbings, Professor T G Weyman-Jones, Ms M M Wörsching 

Present:                                Ms L M Dutton

In attendance:                     Ms S J McKinley

 

 

35.    Minutes  SSH03-M2

 

The Minutes of the Thirty-Sixth Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on 20 May 2003, were CONFIRMED and signed by The Dean.

 

36.    Reports from the Dean and Associate Deans

36.1         The Dean

(i)        The Board NOTED that a Moderation Working Group, chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, had been initiated to discuss internal funding arrangements, the university structure, development plans and the most efficient ways of using moderation funding from HEFCE.  A preliminary report had been presented to Senate and the Board CONSIDERED the report’s four main recommendations as follows:

·        A University-wide early retirement scheme.

·        A review of the University structure.

·        Regular reviews of Support Services.

·        Regional collaboration with other institutions.

The Board AGREED that that efficiency and reduction of cost to the University could be gained by reviewing support services and an early retirement scheme.  It was felt that there should be a distinction between establishing efficiency gains and proposals for restructuring the University and its departments as one did not necessarily follow the other.

(ii)              The Board NOTED that a small working group had been set up, within the University, to consider the initiation of top-up fees if the legislation was established. 

36.2         The Associate Dean (Research)

The Board NOTED the following points:

(i)                That there had been a marked increase in faculty activity in applying for and receiving new grants and contracts. 

(ii)              Associate Deans (Research) had been asked to gather information from departments on staff positions with respect to returnability.  The expectation of the University was that 100% of all staff who had terms of teaching as part of their reference would be returned.

(iii)      The notion of a faculty Graduate School had been discussed at Directorate and potential space for administrative support had been identified in the James France foundry.  It was felt that a faculty Graduate School would enhance and improve the quality of postgraduate student experience, that it would be a public statement showing a serious commitment to postgraduate research activity and provision and that it would put the faculty in a good position to meet the expectations and requirements of the ESRC and AHRB who were demanding formal research training regimes.  A working party was being organised to consolidate a Graduate School within the faculty chaired by the AD(R).

36.3         The Associate Dean (Teaching)

(i)           The Board NOTED that new arrangements for setting preliminary student numbers had been proposed at Operations Sub-Committee on 10 November 2003.  Initially the Deans would be meeting the AD(T)’s to discuss provisional student number targets for full-time undergraduate and postgraduate taught students for 2004-2007.  For UK/EU undergraduate students, the University was unlikely to increase its overall intake beyond a figure of 2970 at this stage and for international students, Operations Sub-Committee had agreed that more ambitious targets would be set.  Capacity planning would be planned for and identified at the outset.

(ii)         The Board RECEIVED a tabled paper on the Ofsted Inspection that had taken place in the Teacher Education Unit.  Congratulations were extended to the Unit and to Mr Peter King and Dr Jo Harris for their excellent result awarded by Ofsted of the highest inspection category, Category A.

(iii)            The Board NOTED that the self-evaluation documents with respect to five departments who were subject to audit trails would be required by the end of January 2004.  The identity of the five departments would not be known until mid-December 2003.

37.    Award of Degrees (SSH03-P9 - tabled)

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

38.    Financial Report

The Board NOTED that the faculty’s financial position was healthy with a surplus of £610,000.  The major growth had been in the Business School and Department of Economics. The undergraduate population had increased by 52 and overseas students by 53. 

39.    Periodic Programme Reviews  (SSH03-P10)

The Board RECEIVED the periodic programme reviews from the Department of Social Sciences and the Department of Economics.

The Board NOTED that these reviews provided a genuine reflective assessment of teaching programmes in the two departments.  In the case of the Department of Economics the issue of a non-dissertation outcome was due to be reconsidered by Curriculum Sub-Committee in January 2004.  Operations Sub-Committee would be considering additional posts in both the Department of Social Sciences and the Department of Economics to meet increased student demand.

 

40.    Criteria for the Appointment of External Examiners for research Degrees (SSH03-P11)

The Board CONSIDERED the criteria for the appointment of external examiners for research degrees.  The Board AGREED that an appointed external examiner should be demonstrably research active.  It was felt that a new scale of remunerations for External Examiners should be examined.

 

41.           Departmental Development Plans

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the Dean on the progress of the departmental development plans.

The Board NOTED that Operations Sub-Committee had received and approved the plans.  Advice and comments on the development plans would be fed back to departments.

42.    Consultation on the Structure of the Academic Year (SSH03-P12)

The Board RECEIVED a consultation document on the review of the structure of the academic year.

The Board NOTED that the faculty departmental administrators had met in November and had considered the document.  Their view was that a return to Model B would be preferable to the existing seminar system which was an endless treadmill making it difficult to fit in other areas of activity.  Model C made the administrator’s job more complicated.  The administrators believed that a flexibility in the system was required to meet the differing needs of departments.

The Board was invited to make initial comments on the proposals.  During discussion the following points were made:

The Board AGREED that a flexible system to accommodate different approaches and to reduce assessment burdens was required.  The Dean would feedback the faculty’s initial comments to the Committee.  The Board would have another opportunity to discuss the proposals in more detail at its next meeting in February.

ACTION:  Dean     

43.    Award of Degrees (SSH03-P13)

The Board NOTED degrees awarded by Senate at its meeting on 25 June 2003.

44.    Curriculum Sub-Committee

44.1New Programme Proposals

The Board NOTED that Senate had approved the introduction of the following programme from October 2003:

·        MA Art & Design (Studio Practice)

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended the following new programme proposal to Learning and Teaching Committee on 6 November 2003:

·        BSc Sport and Exercise Science (Intercalated) from 2003/04 for one-year students from Medical Schools

44.2    Changes of Title

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended changes to the title of the following programme to Learning and Teaching Committee on 6 November 2003:

·        Professional Certificate/Diploma in Retail Automotive Management to Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma in Automotive Retail Management from 2003/04

44.3    Discontinuation of Programme

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended to Learning and Teaching Committee on 6 November 2003 that the following programme be discontinued:

·        MA Design Studies

45.    Associate Dean (Teaching) Actions

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.

46.    Constitution and Powers of the Faculty Board 
SSH03-P14

The Board NOTED the constitution and powers of the Faculty Board.

47.    Membership 
SSH03-P15

The Board NOTED the membership of the Faculty Board for the session 2003-2004.

48.    Representation on Other Bodies 
SSH03-P16

The Board NOTED the representation of the Faculty on other bodies.

49.    Staff/Student Committees

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

Department of Design and Technology 14 May 2003
Department of Social Sciences
(Undergraduate)		 14 May 2003
Department of Geography 29 October 2002, 11 March, 13 May 2003
LUSAD 29 May 2003
Professional Programmes in Management 27 May 2003
MSc Management/MSc International Management/MSc Finance & Management 20 April 2003
Postgraduate Diploma/MSc Industrial Sales and Marketing 1 September 2003
Professional Certificate in Management 4 September 2003
Department of English & Drama (English) 15, 29 October 2003
Department of English & Drama (Drama) 15 October, 5 November 2003

                                                                   

50.    Senate

The Board NOTED that the Minutes of the 360th Ordinary Meeting of Senate held on 25 June 2003 were available on the University Web pages.

51.    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  5 June and 8 November 2003 respectively

Curriculum Sub-Committee of 8 May and 9 October 2003 respectively

52.    Degree Congregation

The Board NOTED that degrees for programmes and research in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities would be awarded at the Congregation on the afternoon of Monday 15 December 2003.

 

53.    Date of Next Meeting

·        Tuesday 3 February 2004 pm

(Closing date for receipt of Agenda items : Friday 23 January 2004)

 

Author - Sally McKinley
Date – November 2003
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