This is a discussion document
and does not represent
University
policy at this stage.
SSH97-M1
[Minutes]
The Minutes of Ordinary Meetings of the Faculty Board are also available on the
Information Gateway for three years after the relevant date.
Minutes of the Third(Ordinary) Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday 4
February 1997.
Professor I C Morison (Chair)
Dr C Antaki Mr P R King(ab)
Dr J Arnold Professor M R A Lister
Dr J V Beaverstock (ab) Dr M D W Mangan
Mr D J Bunker Dr M E Nevill (ab)
Mr M F Collins (ab) Dr E J Pentecost
Mr J Costello Professor I Reid
Professor S J Cox Professor P H Roberts
Dr P D Dine Professor J A Saunders(ab)
Mr L M Drake Professor M Shaw
Ms N D Fenton Ms M Threlfall (ab)
Professor L Hantrais Dr J Vagg
Professor A G Hargreaves Mr D R F Walker
Professor M R Hill Professor D J Wallace (ab)
Mr A R Hodgson Mr M Wallis (ab)
Mr T P Jones Professor T G Weyman-Jones
Ms A Kanwar (ab) Dr P Wild (ab)
In attendance: Ms P J Rouse
Apologies for Absence: Dr Beaverstock, Mr Collins
Mr King, Dr Nevill
Professor Saunders,
Mr Wallis, Dr Wild
Mr Wilson
By Invitation Ms L Dutton,
Mr S Hunt (for item 3)
Mr H Jones (for item 4)
Mr P Wheeler
Mr N Wijayaratna
- 1.1
- (SSH96-M1)
-
- The Minutes of the First (Ordinary) Meeting of the Social Sciences and
Humanities Faculty Board held on 29 October 1996 were confirmed and signed,
with the addition of Mr L M Drake to the list of those present.
- (i)
- Welcome
-
- A warm welcome was extended to Mr P Wheeler of Loughborough College of Art
and Design.
- (ii)
- Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
-
- Departments in the Faculty had generally done well in the recent RAE and
they were congratulated, in particular those Departments which had achieved a
rating of 5.
- (iii)
- Strategic Planning Exercise
-
- The Strategic Planning Exercise was about to commence and would be
considered by the Directorate at a meeting on 10 February. A report on the
evolution of Faculty strategy would be provided at the next meeting of the
Faculty Board.
-
- (SSH97-P1 and SSH97-P1a - tabled)
-
- A report from the AD(T) was noted, together with a further paper regarding
semesterisation review which was tabled. Attention was drawn to the key issues
concerning semesterisation review identified by the Semesterisation Review
Group. It was noted that the Group had invited responses from Faculties for
consideration prior to the production of a paper for discussion by Boards at
their next meetings.
-
- A number of points were made in discussion, including the
following:
- *
- Flexibility in programme regulations would be helpful to enable varied
approaches.
- *
- The discontinuation of September resits would ease the workload and
generally be welcomed by staff in Departments.
- *
- The possibility of students carrying forward a limited number of failed
subjects whilst proceeding with the programme and resitting them during the
following year, together with the subjects studied during that year, should be
investigated.
- *
- In some subjects the formal, written examination of students at the end of
the first semester was not felt to be beneficial as the students had not had
sufficient time to assimilate a reasonable body of knowledge by that
stage.
- *
- Increased workload pressures experienced by departmental academic and
administrative staff resulted from a range of factors including Semester 1
examinations, the speed with which module boards must be held, the very large
number of claims of impaired performance and the pace and frequency of recent
change.
- *
- An inter-semester break of a week or more was necessary to alleviate
current pressures. The workload pressures experienced last year had not
reduced in the current year.
- *
- The importance of a formal mechanism for wide consultation on and
contribution to the semesterisation review was stressed.
- It was AGREED that:
- *
- Mr Walker, a new member of the Steering Group, should circulate a paper to
Faculty Board members which he had prepared for the forthcoming meeting of the
Steering Group.
- *
- Members should pass any further comments they wished to make regarding the
semesterisation review to Mr Walker or to Mr Costello directly.
(SSH97-P2)
The following matters were reported.
- (i)
- Postgraduate Supervision and Completion Rates
-
- Extracts from the unconfirmed minutes of the Faculty Postgraduate Research
Committee meeting held on 13 January 1997 were noted. The training needs of
part-time research students were under consideration and members were invited
to pass any comments on this directly to the AD(R).
- (ii)
- Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
-
- AD(R)s had been asked by the PVC(R) to review the performance of their
Faculty in the RAE and provide operational and strategic recommendations. The
Faculty performance in the RAE was good, with three Departments achieving a
rating of 5 and all but one improving their rating. It was hoped that more
staff would be returned in the next RAE. Good use of research time and study
leave would be vital in preparing for this. A further factor identified as
critical in achieving a good performance in the next RAE was a good body of
full-time postgraduate research students. There was concern that the current
sanctions policy applying to some Departments in the Faculty could limit the
ability of those Departments to recruit such researchers. It was noted that
some other institutions already appeared to be advertising a significant number
of postgraduate research studentships.
-
- A contextual statement on future University research strategy had been
circulated to Deans and Heads of Departments for consideration by the
Directorate in relation to the key research priorities for the Faculty and how
it would support them. It was expected that approximately £2.5M over the next
3 to 4 years would be available from the University's central Development Fund
to support research and good bids for funds were encouraged.
-
- (SSH97-P3)
-
- The Continuing Education Strategy and Operational Plan from August 1996 to
May 1997 was presented with commentary from Mr Hunt, the Continuing Education
Co-ordinator. The key features of Continuing Education Strategy at
Loughborough were to work within the philosophy of life long learning with the
main, but not exclusive, emphasis on vocational courses and, where possible,
credit bearing courses, utilising mixed mode, flexible delivery methods. As
Co-ordinator, his role would be to provide central support for projects and for
staff within departments, to promote good practice and appropriate quality
assurance procedures, to support planning and monitoring of projects, and
assist in the sharing of information and the promotion of continuing education
activities. Wider funding sources would be sought and efforts made to achieve
greater integration of credit systems. The adherence to good practice across
the University would be particularly important in responding to the audits of
Continuing Education by HEQC in May 1998 and by HEFCE in 1999-2000.
-
- In answer to a query, it was reported that issues concerning credit
accumulation and control were under consideration and recent discussion on this
had taken place with representatives of other institutions and at the recent
first meeting of the Continuing Education Interest Group. Mr Hunt confirmed
that Continuing Education was a core function at Loughborough and would play a
role in strengthening the University's non-traditional sources of income. As
the Faculty currently had a stronger undergraduate than postgraduate teaching
portfolio, continuing education could provide another route into postgraduate
or post experience teaching. The pricing of modules to provide stand alone
short courses was under consideration and it was suggested that different
pricing models might be appropriate across different Faculties.
-
- It was suggested that publicity for Continuing Education at Loughborough
could be boosted by posters displayed in local public libraries. Mr Hunt
confirmed that a publicity leaflet was being produced and would be available
shortly for wide distribution.
-
- Thanks were expressed to Mr Hunt for the presentation.
-
- (SSH97-P4)
-
- The Board considered an annual report on undergraduate admissions to the
Faculty presented by Mr H Jones, Senior Assistant Registrar in the Student
Office. Overall recruitment in 1996 was very satisfactory and the sterling
work carried out by Admissions Tutors and their colleagues was saluted.
-
- Very satisfactory standards had been maintained in average `A' level scores
which, it was noted, did include General Studies. Recruitment planning
remained vital at Departmental and Faculty level and careful control of offers
and use of concessions was essential. The number of applications received so
far in the current year was good, with a number of Departments already close
to, or exceeding, the total number of applications received last year. Careful
control was again being exercised by Admissions Tutors.
-
- It was uncertain whether entering the clearing procedure in 1996 was the
result of a minor blip and this would need careful monitoring in the current
year. It was noted that almost all Universities advertised vacancies for
Engineering courses at that time and entering clearing was not thought to
result in negative publicity, although care would be taken in the use of
clearing. Members were reminded that at the forthcoming meeting of the Faculty
Directorate recruitment initiatives would be under consideration and £300K was
being made available centrally over the next three years to support this.
-
- Thanks were expressed to Mr Jones for the presentation.
-
- (SSH97-P5, SSH97-P7)
-
- Items 8 and 10 on the Agenda were taken together.
-
- Reports were received from the Associate Dean (Teaching) on Undergraduate
and Postgraduate Programme reports received for 1995-96. It was confirmed that
reports had been received for all programmes in the Faculty.
-
- The reports had revealed different approaches to information technology
across Departments, with some believing it should be subject based within
Departments and others preferring external support. All Departments had long
established student feedback mechanisms in place and it was necessary to ensure
that these were properly documented.
-
- It was noted that some Departments experienced problems with tutorial
attendance and it was acknowledged that tutorials took various different forms,
making it difficult to apply uniform penalties for non attendance across
modules.
-
- The Board AGREED that it was happy to receive reports in this form, with
relevant key issues highlighted, and thanked Mr Costello for his role in
producing these.
-
- (SSH96-P6)
-
- The Board received and noted comments from the Teaching and Learning
Committee on the Report for the HEFCE assessment of the quality of education in
Sociology and other programmes in Social Services. It was confirmed that this
would be discussed by appropriate committees in the Department of Social
Sciences once the AUT boycott of teaching quality assessment had been
lifted.
-
- Attention was drawn to the unfortunate phrasing in unconfirmed minute 1
from the Teaching and Learning Committee that "much of the Department's success
was based on the employment of part-time staff".
-
- It was reported that there was a delay in setting up the Research Interest
Database as a result of the testing of new systems. The Database would now be
up and running in September 1997 rather than at Easter. It was confirmed that
data would be entered at Faculty level by Mrs Lawton, Secretary to the
Associate Dean (Research).
It was NOTED that the following proposals had been approved by Curriculum
Sub-Committee for recommendation to Teaching and Learning Committee.
- (SSH97-P8)
- (SSH97-P9)
- (SSH97-P10)
It was NOTED that Council, on the advice of Senate, Teaching and Learning
Committee and Curriculum Sub-Committee, had approved the introduction of the
above programme with effect from Spring 1997.
It was NOTED that reports of Staff-Student Committee meetings had been
deposited with the Secretary as follows:
B.Sc. Mathematics and Education 4 December 1995, 20 February 1996,
11 March 1996, 13 May 1996,
23 October 1996
Primary PGCE 3 July 1996
Design and Technology 30 October 1996
English 22 October 1996, 5 December 1996
Drama 7 October 1996, 11 November 1996
Economics (Undergraduate) 26 November 1996
Economics (Postgraduate) 5 December 1996
Business School 7 November 1996
Physical Education, Sport Science and
Recreation Management 15 May 1996
Physical Education, Sports Science and
Recreation Management (Undergraduate) 20 November 1996
It was NOTED that the Minutes of the 310th (Ordinary) meeting of Senate held
on 27 November 1996 are available on the Information Gateway.
It was NOTED that a report of the following Committee is available on the
Information Gateway:
- *
- Teaching and Learning Committee of 7 November 1996
Tuesday 20 May 1997 at 2.15 pm.
(Closing date for receipt of Agenda items: Friday 2 May 1997.)
Author - P J Rouse
Date - February 1997
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