Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty Board

SSH05-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 Forty-Second Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 17 May 2005.

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

Professor B M Bagilhole, Professor S J H Biddle, Professor A E Bryman (ab), Dr P L Byrne,

Dr A Cheyne (ab), Dr C Christie (ab), Mr J Costello (ab), Professor I R Davidson, Dr J Demaine,

Ms R Dicks (ab), Mr T H Edwards, Professor P Golding (ab), Mr A R Hodgson,

Professor B M J Houlihan, Dr P J Hubbard (ab), Ms D Hurst, Dr R Kinna (ab), Professor R Lister, Professor J A Maguire, Ms Y McMenemy (ab), Ms S Middleton (ab), Dr S Pink (ab), Professor I Reid,

Professor C D Rhodes, Mr N Rodgers, Dr B R Stafford, Ms R Stubbings, Professor D J Wallace (ab), Ms K Walton, Professor T G Weyman-Jones, Professor N P Wood, Dr P J Wood (ab),

Mr P W Wormald (ab), Ms M M Worsching (ab)

Apologies for absence: Professor D J Allen, Mr J Costello, Dr P J Hubbard, Dr R Kinna,

Dr P J Wood, Mr P W Wormald, Ms M M Worsching

Present: Ms S E Jasper

In attendance: Ms S J McKinley

16. Minutes SSH05-M1

The Minutes of the Forty-First Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on 1 February 2005, were CONFIRMED and signed by The Dean with the following correction:

Item 9.1 MSc International Financial and Political Development should read MSc International Financial and Political Relations

17. Reports from the Dean and Associate Deans

17.1 The Dean

The Board NOTED that Professor Shirley Pearce had been appointed as Vice-Chancellor commencing 1 January 2006.

The Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities was showing a financial surplus for 2004-2005. All departments had shown a significant improvement in their business plans. In particular, the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies had produced a year on year improvement.

The Board NOTED that from the next academic year there would be two Faculty Boards, one per semester, combined with a Directorate meeting.

17.2 The Associate Dean (Research) (SSH05-P2)

i. Faculty Studentships

The Board NOTED that there had been 307 expressions of interest for the 9 Faculty studentships.

ii. Overseas Research Studentships

The Board NOTED that there had been 12 nominations for overseas research studentships. The University had received seven, two of which had been awarded to the Department of Economics and one to the Department of Social Sciences.

iii. Research Student Completion Rates

The Board NOTED that the Research Committee was looking at the full time research student completion rate. Reasons for non-submission included withdrawing, part-time funding, illness and extension. The Board felt that the figures did not accurately reflect success rates. Heads of Departments were requested to report anomalies and any misrepresentation of the figures to the Research Support Office.

17.3 The Associate Dean (Teaching) (SSH05-P3)

i. Annual Programme Review 2003-2004

The Board NOTED that Annual Programme Reviews had been held for the Business School, the Department of Economics, English and Drama, Geography, Politics, International Relations and European Studies and Social Sciences. Following the Periodic Programme Review in November 2004 of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, appropriate data had been compiled for their Annual Programme Review. The Department of Design and Technology and LUSAD were both scheduled for Periodic Programme Reviews on 20 May 2005. Full reports on each would follow in due course. The Faculty remained in a strong position. Indications were that entry tightening was bearing fruit. Undergraduate level applications had continued to rise in most areas; entry grades, progression and attainment profiles on the whole were good; available first destination data had demonstrated that programmes continued to be attractive to employers and those wishing to undertake further study.

ii. Recruitment Entry 2005

The Board NOTED that Faculty undergraduate applications were up by 15.4%. International applications were down by 11.1% which reflected the wider market development. The Business School remained optimistic with their conversion ratio still at 67%. The Department of Economics had received 50% more offers and 80% more acceptances. The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences had increased their number of international taught masters with large numbers in some programmes. The Department of Social Sciences were currently balancing numbers.

Postgraduate admissions at this stage were only estimates. Home postgraduate taught applications were down slightly and the forecast was that they were expected to increase from 279 to 310. Country market diversification was an on-going problem. China was the biggest market with 60% of offers made. There had been an increase in offers to Pakistan now up to 6.5% and Nigeria up to 10%.

18. Award of Research Degrees (tabled)

The Board CONFIRMED the award of Research Degrees.

19. Access Agreement (tabled paper)

The Board RECEIVED a tabled paper from the Dean on the University’s position with top-up fees.

The Board NOTED that compared to competitor institutions, the University had placed itself within the middle range of OFFA agreements and had produced an easily explained single system including a bursary dispersal to students of various financial backgrounds.

20. Graduate School (SSH05-P4 electronically circulated)

The Board RECEIVED the terms of reference and framework for a University-wide Graduate School.

The Board COMMENTED that whilst they felt the draft proposals from the Strategic Review Working Group formed a good basis for a University-wide Graduate School, members of the Board were of the opinion that the following points should be taken into consideration before the final draft was submitted to Senate in June:

i) The ownership and reporting line of the Graduate School to be more detailed and include a reporting line through Faculty Boards for feedback to departments.

ii) Annex B item 4 to include a wider representation on the Appointment Committee. The Board requested that consideration of inclusion of a representative from Senate be sought.

iii) Annex A Job Description. There was concern that 0.4 fte for a newly appointed Director was insufficient to set and drive the agenda for a Graduate School in its initial stage of implementation. Furthermore it was felt that much of the work involved would be from the bottom up and that 0.4 was too conservative an estimate for the amount of input that would be required.

iv) Annex A Person Specification. General/Essential to read ‘demonstrable or potential’ inspirational leadership. The field should include colleagues who had not necessarily reached the status of Head of Department eg Senior Lecturers, Heads of Research Institutes. Examples of Experience/Essential could be changed and amalgamated into Experience/Desirable.

v) Concern was voiced about the marketing timescale involved particularly if the Graduate School was to be up and running in September. Branding of the Graduate School needed to be identified immediately.

The Board AGREED to broadly support the proposals of the Graduate School with the above amendments to be taken into consideration.

ACTION: Faculty Board Secretary to receive further comments from members of the Faculty Board and to circulate the Faculty Board minute to the Strategic Working Review Group.

21. Research School of Health and Life Sciences (SSH05-P5 electronically circulated)

The Board CONSIDERED the terms of reference and framework for the Research School of Health and Life Sciences.

The Board broadly supported the proposal for the Research School. The Board expressed concern that if the database support for journals was going to be cross disciplinary, the effect on journal subscriptions and how they will be paid should be examined. It was also felt that there should be wider representation on the Appointments Committee.

22. RAE 2007-2008 (tabled paper)

The Board RECEIVED a tabled paper from the Dean on the RAE 2008.

The Board NOTED that the criterion used by sub-panels would be available in the near future. The quality profiles would be constructed out of percentages of productivity in different elements of outputs, environment and esteem. It was hoped that there would be an explanation of 4* as a quality descriptor. All panel chairs would endeavour to encourage all departments and research active staff to demonstrate their vigour of research activity. Category C staff with ‘connections’ will have to demonstrate their activity. Non-research will not be presented.

23. Destination Statistics for 2004 Graduates

The Board RECEIVED a report from the Faculty Careers Advisor on the destination of graduates from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.

The Board NOTED that the destination statistics were of full time first degree UK and EU graduates from the Faculty calculated from a survey of employment figures six months after graduation in January 2005. Trends of employment figures from the Faculty represented an increase to 58.5% of known destinations. This was accompanied by a corresponding rise in the numbers entering further study. There was a slight drop to 4.7% in those reporting still seeking employment or training. Of those known to have found employment, there was more evidence of graduates entering degree related occupations, with 86.9% of this cohort embarking on managerial, professional, technical and administrative careers.

Detailed summaries would be available from June 2005 after the Careers Advisory Board meeting and printed reports would be circulated to departments and published on the Careers website. The Faculty Careers Advisor would provide Board members with further data regarding graduates entering self employment
in 2004.

ACTION: Faculty Careers Advisor

24. Prizes Assessor Panels (SSH05-P7)

The Board APPROVED the appointments on Prizes Assessor panels until 31 July 2007.

25. 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.

26. 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 2005:

Business School (1)

Department of English & Drama (1)

Department of Social Sciences (2)

School of Sport & Exercise Sciences (1)

Department of Politics, International Relations & European Studies (2)

Department of Design & Technology (1)

27. Curriculum Sub-Committee

27.1 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 2 June 2005:

· Department of Design & Technology: BSc (DPS) Product Design and Technology commencing October 2006

· Department of Design & Technology: MA/MSc Industrial Design by Project commencing October 2005

· Department of Geography: MSc Citizenship, Identity and Globalization commencing October 2006

27.2 Programme Title Change

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending a proposed programme title change to Learning and Teaching Committee, prior to their meeting on 2 June 2005:

· Business School (CHARM): MA in Security Management to MSc in Security Management with effect from April 2006 entry but for all students who graduate as of July 2006.

27.3 Discontinuation of a Programme

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending to Learning and Teaching Committee prior to their meeting on 2 June 2005 to discontinue the following programmes from the Business School:

· Engineering Management (MBA) final intake October 2003

· Retail Automotive Management (Cert & Dip) final intake April 2003

· Automotive Retailing (Cert & Dip) final intake November 2002

· Continuing Professional Development (Cert & Dip) final intake October 2002

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:

MSc Management/MSc International Management MSc Marketing & Management/MSc Finance & Management	20 April 2005
MSc Retail Automotive Management	10 Feb 2005
Postgraduate Diploma in Management: HEA	9 March 2005
Postgraduate Programmes in Management	8, 22 March 2005
Semester 2 Executive MBA, Peterborough	7 April 2005
Department of Social Sciences – Undergraduate	2 March 2005
Business School – Undergraduate	17 Feb, 17 March 2005
Department of Economics – Undergraduate	9 March 2005
Department of English & Drama - English	26 Jan, 9 March 2005
Department of Geography	15 Oct 2004, 10 Feb 2005
Department of English & Drama - Drama	19 Jan, 2 March 2005

29. Date of Next Meeting

The next Faculty Board meeting will take place prior to a Directorate meeting on Tuesday 8 November 2005 at 9.30 am. (Closing date for receipt of Agenda items: Friday 28 October 2005).

Author - Sally McKinley
July 2005