Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty Board

SSH04-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-Ninth Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 18 May 2004.

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

Professor J M Porter, Professor C D Rhodes, Professor N P Wood, Mr P W Wormald,

Ms M M Worsching

Present: Ms L Dutton, Dr P L Byrne

In attendance: Ms S J McKinley

16. Minutes

SSH04-M1

The Minutes of the Thirty-Eighth Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on 3 February 2004, were CONFIRMED and signed by The Dean.

17. Matters Arising

17.1 Faculty Board Meetings

Faculty Deans had agreed that it would be more practical to hold Faculty Boards once per semester rather than once a term. The Deans would be discussing the matter with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

17.2 Moderation Working Party

The early retirement proposal had been implemented. Seven members of staff in the faculty had taken early retirement with one pending.

The proposal to develop larger schools within the University was being pursued. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor would be speaking to the next Directorate meeting on 22 June 2004. It was anticipated that a paper on the subject would be presented at Senate on 23 June 2004

17.3 Consultation on the Structure of the Academic Year

Departments had presented their views on the structure of the academic year to the Faculty Board on 3 February 2004. No single proposal had been deemed favourable as an alternative to the status quo. It had been unanimously agreed, however, that there should be maximum flexibility within the status quo and that the volume of assessment work load should be reduced.

18. Reports from the Dean and Associate Deans

18.1 The Dean

(i) The Board NOTED that the Tuition Fee Working Group were looking at a framework for tuition fees, particularly with respect to widening participation. They were hoping to develop a simple model for prospective candidates and their parents. Departments had been requested to examine the impact of tuition fees on recruitment in their individual departments and inform the working group of any areas where they anticipated a threat to recruitment.

(ii) The Board RECEIVED a tabled paper for information on the ‘Review to Help Shape the University’. The Dean reminded Faculty Board members that the faculty side of the campus was under review and that departments should state any reservations they may have about building developments and their needs to the Moderation Working Party and Estates Strategy Review Group.

(iii) The Board RECEIVED a tabled paper for information on the Times Good University Guide League Tables for 17 May 2004. The Board NOTED that Loughborough University was now number ten in the league tables. At subject level the Communication and Media programme was first with 100% score, Drama was placed eighth with 92.5% and Art and Design seventh at 94.2%. Congratulations were extended to all for their hard work.

(iv) The Board NOTED that a significant number of staffing posts had been advertised recently. Departments had been successful in recruiting many excellent new staff. Virtually all posts submitted to Operations Sub-Committee by departments had been approved during the year.

(v) The Board NOTED that the faculty had produced a surplus in excess of £1m this financial year and it also had the highest staff-student ratio than the other two faculties. The Dean reported that there had been a general improvement all round in terms of performance and growth in postgraduate numbers and student application numbers were healthy across the board. During the next financial year it was anticipated that the surplus would be somewhat smaller. Congratulations was extended to the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies for moving forward from a structural deficit position over the last few years to break even this financial year.

18.2 The Associate Dean (Research)

The AD(R) was unable to attend the Faculty Board on this occasion. There was nothing to report under this item.

18.3 The Associate Dean (Teaching)

(i) The Board NOTED that a HEFCE fund relating to human resources was in the pipeline and that a University proposal outlining the funding would be received shortly. Teaching quality enhancement had produced another years funding. There was currently discussion taking place on the University’s UK document relating to teaching standards.

(ii) The Board NOTED the recent validation of the LUSAD honours degree in Graphic Communication with Nang Yang University in Singapore which had been recommended to Learning and Teaching Committee.

(iii) The Board NOTED that a plagiarism detection workshop in collaboration with the University of Northumbria and JISC had taken place in early March. The AD(T) would be writing to Heads of Departments to establish what a plagiarism detection service could offer to departments. The Board AGREED that the University’s policy for handling plagiarism needed to be examined.

19. Award of Degrees (tabled)

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

20. Faculty Graduate School

(SSH04-P3)

The Board RECEIVED a report from the Dean on behalf of the Associate Dean (Research) on the progress of a Faculty Graduate School.

The Board NOTED that the Faculty Graduate School had presented a proposal to the Moderation Working Party which had been well received. The aim of the Faculty Graduate School was to enhance the postgraduate student experience providing them with a sense of ‘belonging’ to the wider university. The aims of the Faculty Graduate School would be discussed in more detail at the June Directorate

21. Annual and Periodic Programme Reviews

(SSH04-P4)

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

The Board NOTED that due to staff resignations the PPR for the Drama section in 2001-02 had not been completed. Although some documentation had been provided it was decided to complete the review at a later date. Given the department’s involvement as a DAT, an external consultant had been invited to a meeting with section staff, the AD(T) and the QEU. The report of the external had helped the section prepare for Audit and had become the subject of a report to the University’s Learning and Teaching Committee. Both English and Drama had been selected by QAA as a DAT during the Institutional Audit.

The Board NOTED that the PPR for the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies took place on 5 May 2004. It was reported that the department had offered the review team impressive clear and comprehensive documentation on the changing focus and activity of a department that had experienced considerable change in recent years. The department had been transformed in terms of staffing and its style of teaching.

The Board NOTED that the PPR for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences had been deferred.

The Board NOTED that the timing of annual reviews had been brought forward because of the Institutional Audit in March. The AD(T) would report on the annual review to the University’s Learning and Teaching Committee on 3 June 2004.

22. General Regulations for University Awards

(SSH04-P5)

The Board RECEIVED proposals for a new structure for academic regulations.

The Board COMMENTED on the complexity of the regulations. The Board NOTED the main areas of change and in particular the new ordinance on Ownership and Commercial Exploitation of Intellectual Property, the new regulation on Academic Misconduct and the new regulation on Impaired Performance and Project Extensions. The Board NOTED that discretion powers were now available to undergraduate programme boards from 2004/05 and that there was to be a capping of postgraduate module marks from 2004/05 onwards.

The Board expressed concern that there appeared to be an assumption that all programmes followed the standard semester timetable for the academic year. In some departments, such as the Business School, many programmes followed a different teaching and assessing pattern. Chairs of Learning and Teaching Committees would be meeting the following week to discuss this and correlated matters further.

23. Institutional Audit

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the Dean on the outcome of the institutional audit.

The Board NOTED in the finding report from David Cairns, Assistant Director of the Review Group, QAA, that there had been a ‘broad confidence’ in the quality assurance mechanisms of Loughborough University. Features of good practice had included, ‘the range of option courses offered in English and Drama which had contributed to the academic strength of the programmes’; ‘the University’s support for its UK domiciled and overseas students, for example through its personal tutoring arrangements, including the use of Co-Tutor software to track and record students’ meeting with their tutors’.

Recommendations for consideration by the University had included ‘the advisability of the University’s matrix quality management arrangements’; ‘continuing to enhance the development of CIS’; ‘how the University’s routine quality management arrangements might require enhancement to support collaborative provision’; and ‘taking forward the recommendations of the recent PPR in Social Sciences’. The University would consider its response to these recommendations.

The Board expressed their appreciation to all for their efforts who gave their time to support the audit. The process had involved a far heavier work load than anticipated. The Board NOTED that the report would eventually be published and placed on the Web.

24. Personnel Matters

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the Faculty Personnel Advisor.

The Board NOTED the following points:

i. Lesley Mansell had been appointed as the new Equal Opportunities Advisor.

ii. The HR Rewarding and Developing Staff Strategy (Phase 2) had been submitted to HEFCE. The strategy had concentrated on the development of young researchers, teaching excellence and the development of part-time staff (including bought-in teachers). It was hoped that further HR funding would be forthcoming.

iii. Phase 3 of the Job Evaluation would commence 19 May 2004 involving the Finance Department, CIS, Computing Services and the Science Faculty.

iv. HESA returns on staff numbers had been a vast task requiring information on every single member of the University including casual and part-time staff. Part-time staff had been appointed for six months to help out with the work involved.

v. The 2003 pay award had now been implemented with back pay in the May salary slips. The 2004 pay award had been agreed but not yet published until after a ballot of the AUT. There was still debate over moving to a single spinal column but it was anticipated that final details would be agreed with the AUT in the near future.

25. Faculty Board Vacancies

The Board NOTED the following vacancies for elected members of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board for the academic year beginning 2004:

· School of Sport & Exercise Sciences: (1)

· LUSAD: (2)

· Business School: (1)

26. Curriculum Sub-Committee

26.1 Approved New Programme Proposals

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had approved the revised proposal of the following new programme proposal:

· MSc Sports Nutrition (DL)

26.2 Recommended 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 3 June 2004.

· BA International Relations (Oct 2005 entry)

· MSc Coaching (Oct 2004 entry)

· MSc Business and Management Research (Oct 2004 entry)

· MA Making Performance and Multimedia Texts (Oct 2004 entry)

· MA Texts in Performance (Oct 2004 entry)

· MA Early Modern Writing, 1560-1780 (Oct 2004 entry)

26.3 Change of Title

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended changes in title to the following programmes to Learning and Teaching Committee on 3 June 2004 with effect from October 2004 entry:

· BSc Retail Automotive Management to BSc Automotive Dealership Management

· MSc Retail Automotive Management to MSc Strategic Automotive Dealership

Management

26.4 Change of Award

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended the change of award to the following programme to Learning and Teaching Committee on 3 June 2004, and that the change of award be extended to current students, with the option remaining of BA award in individual cases:

· BA International Business to BSc International Business

26.5 Discontinuation of Programmes

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee had recommended the discontinuation of the following programmes to Learning and Teaching Committee on 3 June 2004 (last intake shown in brackets):

· MSc European Politics and Society (Oct 2003)

· MSc Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance (Oct 2003)

· MSc Waste and Environmental Risk Management (1998/99)

· MSc Hazardous Waste Management (1998/99)

· BSc Social Policy and Social Issues (Oct 2003)

27. 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 Board

· 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.

28. Staff/Student Committees

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

Department of Geography	5 November 2003, 11 February 2004
Department of English and Drama (English)	14 January, 10 March 2004
Department of English and Drama (Drama)	21 January, 3 March 2004
Department of English and Drama (Extraordinary meeting)	28 January 2004
Professional Certificate in Management (Sports Industries Federation)	28 January 2004
Business School (Undergraduate)	12 February, 18 March 2004
Department of Social Sciences	10 March 2004
Department of Design & Technology	17 March 2004
Semester 2 Executive MBA	24 March 2004

29. Senate

The Board NOTED that the Minutes of the 364^th and 366^th Ordinary Meetings of Senate held on 28 January and 3 March 2004 respectively were available on the University web pages.

30. Reports of Committees

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

Learning and Teaching Committee of 3 June 2004
Curriculum Sub-Committee of 6 May 2004

31. Any Other Business

The Dean echoed the sentiments of the Board who felt a huge debt of gratitude to Peter Maunder for his seven years service to the faculty as Associate Dean of Teaching and on behalf of the Board warmly thanked him.

32. Provisional Calendar of Meetings

Tuesday 26 October 2004

Tuesday 1 February 2005

Tuesday 17 May 2005