AB73.M King’s College London

Academic Board

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/governance/acboard

THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE ACADEMIC BOARD HELD ON WEDNESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2006

Principal Professor , Chair1 Vice-Principals Professor Phil Whitfield (Students) - Deputy Chair Professor Keith Hoggart (Arts & Sciences) Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman (Research)

Heads of School Biomedical & Health Sciences Professor Bob Hider Law Professor Raymond Plant Humanities Professor Ann Thompson Medicine Professor Anne Greenough

The Reverend the Dean Rev Dr Richard Burridge Head of Administration Mr Ian Creagh The President of the Students' Union Mr Daryn McCombe Chief Academic Auditor Professor Iain Campbell

Chairs of subcommittees Academic Staff [the ] Admissions Dr Kim Wolff College Board of Examiners Dr Vicki Aitken External Affairs [Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences)] Graduate School Professor Vaughan Robinson Information Strategy Professor Jeremy Ward (Deputy Chair) Research [Vice-Principal (Research)]

Student members (1 undergraduate and 1 postgraduate from each group of Schools) Arts & Sciences Schools (undergraduate) Ms Emily Rowe Arts & Sciences Schools (postgraduate) Mr Alexander Fisher Health Schools (undergraduate) Ms Rachel Walsh Health Schools (postgraduate) Dr Watcharaphol Kamnerdsiri

School members:

Biomedical & Health Sciences Dental Institute elected junior: Dr Maria Psatha elected junior: Dr Richard Foxton elected junior: Dr Sue Jickells appointed: Dr David Radford

1 Due to the site visits of the panel considering ’Best Practice for Best Health’ applications involving the College (see Minute 130), the Principal was not able to Chair all of the meeting and the Vice-Principal (Students) was in the Chair at the beginning and the end of the meeting. The Minutes reflect the order of the agenda but not the order of the items as taken at the meeting.

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Humanities Nursing and Midwifery appointed: Dr Tom Pink elected junior: Miss Carole Jackson elected senior: Ms Mary Crawford Institute of Psychiatry appointed: Ms Julie Bliss elected junior: Miss Corinne Prescott Physical Sciences and Engineering Law elected senior: Professor Andrew Pressley elected junior: Dr Jonathan Garton appointed: Professor Andrew Jones

Medicine Social Science and Public Policy elected junior: Dr Martin Mueller elected senior: Dr John Gearson appointed: Professor Brian Holden-Reid

In attendance: Committee Administrator Ms Shilla Pindoria Deputy College Secretary & Academic Registrar Mr Brian Salter Deputy Director of Personnel Mr Keith Hart Deputy Registrar, QA&AA Ms Hilary Placito Director of External Relations Ms Caroline Usher Principal's Executive Officer (Policy and Planning) Ms Ruth Gowling Senior Assistant College Secretary Miss Katharine Lewis (Secretary) Senior Assistant Registrar, QA&AA Ms Nicola Sainsbury VP KCLSU (Representation) Miss Jo Williams

Apologies were received from: Professor Robert Lechler, Mr Harry Musselwhite, Professor Nairn Wilson, Dr George Szmukler, Professor Anne-Marie Rafferty, Professor Mike Yianneskis, Professor Christopher Dandeker, Professor Gill Nicholls, Professor Tom Pitt-Ford, Dr Clare Pettitt, Professor Elizabeth Kuipers, Professor Blackburn, Dr Mark Green, Dr Robert Dover, Ms Fran Brogan

CONGRATULATIONS

Noted: the Board’s congratulations to the Principal on his election as President of Universities UK. The Principal would succeed Professor Drummond Bone (Vice-, ) on 1 August 2007 and hold the post of President for two academic years 2007-08 and 2008-09. He would be reducing his other commitments outside the College so that he could continue, during his time as UUK President, to focus on King’s. (128)

MINUTES

Approved: the Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 25 October 2006 (AB72.M). (129)

CHAIR’S BUSINESS

NHS Site visits Noted: that a key part of implementing the government’s Best Research for Best Health proposals was to establish Research Centres within the country’s leading NHS and University

….\AB73M.doc 2/8 partnerships to drive progress on innovation and translational research in biomedicine and NHS service quality and safety. Two site visits in respect of bids submitted by the College’s NHS partners were taking place today. (130)

HEFCE funding for strategic subjects Reported: that the College was exploring whether it was eligible for any of the recently announced additional funding from HEFCE to support high cost and vulnerable science subjects. (131) update Reported: that the Heads of College had recently approved an interim report on constitutional reform which would clearly give the Colleges a more significant role in the governance of the University of London, and permit Colleges to use their own degree awarding powers. It was expected that this report would be endorsed by the University of London Council in December. (132)

New Dean for the Institute of Psychiatry Reported: that Professor Peter McGuffin had been appointed Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry from 1 January 2007 for three years. (133)

Noted: the Academic Board’s thanks to Dr George Szmukler for his services as Dean and to the College in general; during his tenure the links between the IoP and the rest of the College had developed and strengthened. From January, Dr Szmukler would be leading a health and society network in the College. (134)

ITEMS FOR APPROVAL

Academic Board quinquennial review Approved: the terms of reference for the quinquennial review and the membership of the proposed working group (AB06/07:27) noting that the Academic Registrar would be working closely with the Working Group. (135)

Noted: that the last review of the Academic Board had seen significant changes to the conduct of the Board, with a reduction to the members, the disestablishment of its Standing Committee, and the introduction of open meeting; (136) that Board members would be consulted as part of the review, the Working Group to determine the method of that consultation. (137)

College Marketing Literature Policy Approved: a College Marketing Literature Policy (additional paper AB06/07:42). (138)

Change of departmental name Approved: for recommendation to the Council, a change of department name in the Institute of Psychiatry viz Health Services Research Department to the Health Service and Population Research Department (additional paper AB06/07:43). (139)

….\AB73M.doc 3/8 SUB COMMITTEES OF THE ACADEMIC BOARD

Minutes Considered: the Minutes of the sub committees of the Academic Board as follows: • College Board of Examiners 27 September (CB49.M) • College Teaching Committee 11 October (CTC 55M) • External Affairs Committee 29 September (EAC10.M) • Graduate School Committee 13 September (GSC 1M) • Student Affairs & Welfare Committee 26 October (SAWC.7M). (140) • Noted: that the energy and activity of the Graduate School from both the administrators and the academics involved was gratifying. (141)

Further noted: the Academic Board’s best wishes for a speedy recovery to the Chair of the College Teaching Committee who was currently undergoing hospital treatment. (142)

Annual Reports Considered: annual reports from the subcommittees as follows: • Academic Audit (AB06/07:28) • Admissions Committee undergraduate equality and diversity report (AB06/07:29) • College Board of Examiners (AB06/07:30) • College Research Committee (AB06/07:31) • Postgraduate Research Students Committee (AB06/07:32) • Information Strategy Committee (AB06/07:41). (143)

Noted: in respect of Academic Audit, that Schools had not always been diligent in responding to requests for information and this had slowed down the audit process; (144) in respect of the College Research Committee, that 2005-06 had been a good year for research income, in particular for new grants and contracts. Information for the first quarter of 2006-07 indicated that the momentum was being sustained. (145)

Approved: in respect of the Admissions Committee undergraduate equality and diversity report, the recommendations set out in the report, with particular note of the work being undertaken by the Committee on benchmarks. (146)

Further noted: that Shilla Pindoria, Secretary to the Admissions Committee, the Information Strategy Committee, and the External Affairs Committee, was leaving the College to pursue a career in the commercial sector. The Academic Board thanked her for all her hard work for the Board and its committees. (147)

STRATEGIC PLAN

Considered: for advice to the Council, the draft Strategic Plan (AB06/07:33). (148)

Noted: that the strategy, a public document, represented a general way forward for the College and drew heavily on the strategic discussions of the last 18 months. A complementary implementation plan would be produced in due course; (149)

….\AB73M.doc 4/8 that the section on the administration had been reshaped by input from the new Head of Administration & College Secretary with its new designation of ‘professional services’ reflecting its new orientation; (150) that changes would be made to the draft to build up the references to interdisciplinary activity, a strength of the College, and to take on board comments about the religious dimension of the College’s founding mission (Minutes 166 and 167 below also refer); (151) that given the College’s relative position in the Russell Group in respect of postgraduate research numbers, the Graduate School would initially be concentrating its efforts on these students. However, taught postgraduate students and their needs were not going to be ignored and it was intended that a Deputy Director of the Graduate School would be appointed with specific responsibility for taught postgraduate matters; (152) that strengthening of the section on teaching was advocated, with emphasis perhaps on supporting and developing innovative programmes and teaching. Other additions to the strategy suggested included developing a healthy society and the 2012 Olympics, and understanding the College’s identity and sense of itself as a community. (153)

Approved: for recommendation to the Council, the broad aims and thrust of the draft Strategic Plan. (154)

Further noted: that detailed comments should be forwarded to Ruth Gowling by the end of the week. (155)

DEGREE AWARDING POWERS

Considered: for advice to the Council, a proposal for using the College’s degree awarding powers (AB06/07:34). (156)

Noted: that both having degree awarding powers and exercising them was consistent with the aim of the Strategic Plan to promote the College as an independent, university institution. The governance proposals approved by the Heads of College Committee of the University (subject to approval at the December meeting of the University Council) meant that exercising these powers would not disadvantage the College; (157) that nothing in the proposal would disrupt the College’s position in the University of London and the College remained an enthusiastic supporter of the benefits of association, viz the University Library, the Institute for Advanced Study and the Intercollegiate Halls. An agreement had been reached (again subject to approval by the University Council) that membership of the University of London could be incorporated into College degree certificates and more broadly that King’s, LSE, UCL and the Institute of Education could award their own degrees whilst remaining full members of the University; (158) that the student body was generally in support of the proposal provided that the benefits of association were protected. However, whilst there was currently every intention at King’s for the federal programmes in Philosophy and Classics to remain (with perhaps some alteration to the administration) their long-term future was dependent upon the intentions of the other collaborating Colleges; (159)

….\AB73M.doc 5/8 that there would be short-term costs in setting-up the infrastructure relating to certification, but longer term costs were expected to be off-set by a reduced subscription to the University; (160) that the proposal was very much welcomed as an opportunity for the College to express its individual identity. (161)

Agreed: for recommendation to the Council, that the College should exercise its degree awarding powers in respect of degrees awarded to students newly enrolling from September 2007. (162)

2 INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY AND LONDON STRATEGY

Considered: a draft International Strategy (AB06/07:35) and a draft London Strategy (AB06/07:36). (163)

Noted: that the cover sheets summarised the comments of the Academic Board subcommittees on each of the strategies. Overall, the comments from the committees were positive and sought to provide some direction on priorities and tactical suggestions for action; some of the more negative comments had already been taken into account in the draft placed before the Board for consideration; (164) that the vision of both the strategies was closely linked to that of the Strategic Plan, looking towards raising the profile of the College; (165) that ‘service to society’ was the modern interpretation of one half of the College’s founding mission expressed in the College prayer as “the seeds of Learning, Virtue and Religion, here sown, may bring forth fruit abundantly to your glory and the benefit of our fellow creatures” and that the other half of the College’s distinctive founding mission, where spirituality was part of public life and the academic endeavour (and not merely a private matter as expounded by the founders of UCL), needed to be brought out in the College’s strategies; (166) that the positive religious tolerance in the College, where the practice of faith was taken seriously, was an attractive and distinctive feature for many international students and the student members of the Academic Board were very supportive that this feature was preserved and celebrated. (167)

International strategy Noted: that whilst improving the College’s web presence to attract international students was welcomed, there was some concern in the Board about the dangers of raising expectations beyond reality. Marketing (whether through glossy brochures or on the web) needed to be backed-up by the appropriate facilities and services for students once they were at the College; (168) that the Student Progression Working Group had been looking at the specific needs of various groups of students, including international students and the increased need for some students for additional language or study skill support; (169) that the idea of the International Office had been raised through the International Student Barometer but given the limitations of any questionnaire to get to the heart of an issue it was felt that the emphasis of the review should be on improving functions and services not on structures. (170)

2 Considered earlier in the meeting, before consideration of the Strategic Plan.

….\AB73M.doc 6/8 London strategy Noted: that gaining a foothold in Somerset House was still, after 150 years, an aim for the College and would significantly enhance the College’s London presence. Negotiations were ongoing with a shift in focus away from the East Wing of Somerset House to the New Wing; (171) that the College’s connections to ‘religious London’ were important, just as were its links to ‘cultural’ or ‘political’ London, given that London was a major international centre of faith and faith dialogue and the College was already making a significant contribution to improving religious understanding through its new Centre for Religions, Theology & Public Life and its master’s programmes; (172) that other areas that might benefit from being drawn out in the strategy were sport and the 2012 Olympics, the vicinity of political ‘think-tanks’ and institutionalising existing informal links, and further emphasising the opportunities for departmental/School cultural liaison officers to promote the College’s academic work through linkage with local cultural events. (173)

Approved: the core themes of the International and London strategies noting that the strategies would be amended, in respect of the points raised, before being forwarded to the Council. (174)

Further noted: that the strategies would join a suite of already approved strategies that included the Learning & Teaching Strategy and the Fair Admissions Strategy for which full funding was not available for implementation. Resources for implementing the International and London strategies would need to be prioritised against the resources needed for implementing the other strategies. (175)

ACADEMIC BOARD ANNUAL REPORT

Approved: the Academic Board’s annual report to the Council for 2005-06 (AB06/07:37). (176)

QAA INSTITUTIONAL AUDIT PROCESS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO QUALITY INFORMATION AND TQI WEB-SITE

Considered: a briefing on the implications for the College of the QAA’s new method (AB06/07:38). (177)

Noted: that there would be six focus areas for the College’s institutional audit in 2009 as well as consideration of how the College had responded to its previous audits; (178) that a number of issues needed to be addressed shortly if they were to be embedded in time for audit, in particular the College’s approach to the enhancement of learning opportunities and how it listened and acted upon the views of its graduates and employers. (179)

MATTERS FOR INFORMATION

Agreements: University Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) and Humboldt University Berlin Noted: that agreements were in the process of being signed between the College, University Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) and Humboldt University Berlin for the establishment of a Juriste European programme. The background to the agreement was the ongoing process of European integration and the need for extensive comparative and combined legal studies in Europe as well as the need

….\AB73M.doc 7/8 for the development of modern skills for European lawyers. The Juriste European programme consisted of an undergraduate law degree taken by the student at their home institution followed by one year of postgraduate law studies at each of the other two participating institutions. Students thus would obtain three separate, independently awarded degrees so that they had the capacity to act as European Jurists or Lawyers. (180)

Reserved business: Chair’s action & revocations Received: two reports on action taken on the Board’s behalf (AB06/07:39) and (AB06/07:40). (181)

NEXT MEETING OF THE ACADEMIC BOARD

Noted: that the next meeting of the Academic Board would be held on 31 January 2007 at 2.00pm in the Council Room, Strand Campus. (182)

Katharine Lewis 29 November 2006

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