SUMMARY OF ACADEMIC POLICY DECISIONS – AUTUMN 2004

This information note refers to decisions made at the following meetings:

ASC – 1 December 2004

Senate – 15 December 2004

Minute numbers are given to indicate the source of the information set out below. Where extracts of minutes are included verbatim, this is indicated by speech marks.

LIST OF CONTENTS

SECTION A – FOR ACTION

1. Marks Penalties for Late Submission of Coursework

2. Centres with Students

SECTION B – FOR INFORMATION

1. Students Satisfaction Survey

SECTION A – FOR ACTION BY HEADS OF DEPARTMENT AND CENTRES

1. Marks Penalties (S.M.M203-204/04)

‘Resolved

that a University-wide policy on marks penalties for late submission of coursework at undergraduate level be approved for introduction in 2005/06 as set out in Appendix A attached;’

2. Centres with Students (S.M.M207-212/04)

‘Resolved

(i) that wherever possible new academic activity involving teaching should be hosted by existing departments, using existing mechanisms for interdepartmental co-operation, rather than through the creation of new teaching centres;

(ii) that the MA European Integration be hosted in future by a department;

(iii) that any new interdisciplinary unit that undertakes any sort of teaching should have a founding document, describing the relation between it and the contributing departments. This document should be presented to Senate.

(iv) that all degree schemes and courses should normally be hosted by a department or a centre;

(v) that:

(a) all Independent Interdisciplinary Centres (IIDCs), interdisciplinary schemes and interdisciplinary courses should be assigned to a Dean by the Deans collectively. This assignment should be reported to ASC;

(b) there should be a rolling process by which directors of IIDCs negotiate with departments to agree their teaching and administrative commitments to the interdisciplinary schemes. Where appropriate this could be done via a multi-partite meeting chaired by the appropriate Dean.

(c) agreements negotiated must last long enough to cover students already on (or accepted on) a degree scheme until the end of the degree;

(d) the outcome of the negotiation should be reported to the Dean;

(e) if agreement cannot be reached, the Dean should take such action as s/he sees fit or recommend discontinuation of the scheme if necessary;

(vi) that CS101 The Enlightenment should be excepted from the above policy and should continue to be the responsibility of the School of Humanities and Comparative Studies.”

SECTION B – FOR INFORMATION

1. Student Satisfaction Survey (ASC.M.126/04)

‘Resolved

a) that from 2004/05:

(i) the University-wide Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS) should include all students except research students in their completion period and those on a year away from the University;

(ii) that, subject to there being no issue with copyright, the National Student Survey questions, adapted slightly to meet local requirements, should replace the existing Section A questions on teaching quality and academic support (UG and PGT students);

(iii) that final year undergraduates should be asked only to complete Section B questions on University support services, since they would be responding to Section A questions via the National Student Survey.

b) that Heads of Department should be asked to review the groupings of degree schemes for the SSS in order to generate outcomes and reports at a higher level of aggregation where possible;

c) that, at the University-wide level, the outcomes for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students should be reported separately;

d) that the detailed outcomes of the Student Satisfaction Survey, excluding free text comments, should be openly available to all staff and students, by means of reports published on the University website.”

Administrative Note

ASC’s decisions in M.126/04 paragraph (a) (ii)-(iii) have been reviewed in the light of national developments in respect of the National Student Survey (NSS). It is expected that the decisions in M.126/04 paragraphs (a) (ii) and (iii) will be rescinded. An update will be provided in the Summary of Academic Policy Decisions – Spring 2005.

Joanne Tallentire

Senior Assistant Registrar

February 2005

CIRCULATION

FOR ACTION:

Heads of Department

Directors of

            Areas and Study Abroad Office

            Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies

            Centre for Theoretical Studies

            English Language Teaching Centre

            Human Rights Centre

Departmental Administrators (including Centres listed above)

FOR INFORMATION:

Vice-Chancellor

Pro-Vice-Chancellors

Deans

Academic Registrar

Academic Section Administrators