Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty Board

SSH05-M1

Minutes

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

Minutes of the Forty-First Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 1 February 2005.

Members: Professor T J Kavanagh (Chair), Dr P B H Ackers (ab), Professor D J Allen,

Professor B M Bagilhole (ab), Professor S J H Biddle, Professor A E Bryman (ab),

Dr P L Byrne, Dr A Cheyne, Dr C Christie (ab), Mr J Costello (ab),

Professor I R Davidson (ab), Dr J Demaine (ab), Ms R Dicks, Mr T H Edwards (ab), Professor P Golding (ab), Mr A R Hodgson, Professor B M J Houlihan (ab), Dr P J Hubbard, Ms D Hurst (ab), Mr R E Jones (ab), Dr R Kinna, Professor J A Maguire,

Ms S Middleton (ab), Dr S Pink (ab), Professor I Reid, Professor C D Rhodes (ab),

Mr N Rodgers, Ms R Stubbings, Professor D J Wallace (ab), Ms K Walton,

Professor T G Weyman-Jones, Professor N P Wood, Dr P J Wood, Mr P W Wormald,

Ms M M Worsching (ab)

Apologies for absence: Professor B M Bagilhole, Professor A E Bryman, Mr J Costello, Professor I R Davidson, Dr J Demaine, Professor B M J Houlihan, Ms D Hurst,

Mr R E Jones

Present: Ms L Dutton, Ms S E Jasper, Ms B Sharma

In attendance: Ms S J McKinley

1. Minutes SSH04-M3

The Minutes of the Fortieth Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on 26 October 2004, were CONFIRMED and signed by The Dean.

2. Matters Arising

2.1 Faculty Board Members

The Dean, on behalf of the Board, thanked Professor Williams for his contribution as Acting Head of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences during Professor Biddle’s study leave. The Board NOTED that Professor Lister would be undertaking the position as Acting Head of Social Sciences during Professor Golding’s period of study leave. The Board congratulated the Dean on his second term of office as Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.

2.2 Strategic Review Group (formerly known as the Moderation Working Party) (SSH04-M3 item 34.1 refers)

The Board NOTED that following a review of committees, Faculty Boards would occur on the same day as appropriate Directorate meetings during the next academic year.

2.3 Faculty Financial Matters

The Board NOTED that real-time funding for the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities was now complete. It had been confirmed that the faculty surplus of £3-400k would be reduced due to international student recruitment falling below target.

3. Reports from the Dean and Associate Deans

3.1 The Dean

i. Estates Strategy Review

The Board NOTED that Planning and Resources had acknowledged there was a buildings and refurbishment crisis at East Park. Asbestos was currently being removed from the Wavy Top Building and another £800k had been released in order to complete the renovations as soon as possible. This had had a knock on effect on additional laboratory space for the Geography Department in particular. Mr Roy Hill and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor would be looking in detail at all possible additional space on campus. It had been agreed, if necessary, to bring Portacabins on to site which would help with staff accommodation while building work was being carried out. Operations Sub-Committee had approved the first stages of a building for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences and the Department of Human Sciences.

ii. RAE 2008 (tabled papers)

The Board RECEIVED two tabled papers entitled ‘RAE 2008 Equality briefing for panel chairs, members and secretaries’ and ‘RAE 2008 Guidance to panels’.

The Board NOTED that three RAE panel Chairs had been appointed from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities; Professor Peter Golding, Professor Mike Smith and Professor Clyde Williams. All the panels had now met and subject panels would be meeting shortly and examining, in the first instance, the criteria to be used by subject disciplines for the three areas of research outputs, infrastructure and esteem. Members of the Faculty Board were encouraged to familiarise themselves with the RAE 2008 documentation.

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

The Board NOTED there was currently nothing to report.

3.3 The Associate Dean (Teaching)

i. Learning and Teaching Committee

The Board NOTED that the following would shortly be considered by the Learning Teaching Committee:

· 80 credit limit on full year modules to be removed, subject to a minimum amount of an assessment in semester one.

· Consideration of a perceived ‘reassessment culture’ and its implications.

· Postgraduate Module Board to be replaced by Progress Boards.

· Re-constitution of the membership of Programme Boards.

ii. Undergraduate intakes 2004: average A-level scores

The Board NOTED that the average A-level scores had improved in the majority of programmes.

iii. Applications 2005-06

The Board NOTED undergraduate admissions in the faculty were up by 15% despite the fact that most departments had increased or tightened up their entry requirements. International postgraduate figures were down by about 15% which was a reflection of wider factors. Deferred applications numbered around 1500 due to the increase in tuition fees.

4. Award of Research Degrees (tabled)

The Board CONFIRMED the award of Research Degrees. The Board NOTED that the awards had included the first practice based research degree from LUSAD.

5. Periodic Programme Reviews (SSH04-P1)

The Board RECEIVED a report from the Associate Dean (Teaching) on the periodic programme review of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

The Board NOTED that a working group was examining the running of joint degree programmes and that with respect to VLE, on-line development was becoming increasingly important. A committee was currently looking at how student information services should be developed in the future including a feasibility study of a range of VLEs including LEARN, Blackboard and WebCT.

6. Tuition Fees

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the Dean on the progress of the Tuition Fee Working Group.

The Board NOTED that the University’s submission to OFFA had been accepted.

7. Graduate School

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

The Board NOTED that the Strategic Review Working Group had decided that another committee, working alongside the Graduate School Steering Committee, should be set up to address the strategic requirements of a University-wide Graduate School. The Graduate School Steering Committee would continue to facilitate faculty needs within a Graduate School. It was expected that the new University Graduate School Working Group would present their proposals for a Graduate School to Senate in June.

8. Personnel Matters

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the Faculty Personnel Advisor on current personnel issues.

The Board NOTED that Ms Bharti Sharma had been appointed to work alongside the Faculty Personnel Advisor.

The HAY job evaluation project was still on-going. A sample of academic and academic-related staff had been chosen for evaluation. Panels were currently being set up to evaluate job roles. It was anticipated the implementation of HAY would be from 1 July 2005.

An appointment had been advertised for a Project Officer specifically to examine the recruitment, development and management of casual staff and bought-in teachers. This would link to HAY Part 2 for casual staff.

The Board NOTED that the upper age limit for retirement would not be reviewed by the Government until 2011.

9. Curriculum Sub-Committee

9.1 Recommended New Programme Proposals

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending 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 10 February 2005.

· MSc International Financial and Political Development commencing October 2005 (Graduate School).

· MA Money, Banking and Finance commencing October 2005.

· MA Banking and Financial Markets commencing October 2005.

9.2 Programme Changes

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending proposed programme changes to Learning and Teaching Committee, prior to the their meeting on 10 February 2005, to the MScs in the Department of Economics in relation to the new MA programme proposals above.

9.3 Discontinuation of a Programme

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending the discontinuation of BA in English and the History of Art and Design (last intake 2004-05).

10. 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.

11. Staff/Student Committees

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

Postgraduate Programmes in Management	12 October 2004
MBA Engineering Management	27 October 2004
Business School (Undergraduate)	16, 18 November 2004
Semester 1 MBA, Business School	17 November 2004
Semester 1 Executive MBA, Peterborough	25 November 2004
BSc Business Studies, Singapore	26 November 2004
MSc Management/MSc International Management/MSc Marketing & Management/ MSc Finance & Management	8 December 2004
Department of Social Sciences (Undergraduate)	24 November 2004
Department of Economics (Undergraduate)	17 November 2004
Department of Economics (Postgraduate)	3 November 2004
Department of English & Drama (Drama)	20 October 2004
Department of English & Drama (English)	20 October 2004
Department of English & Drama (Drama)	10 November 2004
Department of English & Drama (English)	3 November 2004

12. Senate

The Board NOTED that the Minutes of the 373rd^h Ordinary Meeting of Senate held on

26 November 2004 were available on the University web pages.

13. Reports of Committees

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

Learning and Teaching Committee of 10 February 2005.
Curriculum Sub-Committee of 13 January and 5 May 2005.

14. Degree Congregations

The Board NOTED that degrees for programmes and research in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities would be awarded at three Degree Congregation Ceremonies on 15, 18 and 19 July 2005.

15. Date of Next Meeting

Tuesday 17 May 2005

(Closing date for receipt of Agenda items: Friday 6 May 2005)

Author - Sally McKinley
February 2005