SSH99-M5
The Minutes of Ordinary Meetings of the Faculty Board are on the Web for three years after the relevant date.
Minutes of the Nineteenth (Ordinary) Meeting of the Faculty Board held on Tuesday, 2 November 1999.
Pro
fessor I C Morison
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Mr P G Lewis |
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Ms P J Rouse |
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Ms L Dutton, Ms A Hilton, Ms L McGarry |
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Dr Drake, Professor I Reid, |
The Minutes of the Seventeenth (Ordinary) Meeting of the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty Board held on 18 May 1999, were confirmed and signed.
Members were informed that a number of recent changes had adversely affected Faculty funding for 1999/2000, which was now under significant pressure. These included changes in the Price Band Weightings used to calculate the allocation of teaching related funds among the Faculties, other formulaic changes, a decline in TTA income, reduced overseas student income and reduced capital funding. The overall impact amounted to a reduction of approximately £900K.
The proposals had been referred back to Research Committee and were being progressed through wider ESRC consultation. Overall there was less support for the proposals from the other two Faculties.
Concern was expressed that the cover of the published version of the Plan might be observed to present a rather narrow image of the University.
(i) Chair of Council
Following the sad and untimely death of Dr S C Miller, Dr J K Green had been appointed as Chairman of Council and Senior Pro-Chancellor (ex officio) for the period 20 October 1999 to 31 July 2001. Dr Green had already met with the Dean, Professor M Smith and Professor Taylor as part of a process of learning more about the Faculty.
(ii) Terms of Office of Pro-Vice-Chancellors (PVCs) and Deans
Council had considered a special resolution to recommend amendments to the Charter, Statute VI and Ordinances VII and XXI, regarding the Terms of Office of Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Deans. The proposals would have permitted external recruitment to the PVC role and extended the permitted periods of office. The matter had been referred back for wider consideration as part of a further review of corporate governance issues.
(iii) Registrar
Mr J M Town, the new Registrar, had joined the University at the start of October.
(iv) Appointment of Dean
The term of office of the Dean and Associate Deans would end on 31 July 2000. The process of identifying a new Dean had been set in motion. Members would shortly be invited to submit nominations for a Committee to make a recommendation to Senate regarding the appointment.
(v) Income from New Research Grants and Contracts
Income from new research grants and contracts in 1998/99 had reached a record level of £21.8M.
(vi) Joint Infrastructure Fund (JIF) Bids
In the October bidding round a JIF bid had been submitted to renew the Department of Physical Education, Sports Science and Recreation Management's Research Laboratory provision. The Department of Social Sciences was developing a bid for a Media and Communications Research Archive for submission in the next bidding round. LUSAD had been encouraged to collaborate with Computer Science to put forward a JIF bid for an Arts and Technology laboratory. The feasibility of this was now under consideration and a decision as to whether to proceed would be taken in the next two to three weeks.
(vii) UK Sports Institute
Sport England had announced plans for the development of sports facilities at its Network Centres. Investments planned for Loughborough included a 50 metre training pool. The Loughborough University-based facilities were part of a £25M Lottery Fund award to the East Midlands. The University would be making some financial contribution to the developments.
(viii) National College for School Leadership
Dr Wild had developed a bid for the location of the College at Loughborough. This had reached the shortlist, but had not been successful overall, partly as a result of the physical location of the site. Nevertheless Nottingham University and the DFE were keen for the University to be involved with the College on a partnership basis.
(SSH99-P44)
The Board received a report on module specifications and reading lists from the Associate Dean (Teaching). It was estimated that for up to a third of the modules within the Faculty, reading lists had not been submitted to the Library. Members were urged to encourage the submission to the Library of all reading lists. Some concern was voiced regarding the limit of entering only three books per module in module specifications. It was noted that whilst an electronic appendix to permit more entries was still under development, and three entries were intended to provide a flavour of the topic, it was necessary to be aware of the wider audience which might review module specifications.
No report was provided as matters were covered elsewhere on the agenda.
(SSH99-P45)
The Board received a presentation on Flexible Learning from the recently appointed Director, Anne Hilton, reviewing accomplishments to date, possible directions for further development and some of the current limiting factors. Members acknowledged the advantages available from Flexible Learning and the need for distance learning support for staff and students at Peterborough. It was suggested that, taking into account the small numbers of students involved, the provision of advice on distance learning on a consultative basis might be appropriate. A number of initiatives across the Faculty involving distance learning were noted.
The need to share expertise and to further develop communication channels was acknowledged. Heads of Departments were invited to consider how to achieve effective consideration of mechanisms to improve communications and raise awareness of the expertise and support available. The Director encouraged members to contact Flexible Learning to explore further opportunities for support and the sharing of expertise.
The Board thanked Ms Hilton for her informative presentation.
(SSH99-P46)
The Associate Dean (Teaching) presented a report on the recruitment of first year undergraduate students to Departments in the Faculty for the 1999-2000 academic year. Members were reminded that some Departments had been held at intakes below their quota as a result of decisions taken to compensate for significant overrecruitment in two Departments. Since the production of the data provided in the agenda, the intake to the Business School had already fallen to 290. Given the magnitude of the overshoot in the Business School, a thorough review had been undertaken by Professor Cox and the Associate Dean (Teaching) and a report presented to the Directorate. Thanks were expressed to them for this and to the Associate Dean (Teaching) for his sterling work during the admissions process.
With regard to the overrecruitment to the Business School, it was noted that there were already high entry requirements, which had recently been revised further, and the overrecruitment was affected by a range of factors including the repositioning and renaming of programmes that increased their popularity. More control of the offers made would, however, be exercised to avoid repetition of this. Assurance was given that Business School admissions would be very carefully monitored by the Director and the Associate Dean (Teaching) in 1999-2000. It was AGREED that Admissions Tutors within the Faculty should receive copies of the report presented to the Directorate.
ACTION: PM/PJR
The Dean confirmed that next year Faculty funding would be allocated to Departments on the basis of their 1999 entry quota, rather than their actual intake. This would ensure that Departments held at intakes below their quota were not penalised financially for overshoots elsewhere. It was noted that such mechanisms would need to be in place for a number of years to ensure the financial stability of departments and to validate business plans.
It was reported that at least one other Faculty was seeking increased MASN. Some reduction of quotas to avoid possible future overshoot of the MASN was also under consideration at University level.
(SSH99-P47)
The Board considered a University Strategy for Learning and Teaching. This would be installed on the Web shortly and members were invited to pass any detailed comments directly to the Associate Dean (Teaching) in time for transmission to the Teaching and Learning Committee.
ACTION: Members, PM
It was observed that some tension might arise from efforts to maintain high entry standards and simultaneously widen access for the recruitment of under-represented groups. A member commented on the need for strategic aspirations to be matched by resources. In the face of financial pressures it might be difficult to achieve the University's high aspirations for research and teaching. The infrastructure to support this would need to be in place and concern was expressed at the budget pressures on the Library in particular. The Board was advised, however, that, as the Library was essentially centralised, it could benefit from efficiency gains which might not be available at other institutions and its position in comparative league tables might fail to reflect this and therefore underestimate its position. Members were reminded that further expenditure on support services would limit resources available to academic departments.
(SSH99-P48)
The Board received a report from the Associate Dean (Research) on current plans for RAE 2001 and an introduction to associated strategic issues.
It was emphasised that significant work would be required to achieve the aspiration that all Departments in the Faculty should achieve an RAE rating of 4 or above. Key issues regarding the return of staff required further consideration, including whether or not to introduce a third category 'RAE unreturned' for staff who were returnable but were not returned for strategic purposes.
Detailed Panel specific criteria had recently been circulated Panels. Significant work would be required at Departmental level so that Departments could become familiar with the appropriate tactical approach for their particular Panel. Whilst acknowledging that there would need to be an institutional strategy on RAE, strategic and tactical judgements would also need to be informed by Departments which would have more detailed knowledge of the tactical issues relating to the tactical issues relating to their discipline. It was observed that in the last RAE those Departments achieving a rating of 5 or higher submitted a lower number of high quality returns rather than a higher number which thereby diluted the quality. It was expected that even greater emphasis would be placed on the quality rather than quantity of returns in the forthcoming exercise.
With regard to the possible career implications for staff categorised as returnable rather than returned, it was noted that an appropriate distinction was already included in promotion criteria.
(SSH99-P49 and Appendix 1 (tabled))
The Associate Dean (Research) reported on the revised proposal to introduce a practice-based PhD. The Board noted a Research Committee minute of discussion on the proposal from the meeting held on 20 May 1999. It was intended to use the title PhD, but to introduce more flexibility into the regulations regarding what constitutes a PhD including substituting "submitted work" in place of "thesis".
The Board was advised that LUSAD staff had considered the matter and recommended that candidates be allowed to make submissions in which a significant proportion of the work consisted of non-conventional medium or artefact, together with a written component, which would remain a key element of the work. A number of suggested minor drafting changes to the proposal in Appendix 1 were noted, including the substitution of 'presentation other than a conventional thesis' in place of 'media production' in section 1c.
Whilst acknowledging that external bodies such as QAA and RAE Panels were developing clearer views and definitions on this kind of research, it was noted that sufficient national practice was established in this and candidates were already wishing to undertake such research, so it was important for the University to progress this matter without undue delay.
The Board supported the proposal, incorporating the minor changes suggested, and commended it to Research Committee.
(SSH99-P50)
The Board noted the QAA's position statement on postgraduate qualifications following the recent consultation exercise and received the new QAA proposals for wider qualifications in Qualifications Frameworks. Members acknowledged that the proposals raised a range of issues requiring detailed comment. It was therefore RESOLVED that members should pass their comments on the proposals to the Associate Dean (Teaching) by 9 November 1999.
The Board ENDORSED proposals for the following programmes and noted that these had already been considered by Curriculum Sub-Committee:
BSc Sport and Leisure Management/Sport Leisure Management with DPS
The Board ENDORSED proposals for the discontinuation of Diploma Programmes in Substance Abuse and Social Psychology and noted that these had already been considered by Curriculum Sub-Committee.
The constitution and powers of the Faculty Board were NOTED.
The membership of the Faculty Board for the session 1999-2000 was NOTED.
Representation of the Faculty on other bodies was NOTED.
(SSH99-P54)
The Board received and NOTED the Operational Plan.
(SSH99-P55)
The Board received and NOTED the Strategic Plan.
The Board noted that this was available from Dr J E M Elliott.
The Board NOTED that reports of Staff/Student Committee meetings had been deposited with the Secretary as follows:
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5 May 1999 |
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16 February 1999 |
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17 February 1999, |
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14 December 1998, |
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5 May 1999 |
- No items had been highlighted for the Board's attention.
The Board noted that the Minutes of the 328th (Ordinary) meeting of Senate held on 23 June 1999 are available on the University Web pages.
The Board noted that reports of the following Committees were available on the University Web pages.
- Teaching and Learning Committee of 3 June 1999.
- Curriculum Sub-Committee of 6 May (reconvened) and 22 April 1999
The Board noted that degrees for programmes and research in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities would be awarded at the Congregation on the morning of Tuesday 21 December 1999.
- Tuesday 8 February 2000 at 2.15pm
(Closing date for receipt of Agenda items: Monday 24 January 2000)