Bath Spa University College

Bath Spa University CONFIRMED Academic Quality and Standards Committee

Minutes of meeting held on 19 April 2012

Present: Neil Sammells, Pradeep Sharma, Steve Ward, Paul Davies, Steve May, Joe Bennett, Mike McBeth, Alison Baud, Chris Ellicott, Sarah Clark, Richard Bidgood

Officer: Di Walters

Agenda Action item General 11/65 Apologies

Apologies were received from Alun Thomas, Mark Wainman and Jane Wills.

11/66 Minutes of the meeting of 9 February 2012

The minutes were approved for factual accuracy.

11/67 Matters arising from the minutes of 9 February 2012

11/42 (11/38): The Registrar informed the committee of developments with regard to second subject discussions. In order to balance module numbers, students would have a limited subject choice of five/six. It was considered that students would welcome a more limited, but guaranteed choice rather than a free, but not guaranteed choice.

Following positive feedback from Policy Advisory Group and Vice-Chancellor’s Executive Group, the proposed revisions would be presented to Academic Board in May.

The committee endorsed the proposal which clearly demonstrated the University’s response to the student voice.

11/45: The Chair informed the committee of discussion at Academic Board with regard to strategic planning. In order to respond more rapidly to factors such as the external landscape and the new VC’s vision, a revised academic strategic planning process had been approved at Academic Board. The Chair informed the committee that revisions would be made to the current process to disaggregate annual monitoring from strategic planning.

The committee noted that three year School strategic plans had been drafted, for approval by Board of Governors in June.

The Director of Academic Services would outline the revised annual monitoring process to reflect the disaggregation of strategic planning in a paper to June PD AQSC.

11/68 Chair’s business

AQSC:April 2012 Page 1 of 5 There were no items of Chair’s business.

11/69 Appeals 2010/11 (Q1036)

The committee noted the activity of the Appeals Committee, with the majority of appeals dealt with at the first stage.

With regard to trends of appeals, the Registrar advised these could be categorised as borderline classifications and PGCE school experience cases.

The committee received the paper.

11/70 Link Tutor Roles and Responsibilities (Q1037)

The Director of Academic Services presented the paper which had been commissioned by the committee in February on receipt of the Institutional Oversight – Collaborative Provision paper (Q1019).

The committee welcomed the clarification provided by the paper and provided helpful amendments which would be incorporated. The revised document would be sent to Heads of Schools, Heads of Department and Link Tutors. PD

The committee received the document, with the amendments discussed.

11/71 Fitness to Study Policy (Q1038)

The Registrar advised that the policy represented codification of current procedures from a health and welfare perspective.

The committee discussed the lack of formal right of appeal. However it was considered that the complaints procedure was less laborious, in view of the strict requirements for response.

The committee approved the policy.

11/72 External Examiners – Nominations and Amendments to Contract (Q1039)

The committee approved the nomination of the following external examiners:

 Sally Bradley - Professional Practice &Teaching & Learning in HE Programmes (Certificate in Professional Learning in HE and the MA in Professional Practice in HE Certificate, PG Diploma and Masters Programme)  Daniel Buzzo - FdA Graphic Design/BA Creative Industries at Weston College  Danny Rolph – Fine Art  Helen Smith – English Literature  Julia Townshend - Psychology  Ester Wade – Photography and Digital Media, and Digital Design

The committee approved amendments and extensions to contract as follows:

 Harshad Keval – MSc Health Studies  Judith Crayford – PG Sustainability Toolkit and MA Managing Sustainability & Uncertainty

AQSC:April 2012 Page 2 of 5  Susan Daniels – Arts Administration  Noelle O’Connor –Business & Management  Millie Taylor – Musical Theatre

11/73 Accreditation of Prior Learning – APL (Q1040)

The committee noted the revisions made to the University’s APL policy, which was due for review and reapproval.

The committee approved the revised APL policy.

11/74 Approval of New/Existing Provision – External Advisers (Q1041)

The committee noted the appointment of the following external advisers:

 Sarah Argent – MA Theatre for Young Audiences  Rachael Cawley – BA (Hons) Contemporary Arts Practice  Stuart Hampton-Reeves – MA Performing Shakespeare  David Henson – BA (Hons) Acting  Theresa Heskins – BA (Hons) Acting  Liz Lippiatt – BA (Hons) Contemporary Arts Practice

11/75 Approval of new provision – MA Visual Communication (Q1042)

The Registrar noted that the proposed provision would involve four week-long residencies and advised that these would attract student visitor visas, which were for a maximum of six months. The Head of School confirmed that only two of the residencies would be UK based and these would be contained within the permitted six month period.

The committee approved the provision.

11/76 Approval of provision - BA (Hons)/FdA Contemporary Art & Professional Studies at Weston College (Q1043)

The Head of School advised that the approval represented a change to award name to differentiate from current BSAD courses and provide greater emphasis with regard to work based learning.

The committee received the approval report and response from Weston College.

11/77 Approval of new provision – MA Theatre for Young Audiences (Q1044)

The proposal had been discussed at the February meeting, when the committee requested further collaboration between the Schools of Music & Performing Arts and Humanities & Cultural Studies as indicated by the VC at the outline plan approval stage.

The Head of Music & Performing Arts confirmed that a series of meetings had been held and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) had been reassured that the required consultation had taken place.

The committee approved the provision.

11/78 Approval of new provision – BA (Hons) Contemporary Arts Practice (Q1045)

AQSC:April 2012 Page 3 of 5 The committee noted the documentation provided by Bath School of Art & Design. To ensure the academic integrity of the proposed provision, the committee requested an additional report from another external adviser (academic).

The committee delegated authority to the Director of Academic Services to PD ensure the additional external adviser (academic) report requested met with the requirements of the Course Planning & Approval Handbook.

Subject to this, the committee approved the provision.

11/79 Approval of new provision – MA Literature, Landscape and Environment (Q1052)

The committee noted that the proposal represented a change to award title and therefore required course reapproval in line with the minor modifications policy.

The committee approved the amendment to award title.

11/80 Periodic Review: Film & Screen Studies, Media Communications, Creative Media Practice, Cultural Studies, Feature Filmmaking – report (Q1046)

The periodic review of Film & Screen Studies, Media Communications, Creative Media Practice, Cultural Studies and Feature Filmmaking took place in January 2012 and the provision was approved until 2016/17.

The committee member representing the School of Humanities & Cultural Industries noted that reference had been made in the report to ‘bell curve’ marking in Creative Writing. The committee was explicitly assured that such marking methods were never used in Creative Writing, and the comments made at the periodic review meeting had been misunderstood.

The committee accepted the reassurance received with regard to marking in Creative Writing and received the report.

11/81 Periodic Review: Food and Nutrition – action plan (Q1047)

The committee received the action plan from the subject leader, which had responded to conditions and recommendations made by the review panel.

11/82 Periodic Review: Music – 12 month follow-up report and action plan (Q1048)

The Head of School for Performing Arts presented the report and provided clarification as follows:

 Monitoring of library usage at BIMM would continue and would be captured through annual monitoring.  Student handbooks at Weston College would not be depersonalised as the course team considered this was consistent with BSU policy.

The committee received the 12 month follow-up report and action plan.

AQSC:April 2012 Page 4 of 5 11/83 Outcomes from Institutional Audit: 2007/9 (third series) Managing Academic Standards (Q1049)

The committee received the paper.

11/84 Outcomes from Institutional Audit: 2007/9 (third series) Student Engagement and Support (Q1050)

The committee received the report.

11/85 Student Representatives Committee – minutes November 2011/January 2012 (Q1051)

The committee requested that the SU President refer to the terms of reference for the Student Representatives Committee to ensure matters discussed fell in the remit of that committee. It was felt that some agenda items would be more appropriately placed with the Student Experience Advisory Group, for example.

The SU President commented that work was in progress to provide training for student representatives to ensure items were discussed at the appropriate meeting.

The committee received the minutes.

11/86 Any other business

There were no items of any other business.

11/87 Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held on 14 June 2012

AQSC:April 2012 Page 5 of 5