LANCASTER UNIVERSITY. Collaborative Provision Oversight Committee: minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2013

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1 SEC/2013/3/0750 LANCASTER UNIVERSITY Collaborative Provision Oversight Committee: minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2013 Present: Apologies: Professor S Bradley (Chair) Professor G Blower Professor G Johnes Dr M Luxon Professor E Rose Professor M Shackleton Mrs L Wareing Ms H Willes (Secretary) Dr G Brown Dr C Edwards Professor L Hendry Mr J O Neill Professor C Rogers Section A Introductory items CPOC/2013/36 Minutes Document: SEC/2013/3/0141 The minutes of the meeting held on 24 July were confirmed as an accurate record. CPOC/2013/37 Matters arising (not covered elsewhere on the agenda) 37.1 Al Maktoum College of Higher Education (minute CPOC/2013/26.3) The Chair reported that following a due diligence exercise and a visit to the College premises in Dundee, it had been decided not to pursue a partnership between the College and the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion.

2 37.2 Type 2 International Teaching Partner Reviews (minute CPOC/2013/29) The Committee noted that Type 2 partnerships i.e. those partnerships involving external delivery of a Lancaster programme but typically limited to one or two programmes, would require review before the QAA Higher Education Review in For review purposes, partnerships would be prioritised using a riskbased approach. A review methodology and schedule of reviews to take place in 2014 would be presented to the January meeting of CPOC. CPOC/2013/38 Report on Chair s Action 38.1 CPOC noted that the Chair, on behalf of the Committee, had approved the following partnerships: (a) Permission to progress the development of an online MBA in partnership with Embanet Document: SEC/2013/3/0687 The proposal from MDD was for approval to undertake a formal due diligence exercise with a view to appointing Embanet as LUMS partner in the design and delivery of a distance MBA (D-MBA). The proposal had been approved by the LUMS PRC on 23 October Professor Shackleton added that Embanet had recently been acquired by the Pearson Group, ensuring financial stability and taking advantage of the Pearson global brand. Discussion between LUMS and Pearson Group had established that Pearson were serious about distance learning developments. CPOC also noted that Study Group International (Lancaster ISC/Foundation Programme provider) had worked with Imperial College on their distance MBA. Drs Matheny and Iszatt White would take the D-MBA proposal forward with the preferred delivery partner. (b) Amendment to partnership agreement with Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow The proposal from LUMS was to extend the exchange agreement to allow LUMS Master s students to attend either the HSE Summer School or one semester on a Master s

3 programme at HSE. The amendment to the partnership agreement had been approved by the LUMS Graduate School Teaching Committee on 13 June It was hoped that further collaborations with this high ranking partner would be forthcoming. CPOC/2013/39 Update/progress report (not covered elsewhere on the agenda) The committee received oral reports on the following Sunway Professor Bradley reported that significant progress had been made in relation to key actions arising from the review visit, including reduction in student attrition rates, better alignment of curriculum to Lancaster models, and improved staff development. Sunway had received planning permission for a new campus scheduled to open in 2015, housing 8000 students. The GMBA would be launched in Spring 2014 with teaching shared between Lancaster and Sunway staff. This development would be supplemented by the MBA Study Tour including a stop at Kuala Lumpur from 2014 onwards. Discussions were also underway to broaden the portfolio to include programmes in the Faculties of Science & Technology and Health & Medicine. A senior team from Sunway would be visiting at Christmas/New Year to discuss portfolio development and research engagement Guangwai Professor Bradley noted that discussions between the district government and the investors had stalled however progress was expected after Christmas. A review of Professional Services requirements in relation to the Guangwai project was underway and a report would be available for the CPOC meeting in January. Professor Shackleton asked how the new university would seek to achieve a ranking of its own, given the importance of national rankings (e.g. China 211 project group) as well as international. Professor Bradley replied that Guangwai Lancaster would have to be re-ranked as a comprehensive university (GDUFS was a specialist institution) and agreed to investigate the ranking application process. In response to a question about other universities establishing sites in the same area outside Guangzhou, Professor Bradley noted that seven other universities (including Birmingham) had expressed an interest in the site however Lancaster was the furthest forward as regards legal and financial groundwork.

4 39.3 Goenka Professors Bradley and McKinlay would be visiting Goenka in mid- November to discuss the future of the partnership in the light of the expansion of Goenka University. A report would be provided to the Vice-Chancellor and a report made to CPOC in January COMSATS A total of 2,400 students were now registered on Lancaster University degrees at COMSATS, mostly in Science and Technology, with the remainder in Business and Management. COMSATS were keen to add further dual degrees however they would need to provide evidence of further improvements to the quality of teaching and facilities before this could be agreed Ghana The Vice Chancellor and Professor McKinlay had formally opened the Ghana campus in late October. 58 students had commenced the pre-degree Foundation Programme and a further were expected to register in January for the same programme. Early indications of degree choices indicated that Law was very popular, followed by Business/Management. The Dean of Undergraduate Studies was chairing a working group looking at the design and delivery of the first group of eight undergraduate degrees to be taught in Ghana. Two postgraduate degrees were also planned: the GMBA, for commencement in June 2014, and an MA in International Relations. A visit to Accra by academic staff involved in the initial programmes was being planned for January Section B Strategy, policies, framework, processes CPOC/2013/40 China Strategy The Committee received an oral update from the Chair on the University s China Strategy. CPOC would receive the final version following discussion by the University China Group and approval by Professor Atherton. Key to the strategy were:

5 reining in the large number of current university partners in China; expanding provision in chosen partners in each region; and the impact of the Guangwai development. CPOC/2013/41 COMSATS Review Professor Bradley reported on the review visit to COMSATS in September. He noted in particular the improvement in the quality of the staff, 150 of whom now had PhDs. COMSATS were evidently teaching fundamentals well but there were still issues around final year specialist options. The review action plan would be recommending that COMSATS seek to: (i) improve assessment strategy. The regimented sessional and terminal exam system was inflexible and didn t encourage innovation in assessment. The Business Studies degree team would be piloting a new assessment pattern for up to 25% of the degree; (ii) improve the Annual Teaching Review (ATR) process. The current pro-forma needed revision to help COMSATS staff develop a better understanding of the intended aims of ATRs; (iii) resolve the issue of government recognition of dual degrees. Further discussion would take place in relation to the Pakistan HEC recognition of dual degree programmes. The visit had also provided an opportunity for discussion on a number of other issues, including: (a) professional accreditation for Engineering degrees; (b) staff development, principally implementation of Lancaster s CAP programme; (c) COMSATS ambitious marketing and development plan which included expansion of Lancaster degrees beyond Science/Technology and Business subject areas; (d) possible relocation of the Lahore campus to a site close to the airport. CPOC/2013/42 Quality assurance processes for International Teaching Partnerships (ITPs) 42.1 The group received an update from the Academic Registrar on various aspects of quality assurance.

6 (i) Course design and approval A customised approval procedure would be agreed and implemented with each partner. (ii) Course monitoring and review A proposal had been submitted to the November meeting of the Academic Standards and Quality Committee to revise the ATR process for ITPs (including customised report forms) to fit in with the Lancaster faculty teaching committee meeting cycle. (iii) Assessment Procedures for scrutiny of assessment tasks and moderation of marking had been agreed however the timings of these processes were still problematic. (iv) Staff Development OED would be undertaking a series of visits to ITPs, in part to deliver the CAP programme; ITP staff in turn would be coming to Lancaster for a week-long development programme, working with link tutors as well as the OED team. Section C Approval of partners and partnerships CPOC/2013/43 New teaching partners and partnerships 43.1 Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham Document: SEC/2013/3/0688 CPOC received a proposal from the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion to collaborate with the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre on joint delivery of a new distance-learning MA in Quakerism and the Modern World and a Postgraduate Certificate in Quaker Studies. Three of the five Master s modules would be taught by Woodbrooke staff. It was noted that Woodbrooke had experience of co-delivery via an existing fulltime (face to face) MA programme with Birmingham University.

7 CPOC approved the partner and partnership, subject to approval of the two postgraduate programmes by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Teaching Committee on 20 November Universidad de las Americas Puebla (UDLAP), Mexico CPOC received a proposal from LUMS to develop a double degree as part of the European-American BBA programme, commencing teaching in October UDLAP, ranked 32 nd out of 250 institutions in the QS Latin American University rankings, was a member of the International Partnership of Business Schools (IPBS) and already operated double degrees with other IBPS partners such as the European School of Business, Reutlingen. A team from LUMS had visited UDLAP in 2012 and again in 2013 to assess all aspects of the partnership and had concluded that UDLAP would be an excellent partner for development of the Euro- American BBA. The LUMS Faculty Policy and Resources Committee had approved the partner. The proposal had been approved by the LUMS Undergraduate Teaching Committee on 6 November CPOC approved the partner and partnership. CPOC/2013/44 Collaborative research partnerships 44.1 South China University of Technology, P.R. China (Law School) CPOC received a proposal from the Law School to explore possibilities for collaboration with the Law School at South China University of Technology (SCUT) in common research areas and with a view to future student exchanges. CPOC noted that SCUT was already linked to Lancaster University through the Confucius Institute and was ranked at 171 in the QS Asian University rankings. The Law Faculty at SCUT was ranked 27 th amongst Law Schools in China and was similar in size to Lancaster s Law School. The Law Faculty at SCUT was seeking to form research partnerships, notably in the field of Intellectual Property Law, an area Lancaster s Law School wished to develop and for which international joint funding was being sought. CPOC approved the partner and partnership, subject to approval by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Policy and Resources Committee.

8 CPOC/2013/45 Updates on other partnerships Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academic of Sciences, Warsaw (IFiS-PAN), Poland 45.1 CPOC noted that the Polish Ministry of Higher Education had awarded IFiS-PAN an A+ (highest possible) grade in the recent evaluation of academic units exercise. Only 37 of the 963 institutions reviewed had achieved this grade. IFiS-PAN delivered MA programmes in four social science areas leading to Lancaster awards, as well as dual degree PhD programmes CPOC proposed that a note of congratulation be sent to those colleagues in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Lancaster involved in the delivery of the programmes in Warsaw. Section D Partnership Management Group Business CPOC/2013/46 International Teaching Partnerships Documents: SEC/2013/3/0518; SEC/2013/3/0654, SEC/2013/3/0511; SEC/2013/3/0655; SEC/2013/3/0497; SEC/2013/3/ CPOC received minutes of the July and October meetings of the Partnership Management Groups for Sunway, Goenka and COMSATS. CPOC/2013/47 Regional Teaching Partnerships The Academic Registrar gave a verbal update on regional partnerships Blackpool & the Fylde College and Blackburn College Both Colleges were pursuing Foundation Degree Awarding Powers (FDAP); Blackpool and the Fylde College was on the point of submitting the application to the Privy Council. Notwithstanding this development, Mrs Wareing reported that both colleges were keen to renew their partnership agreement with Lancaster University. Alongside the regular quality review processes, Professor Atherton was leading a wider consultation exercise with the colleges to determine the future of the relationship with each.

9 47.2 Furness College, Barrow-in-Furness The College would be receiving its own funded student numbers from HEFCE however they would like the Engineering Department at Lancaster to continue validating their Engineering degrees. The Engineering Department was willing to continue to give their support, the partnership providing good links into industry. It was further reported that the Engineering Department was exploring a number of other collaborative arrangements, for example with Energis and GenII in Cumbria University of Cumbria CPOC was reminded that the University of Cumbria had not yet secured Research Degree Awarding Powers (RDAP). Lancaster would continue to validate research degrees at Cumbria until the current Memorandum of Agreement ended in Lancaster had committed to a review of this arrangement in 2013/ University Technical Colleges (UTCs) CPOC was advised on the establishment of University Technical Colleges. These new regional colleges aimed to give 14 to 18 year olds the opportunity to take a full time university-sponsored technically-oriented programme, offering clear progression routes into higher education or further learning in the workplace. Universities were under pressure from government to get involved with local UTCs, which for Lancaster included Barrow College The Committee agreed that a new detailed regional strategy, aligned with the broader University Strategic Plan, would be timely. Section E Any Other Business CPOC/2013/48 Research degree collaboration 48.1 Professor Bradley reported that the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was investigating an opportunity to collaborate with the University of Copenhagen and Northeastern University on joint PhD provision. This was just one of a number of potential new partnerships in the pipeline. Professor Bradley commented that overall the University was seeking to reduce the number of partners (c. 250 at present), mainly through streamlining the Study Abroad/Exchange partner arrangements. However, new partnerships, particularly those which included a research

10 component (staff research and/or PhD collaboration) would still be encouraged, especially where the proposed partner ranked highly in the relevant global listing. Section F Date of Next Meeting CPOC/2013/49 Date of next meeting Remaining meetings in the 2013/14 academic year were scheduled as follows: Tuesday 21 January 2014 at 2.00 p.m. Tuesday 25 March at 2.00 p.m. Wednesday 14 May at 2.00 p.m.