UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD

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1 UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD CONFIRMED SENATE: LEARNING, TEACHING AND ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE (LTEC) MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 18 JUNE 2014 Present: Professor Gai Murphy (in the Chair) Julie Berry Professor Abigail Gregory Kay Hack Catherine Hill Helen Keegan Debra Leighton Janet Lloyd Jasmine Pokuaa Alex Thorp Professor Allan Walker Stewart Smith-Langridge (Secretary) Apologies for absence were received from Dr Janice Allan, Professor Yiu Lam, Professor Helen Marshall, Marina Parha and Linda Tompkins. In attendance: Doug Bett (for minute LTEC only) Nick Croft (for minute LTEC only) Sam Grogan, Dean of Students Helen Hemaya, Head of Student Data and Systems, Student Administration Michelle Livesey, Deputy Chief Executive, USSU Sarah Mulholland, Associate Director: Student Support, Student Life LTEC Chair In the absence of the Chair it was agreed that Professor Gai Murphy chair the meeting. LTEC Membership It was reported that Professor Tony Warne had been appointed as a member of the Committee to fill a vacancy for a member of academic staff from the College of Health and Social Care. Professor Warne was welcomed to his first meeting of the Committee. The acting Chair also welcomed the newly appointed Dean of Students who was in attendance for this meeting and would become a member from the next meeting. LTEC Minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2014 (LTEC/14/) The minutes of the meeting of the Committee on 9 April 2014 were confirmed as a correct record. LTEC Matters arising from the Minutes 1. Boards of Examiners: Office of Fair Trading (OFT) advice on non-tuition fee student debt Arising from minute LTEC.14.19/3, it was reported that the Chair had taken action as authorised to approve an amended version of Appendix 4 to Boards of Examiners for All Taught Programmes. The amended document had since been published online as part of the Academic Handbook. 2. Revision of Terms of Reference and Membership Arising from minute LTEC.14.21, it was reported that Senate, on the recommendation of AAGC, had approved the revised terms of reference and membership of LTEC with effect from 2014/15, to include the ex officio membership of the Dean of Students and the removal of the provision for an 1

2 appointed Associate Dean (Engagement). Senate had also approved the establishment of the Academic Regulations Standing Group. 3. Programme Monitoring and Enhancement Procedure (PMEP) Arising from minute LTEC it was reported that Senate had approved the Programme Monitoring and Enhancement Procedure (PMEP) to replace the APME procedure with effect from 2014/15 for non-collaborative programmes and with effect from 2015/16 for applicable collaborative programmes. The acting Chair indicated that the aspiration for the PMEP pilot had been that the action logs would be online, giving benefits of increased accessibility and flexibility. One preferred option was to use the cloud-based software TeamWorkPM. However, ITS had not approved this and had been unable to provide resources to consider an alternative. In the absence of ITS support for an online system Programme Leaders would have to use an Excel spreadsheet template. This would still be a substantial improvement on the previous APME, but not deliver the accessibility and flexibility of an online system. Further discussion of management responses to issues raised through the Annual Programme Monitoring and Enhancement procedure would be held under a later agenda item (minute LTEC refers). 4. Observation of Teaching Arising from minute LTEC it was reported that Senate had endorsed the External Evaluator s recommendations and noted LTEC s further resolutions with regard to the development of an Observation of Teaching Policy for implementation in 2014/15. The acting Chair advised members that progress was being made on the articulation of a policy in this regard. In response to questions from a member it was indicated that the observation process proposed was not bureaucratically onerous and should not impact on workload balancing allocations. 5. Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes 2014/15 Arising from minute LTEC members were informed that Senate had approved changes to the Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes for 2014/15 as recommended by LTEC. The Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes 2014/15 had been published online and distributed widely within the University, including to all academic staff. The 2014/15 Regulations included changes approved to the 2013/14 Regulations at a special meeting of Senate on 22 April 2014, making provision for Senate to authorise Emergency Regulations which might apply for a specified period if the University, because of exceptional circumstances beyond its reasonable control, was unable to apply the relevant approved Regulations. The Committee was reminded that briefing sessions on changes to the Regulations were being held over the next three weeks and members were encouraged to ensure their colleagues were signing up to these development opportunities. 6. Pearson Arising from minute LTEC.14.27, the Annual Institutional Review Report had been submitted to Pearson. LTEC Chair s Action: Approval of Specific Exception to Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes (ARTP) It was reported that the Chair had taken action on behalf of the Committee to approve the following specific exceptions to the Academic Regulations.

3 Ref School Exception summary Expiry date 148 SBS Regulation Progression to Masters project stage with 90 PgDip credits for two SBS students 149 ELS Regulation Progression to Masters project stage with 60 PgDip credits for two ELS students September 2014 September 2014 LTEC Management responses to operational issues arising from Annual Programme Monitoring and Enhancement 2012/13 (LTEC/14/26) The Committee received a paper from the Secretary providing management responses to issues raised through the APME procedure and referred by Colleges for a response at institutional level. At the time of the paper s distribution a response remained outstanding in respect of one issue (CST9) referred to Student Administration and the following statement had since been submitted by the Head of Customer Service: As part of the Detailed Business Requirements for September 2014, a request has been submitted to ITS for development of a page within the online registration system to enable the University to capture a new student s HQ on entry. In addition to this, further data fields are requested so that students are able to submit additional qualifications, addressing the requirement for representation of these tariff points within programme league tables. Members considered that the responses from service or process managers demonstrated some progress on key, recurring issues, e.g. by Student Administration in respect of the complex timetabling project. However, the formal responses to some other issues, such as those referred to ITS or Estates, provided little or no progress towards a resolution of the issues continuing to affect programmes and, ultimately, students. It was possible that services had misconstrued the point of an issue being referred. For example a CST issue had not objected to the deployment of open plan offices but had asked for a review of their effectiveness, given the impact on working practices of academic staff and the consequences for students. Members representative of Colleges acknowledged that the overall message being fed back to programme teams by these responses would be perceived as frustrating, if not negative, given the limited extent to which their issues were being acknowledged or supported through to resolution. It was considered that priority issues remaining unresolved should be escalated for further management action. With reference to the future removal of the College layer, it was pointed out that the Colleges were currently under-resourced in respect of support for Learning and Teaching activities. While the Head of Academic Development reported that she was leading on the establishment from September 2014 of a Quality Office which would combine central academic governance and College L&T resources, it was considered that the continuing vacancy for a College L&T Manager threatened to undermine the University s business operation in respect of imminent academic developments and had been escalated as a risk in the Salford Business School. With reference to issue CHSC5 a member queried whether the PTES survey used for PGT students in place of the SUPLE made provision for tailored questions about the experience of international students. In response the Dean of Students reported that he was leading a Student Survey Group which would be meeting soon to review the range of student surveys operated by the University with a view to ensuring an appropriate coverage of issues. Arising from its discussion it was agreed that the ADAs collectively refer to the Deputy Vice Chancellor those management responses to APME issues provided in the paper which merited a review at senior management level, given the continuation of issues likely to impact on the student experience.

4 LTEC Overview of the Annual Programme Monitoring and Enhancement (APME) Reports and the Minutes of the Joint Boards of Study (JBoS) for Programmes Delivered through Affiliated Collaborative Provision 2012/2013 (LTEC/14/27) The Committee received for information an overview of APME reports and JBoS minutes for collaborative provision programmes delivered through affiliation. The paper had previously been considered by APPC and an extract from the relevant APPC minutes was also provided. LTEC USSU Student Experience Reports: Semester 1, 2013/14 (LTEC/14/28, LTEC/14/28A. LTEC/14/28B and LTEC/14/28C) The Committee received a paper which provided the USSU Student Experience Reports for Semester 1, 2013/14. The student members in attendance presented the reports which they had authored and summarised the recommendations contained therein. During discussion the Committee noted the following points: The Dean of Students would coordinate an institutional approach to action planning in response to issues raised in the Semester 1 reports. In view of the fact that Semester 2 reports were imminent, if not already available, it was considered that responses to both semesters reports should be developed simultaneously to ensure optimal currency of action plans. The table in each report relating to USSU Advice Centre cases by School contained data errors and a corrected table was provided to members at the meeting (LTEC/14/28D). The corrected data did not impact on the overall commentary or recommendations. USSU officers monitored student comment on relevant Facebook accounts in order to be aware of emerging issues. It was acknowledged that students were increasingly likely to post comments on Twitter rather than Facebook. Some members were aware that an institutional policy on Social Media was in development. The view was expressed that staff and students should be supported in adopting new technologies by way of promoting and empowering their digital citizenship. It was agreed that the Committee receive the USSU Semester 2 reports at its next meeting, together with an institutional action plan in response to issues raised. LTEC Schedule of Review for the Academic Handbook and QAA Quality Code Chapters (LTEC/14/29) The Committee received a paper previously endorsed by the ADA Forum which proposed a schedule of periodic reviews of policies and procedures collated within the Academic Handbook, such reviews to be informed by a mapping of University practice against expectations and indicators of sound practice published within the QAA Quality Code. The Committee agreed: i) to approve the schedule of review ii) to request the ADA Forum to identify academics to lead those reviews scheduled for 2014/15. LTEC Reading List Policy Changes (LTEC/14/30 and LTEC/14/30A) The Committee received a paper from the Associate University Librarian proposing changes to the Reading List Policy, with particular regard to: an increase in the maximum number of core items added to a reading list from 5 to 15 and further items from 10 to 25 (subject to the retention of an exception for English, Politics and Contemporary History and Sociology)

5 a change in the purchasing formula used by the library has been changed to facilitate the provision of more copies of core texts the removal of the expected to purchase section from LASU; academic staff should recommend items for students to purchase through an annotation on the reading list more flexibility in the use of section headings in online reading lists once LASU has been replaced The Library had consulted with academic staff and students on the changes. Whilst CST would have preferred to maintain the status quo it was acknowledged that the College did not have to increase the actual number of texts listed. In response to a query regarding the deadline for updating reading lists for modules operating in Semester 3, it was confirmed that the Library would operate with flexibility, with particular regard to modules commencing mid-semester, provided there remained sufficient time to purchase stock and ensure its availability to students. It was agreed to approve the changes to the Reading List Policy as outlined in the paper. LTEC Variation of agenda It was agreed that agenda items 12 and 13 be considered before item 11. LTEC Update of English Language and CAS Requirements (LTEC/14/32) The Committee received a paper from the Senior Recruitment Officer notifying members of Home Office changes to its Secure English Language Test (SELT) requirements and proposing minor amendments to the vouch list of (non-selt) English language qualifications deemed by the University to satisfy Home Office standards for Tier 4 student visas. The updated vouch list was appended for information. Members were informed that a recent UKVI audit of the University s arrangements had granted broad approval of its English language requirements. With reference to the paper s indication that English for Academic Purposes (EAP) provision was currently constrained, members acknowledged that resources constraints had limited the level of EAP support available for some time. It was agreed: i) to approve the amendments and additions to the English language admission and CAS arrangements as detailed in the paper; ii) to request the Deputy VC, in liaison with the Registrar, to clarify whether plans for future provision of EAP provided for an increase in capacity. LTEC Review of the impact on degree classification of recent changes to academic regulations (LTEC/14/33) The Committee received a paper from the Planning Manager analysing the impact of approved changes to Honours degree programme mark calculation on student data from 2012/13 in response to a request from the Committee at its meeting in January The analysis, which excluded approximately 1000 students who did not present 120 credits at both levels 5 and 6, provided for a 6.1% increase in the proportion of students attaining a first class degree and a 4.1% increase in the proportion of students attaining a good degree. During discussion the Committee noted the following points: The excluded students with a non-standard profile were more likely to have programme marks determined by the non-standard method which was less likely to show any increase, thereby reducing the overall impact across the whole cohort. The analysis could not take account of any behavioural changes in students arising from the introduction of new Regulations from 1 October 2014.

6 It would be desirable to develop an online degree classification calculator to help students understand their likely qualification outcome. The Academic Regulations Standing Group would be expected to review the impact of significant changes to the Regulations after a period of implementation. Any improvement in the profile of degree classifications was likely to impact on the availability and cost of bursaries for PGT programmes and this should be considered by the relevant group. Arising from its discussions the Committee agreed to refer the paper to the Fees Advisory Group and the Academic Regulations Standing Group for information and consideration as appropriate. LTEC Response to QAA Consultation on UK Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications (LTEC/14/31 and LTEC/14/31A*) The ADA, CST presented a paper providing a draft institutional response to a QAA consultation document on UK Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications. QAA was consulting on an updated and revised version of the UK frameworks for higher education qualifications, which were formal components of Part A: Setting and maintaining academic standards of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education. The frameworks - The framework for higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ) and the framework for qualifications of higher education institutions in Scotland (FQHEIS) - provided important reference points for higher education providers, assisting them in setting and maintaining academic standards, and the QAA sought to bring the two frameworks together into a single publication. Members recognised that the alignment of the two frameworks was complex and the consultation document presented a challenge to HE professionals in this regard. The alignment was therefore less likely to be understood by wider stakeholders such as employers and prospective students. The Committee agreed to approve the draft response for submission to the QAA by the deadline of 27 June LTEC We Care: Policy for students with caring responsibilities (LTEC/14/34) The Associate Director: Student Support presented a paper proposing a policy to provide support for students with caring responsibilities. During discussion the following points were noted: The policy was not intended to provide additional support for students with normal parental responsibilities, nor for those persons designated as primary carers and therefore not permitted to take up study or other employment. The development of a Carer Support Plan depended on students registering their caring responsibilities with the Student Life Carer Co-ordinator. Provisions of the policy were intended to align with those relating to Student Support Plans for students with a disability. In this regard members advised that the provision in the Carer Support Plan template for a two-week extension to coursework deadlines should be removed to ensure consistency with SSP practice. Members sought assurance that there would be robust requirements for verifying independent evidence akin to PMC evidence requirements. Members recognised that further work might be required to provide guidance on carer support for students on placement, particularly where there were PSRB requirements for attendance, and for students whose programmes featured field trips or other residential requirements including international visits. It was acknowledged that there were wider placement issues, i.e. to ensure that all students were provided with a placement that they could reasonably undertake. Support should be restricted to students whose caring responsibilities were limited to the UK.

7 The policy should make clear how students with a Carer Support Plan would be identifiable in the Student Information System. Arising from its discussions the Committee agreed to approve the We Care policy for students with caring responsibilities, subject to its amendment to take appropriate account of the points raised by the Committee. LTEC Committee Evaluation 2013/14 Member Questionnaire (LTEC/14/35) Members were invited to complete a questionnaire to evaluate the operation of the Committee during 2013/14. The responses would contribute to an evaluation to be presented to the Committee at its next meeting. LTEC Teach-Out of HULSS Programmes (Semester 1, 2013/14) (LTEC/14/36) The Committee received for information a paper providing an update as at January 2014 regarding the teach-out of withdrawn programmes located in the School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences. The report covering semester 1 of the 2013/14 session had been prepared by the former AHA and considered by the School Executive and staff-student committee. Its submission to LTEC had been delayed pending clarification, in April 2014, of the situation regarding modern languages programmes. LTEC HE Publication Update Members were updated on recent publications as follows: 1 HEPI / HEA 2014 Student Academic Experience Survey The Higher Education Policy Institute / Higher Education Academy 2014 Student Academic Experience Survey revealed the overall wellbeing of students, as well as on the experience of students at English institutions paying 9,000 fees. The latest annual survey had been published at the HEPI / HEA Spring Conference on 21 May 2014 and was available online in complete and summary formats at 2 University Alliance report: How do we ensure quality in an expanding higher education system? A report from the University Alliance considered what kind of quality assurance system was going to be fit for this more complex new world of expanding higher education. Quality assurance did, and should, sit within a broader framework for regulation of providers. The report, which set out nine recommendations for the future of the quality assurance system in England, was available online at 3 BIS Research Paper 169: Improving the student learning experience BIS had published the results of a survey of higher education institutions in England giving a sector-wide view of how institutions are improving student learning opportunities in an environment of higher education reform. The evidence pointed to widespread changes reported by both managers and student representatives. This included what could be considered a culture shift among higher education institutions towards increasingly putting the students at the centre of what the institution does and how decisions are made. The report was available online at

8 LTEC Date of meetings 2014/15 and 2015/16 Next meeting was Wednesday 8 October 2014 at 2.00 p.m. This was a change from the previously scheduled date (1 October 2014). The full schedule of LTEC meetings for 2014/15 and 2015/16 was as follows: 8 October November January March June September November February April June 2016 LTEC Student Members of the Committee The acting Chair noted that the USSU Vice President for CHSC would cease to be a member of the Committee from 1 July 2014 and would be replaced by the Vice President for CASS. Jasmine was thanked for her contribution to the work of the Committee during 2013/14.