Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Faculty Board

SSH05-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 Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 8 November 2005.

Members: Professor Terry Kavanagh (Chair), Professor Dave Allen, Professor Barbara Bagilhole, Professor Stuart Biddle, Dr Paul Byrne, Dr Ian Campbell, Dr Alastair Cheyne (ab),

Dr Chris Christie (ab), John Costello (ab), Dr Oliver Daddow (ab), Professor Ian Davidson,

Huw Edwards, Professor Peter Golding, Tony Hodgson, Dr Phil Hubbard (ab), Dawn Hurst, Professor Malcolm King, Dr Moya Lloyd (ab), Professor Joseph Maguire (ab),

Marsha Meskimmon, Sue Middleton (ab), Dr Sarah Pink (ab), Professor Ian Reid,

Professor Colin Rhodes (ab), Nick Rodgers, Phil Sawdon, Dr Chris Spray, Dr Bruce Stafford,

Ruth Stubbings, Dr Neal Swettenham, Sumeet Vermani (Student representative) (ab), Professor Sir David Wallace (ab), Kerry Walton (ab), Professor Tom Weyman-Jones, Professor Nigel Wood (ab), Dr Paul Wood

Apologies for absence: Dr Alastair Cheyne, John Costello, Dr Oliver Daddow, Dr Phil Hubbard,

Dr Moya Lloyd, Professor Joseph Maguire, Sue Middleton, Dr Sarah Pink, Professor Colin Rhodes, Professor Sir David Wallace, Kerry Walton, Professor Nigel Wood.

Present: Sandra Jasper (Faculty Personnel Advisor)

In attendance: Sally McKinley (Secretary)

30. Minutes SSH05-M2

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board, held on 17 May 2005, were CONFIRMED.

31. Constitution and Powers of the Faculty Board (SSH05-P8, SSH05-P8a)

The Board NOTED the constitution and powers of the Faculty Board. Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board meetings would take place twice a year, one per semester, and would precede a Directorate meeting. The minutes of the meetings would no longer be signed or numbered.

Reports from the Dean and Associate Deans

32. Dean’s Report

i. New appointments

The Board NOTED that the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor, Professor Shirley Pearce, had been visiting departments in the University. The Vice-Chancellor had been impressed by the areas of excellence that had been found in all departments. The need for development in East Park had been observed. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor appointment had been advertised.

ii. Faculty successes

The Board NOTED that 2005/05 had been a successful year for the Faculty culminating in a significant financial surplus. The Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies were congratulated for their hard work which had merited the removal of the department from the structural deficit register. The success of the Faculty’s SRIF bids had ensured that departments would now be able to purchase necessary laboratory equipment. Plans for the Health and Life Sciences Building had been approved at Operations Sub-Committee and was expected to go forward to the next stage for opening in early 2007.

iii. Departmental development plans

The Board NOTED that departments had now submitted their development plans. Mutual concerns included lack of dedicated space for staff and the contribution of top-up fees towards University strategic initiatives. The Dean confirmed that it was believed that approximately 25% of top-up fees would be spent on student bursaries which was a requirement of the University’s Access Agreement, approved by OFFA. Discussions had yet to take place about the distribution of the additional income but priorities were likely to be the appointment of more academic staff (and related support staff), rewards for academic staff, accommodation for students and teaching facilities/accommodation.

32.2 The Associate Dean (Research) (SSH05-P9)

(i) New grants and contracts

The Board NOTED that the new faculty grants and contracts for 2004/05, categorised into departments and numbers of staff, had totalled £5,357,532 compared to £5,311,286 for the previous academic year.

(ii) Research applications

The Board NOTED that research applications for the 4^th quarter (year end) 2004/05 had totalled over £20m, a significant increase from £16,333,239 in 2003/04. These figures had been broken down by department which showed increases in applications from the Departments of English and Drama, Geography, LUSAD, Social Sciences and the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.

(iii) RAE 2007/08

The Board NOTED that good practice guidance for RAE sub-panels had been issued and that departments would be reviewing this criteria before considering their strategies in the run up to 2007.

(iv) Prizes

The Board NOTED that the research team had recommended that a postgraduate second year prize of £400, one award per faculty, be awarded.

(v) Graduate School

The Board NOTED that the proposal to create a Graduate School had been approved and that the deadline for the appointment for Director of the Graduate School was on Friday 11 November 2005.

32.3 The Associate Dean (Teaching) (SSH05-P10 electronically circulated)

(i) Recruitment

The Board NOTED that there had been a 15% increase in undergraduate applications and target quotas had been achieved even though schools/departments had raised their entry criteria. The Business School and the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies in particular, exceeded their quota by a significant margin. International undergraduate applications were on target despite a volatile market and congratulations were extended to the Department of Economics and the Department of Politics, International Relations and European Studies for their efforts in this area.

Home postgraduate taught applications had fallen short of their target whilst international postgraduate taught had exceeded theirs. This was despite a national 5% decline in home and international taught postgraduate applications.

(ii) HEFCE Teaching Capital funding

The Board NOTED that bids from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities totalling £530K had been approved and schools/departments were now able to commence the acquisition of capital equipment.

(iii) Online Learning

The Board NOTED that that new software had been selected and adopted to facilitate easy and SENDA-compliant authoring of on-line learning. Presentations would be made to staff meetings during the second semester.

(iv) QAA Review of Foundation Degrees – Loughborough College

The Board NOTED that the foundation degree programmes in Sports Sciences/Sports Management and Leisure Management validated by Loughborough University had achieved a satisfactory outcome following the formal review by the QAA.

33. National Student Survey, Workload and Recruitment

The Board RECEIVED a verbal report from the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching) to discuss aspects of teaching learning issues and the National Student Survey.

33.1 National Student Survey

The Board NOTED that the first survey of how satisfied final year students were with their degree courses had been published as part of the new national TQI site. The University had done extremely well and had been voted as the students’ ‘favourite’ for overall satisfaction among its full-time students with a score of 4.3 It was also ranked first for ‘learning resources’ and ‘organisation and management’. The results would influence future league tables and therefore it was essential to maintain the high scores achieved in 2005. The next survey would take place in early 2006 and the University was working closely with the Students’ Union to increase awareness of the survey’s importance and departments had been asked to start raising awareness with finalist students as soon as possible.

33.2 Workload

The Board NOTED that the PVC(T) was exploring ways to reduce the administrative workload of academic staff. During the last academic year the Department of Economics had run a pilot scheme whereby UCAS undergraduate admissions processes had been completed by the Academic Registry rather than the department. The PVC(T) was keen to extend the scheme to other departments where it was possible to set admissions criteria. Complex cases requiring academic judgement would continue to be referred to departments and the practice of referencing and plagiarism would be undertaken by the Library and ELSU. Heads of Department who wished to be considered for central support should contact either the PVC(T) or Howard Jones. Further suggestions for other processes that could be centralised should be sent to the PVC(T).

33.3 Recruitment

The Board NOTED that the Vice-Chancellor and the International Office were laying the groundwork for new international links across the world. A junior year abroad programme with the University had been launched in Japan and another was being considered with the USA to be initiated at the end of the year.

The Board NOTED that there was expected to be a change in the UCAS admissions process during the next three years, in particular, students would be required to enter 4 rather than 6 universities on their application form. The Faculty would be kept informed of the changes as they occurred.

34. Award of Research Degrees (tabled)

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

35. Periodic Programmes Reviews (SSH05-P11, P12)

The Board RECEIVED the periodic programme review and report of LUSAD and the Department of Design and Technology.

The Board NOTED that both periodic programme reviews had very positive outcomes. Helpful responses had been produced by the departments which would enable them to rationalise provision in some areas and expand their portfolio in areas of growth.

36. Research School of Health and Life Sciences

The Board RECEIVED a progress report on the Research School of Health and Life Sciences and the University Graduate School.

The Board NOTED that Professor Williams had been appointed as the new Head of the Research School of Health and Life Sciences. The post for Head of the Research School of Sustainability and Engineering had been advertised.

37. Associate Dean (Teaching) Action

The Board NOTED the actions taken by the Associate Dean (Teaching) in approving the following:

(i) Waivers of Programme Regulations

(ii) Appointment of Programme Boards

(ii) Credit Transfers

(iii) Appointment of Examiners of the University

(iv) Appointment of External Examiners/External Programme Assessors

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

38. Personal Titles

The Board NOTED the award of personal titles and offered the Faculty’s congratulations to:

Dr P B H Ackers, Business School Professor of Industrial Relations & Labour History

Dr J W Cadogan, Business School Professor of Marketing

Dr H Ward, Social Sciences Professor of Child and Family Research

39. Curriculum Sub-Committee

39.1 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 November 2005:

i. MSc Criminal Justice Research commencing October 2005. Direct recruitment commencing October 2006.

ii. PG Diploma in Management (N G Bailey) commencing October 2005.

39.2 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 10 November 2005:

BSc Sports Science and Mathematics to BSc Mathematics and Sports Science commencing October 2007.

39.3 Programme Administration Transfer

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending a transfer of administrative responsibility of the BSc (Hons) Sports Science and Mathematics Programme from the School of Sports Science and Exercise to the Department of Mathematical Sciences with effect from October 2007.

39.4 Discontinuation of a Programme

The Board NOTED that Curriculum Sub-Committee would be recommending to Learning and Teaching Committee prior to their meeting on 10 November 2005 to discontinue the following programmes:

i. BA English & Sports Science (final intake October 2006).

ii. BSc Sports Science & Social Science (final intake October 2006).

40. Staff/Student Committees

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

English Staff Student Consultative Committee 18 May, 19 October 2005

Drama Staff Student Consultative Committee 11 May, 19 October 2005

Back Care Management Diploma 24 February 2005

Back Care Management Certificate 28 April 2005

Healthcare Risk Management 9 Sept, 25 Nov 2004, 10 Feb,

14 April, 15 June 2005

Department of Geography 19 May 2005

Postgraduate Cert in Management (BPIF) 2 June 2005

Postgraduate Diploma in HEA 9 March 2005

Department of Design & Technology 26 October 2005

41. Membership

SSH05-P13

The Board NOTED the membership of the Faculty Board for the session 2005-2006.

42. Representation on Other Bodies

SSH05-P14

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

43. Any Other Business

The Board NOTED that library would shortly be contacting departments to demonstrate the institution’s repository system.

44. Date of Next Meeting

The next Faculty Board meeting will take place prior to a Directorate meeting on Tuesday 23 May 2006 at 9.30 am. (Closing date for receipt of Agenda items: Friday 12 May 2006).

Author - Sally McKinley
April 2006