Graduate Studies Committee s2

GRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE Tuesday 21 October2015 at 2pm

Minutes

Present: Callum Brown (History PGR), Steve Driscoll (Archaeology PGR), Lisa Hau (Classic PGR/PGT), Gary Kemp (Philosophy PGT), Christelle Le Riguer (minutes), Martin MacGregor (History PGT), Steve Marritt (chair), Geraldine Parsons (Celtic & Gaelic PGT), Claudia Glatz (Archaeology PGT)

1. Apologies Michael Brady (Philosophy), Michel Byrne (Celtic & Gaelic PGR), Jenny Hutcheson.

2. Minutes of previous meeting (21 April 2015) Accepted as a correct record.

3. Matters Arising  Item 5: SMG to revisit the strategic plan, and SM to report back to this committee afterwards.  Item 6: o MRes: all Subjects now have an MRes in PIP o PTES/PRES: Humanities have the best return rates of in the College of Arts. The expected rate of return was 24% replies but Humanities had 67%.

4. Report from College Graduate Studes Board Paper 1 drafted by SM had been circulated: i. AHRC/College Scholarship Applications Timetable: PGR conveners to contact CLR if they wish posters to be created and web pages to be updated. Action: PGR conveners ii. Record of Supervision Form and Process Changes: College have revised this form which doesn’t require the supervisors’ signature anymore. Students complete the form and email it to the School PGR administrator and to the supervisor. Supervisors can then modify the form if they so wish. SM informed the meeting that this new form is being piloted this year. It is planned that these forms will eventually be submitted online. iii. PGR APR reforms: SM reported that there will be an online system for APRs in June 2016, and that the Dean would try and attend panel meetings this coming session. iv. College Progress committee: staff should be stricter in applying progress procedures. v. Graduate School PGR community building funding changes: the Graduate School is planning on having a few events with a critical mass of students to attend, and is expecting each School to instigate one event: £1,000 (with College managing the event). SM to send further details once available to the Committee Action: SM 5. Convenor’s Business i. PGT Annual Monitoring Reports: SM reminded that every PGT programme must have an annual monitoring report complied by the PGT programme convener ii. PG Open Day, 20th November 2015: Heather Murphy had advised it was unlikely that potential PhD students would turn up on open day as it is mostly for PGT applicants. iii. PTES/PRES: an action plan is not required if the Subject is small; History and Archaeology have to have one. o The big issue in PTES was the slow return of assessment across all programmes within the School. SMG asked Subjects to report on how they are improving; Subjects to produce a document with marking deadlines for each course and who 1st and 2nd markers are; review of assessment possibly too. SM noted that some courses are over assessing i. PRES: SM to respond for the School with 1 paragraph by 7 Nov (PRES available on this committee’s Moodle page) iv. RIO/college update: a tabled spreadsheet was provided by Heather Murphy, who will supply it ever month for PGT applications from November onwards; she will also provide templates of letters. Most of the College’s recruitment budget will be spent on digital media. v. School Staff-student committee: names of student reps to be sent to CLR Action: ALL vi. Role of the School re PIP: SM reported that course changes in PIP (inc ILOs and assessment). are now managed by the School, and that he would liaise with the Teaching and Learning Committee to streamline processes. He warned that members of the Gradate Studies Committee members would be asked to read PIP proposals more thoroughly this session as a consequence.

6. PGT recruitment /liaison with RIO MMacG raised the issue of the selection process for PGT applicants, as he had encountered several problems with current PGT students. He asked if other Subject areas had come across similar problems. SM suggested that applicants could be interviewed before being sent an offer, but this might not be practical in view of the number of applications received. SM to get back to RIO to ask if academic references and application statement could be sent to conveners. Action: SM

7. Updates from Subjects: oClassics: the MLitt in Classics is not running this session, and there are only 2 students on the new MLitt in Ancient Cultures oCeltic & Gaelic: with recent dropouts only 3 PGT students this session. oHistory: CB queried the fees reduction for staff - information on http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/a-z/tuitionfees/’ and application form for tuition fees’: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/humanresources/a-z/forms/

8. A.O.C.B None.

Next meeting: Wednesday 16 December 2015 at 2pm in Room 102, 10 University Gardens.

Moodle page for School Graduate Studies Committee: http://moodle2.gla.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=6074