Confirmed ACADEMIC FRAMEWORK AND REGULATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE

Transcription

1 Confirmed ACADEMIC FRAMEWORK AND REGULATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting of the University Academic Framework and Regulations Sub- Committee held on Thursday 14 th November 2013 at 2.00 p.m. in room MX210, City Campus Present Name Present Deputy Mr Paul Travill (Chair) Mr Don Adamson (FA) Ms Helen Ashdown (FSE) Dr Kay Biscomb (FA) Ms Tracey Cherrington (Head of Programmes) Ms Samantha Chilton (Functional Officer, Assessments) Ms Karen Clarke (FEHaW) Ms Rishma Dattani (International Centre) Prof Kit Field (Head, CAP) Mr Steve Grady (FSS) X Ms Ros Hampton (Head, Conduct and Appeals Unit) Prof Chris Hockings (Research Hub) A Ms Gina Masters (Assistant Registrar, Student X Management) Ms Cathy Shaw (Assistant Registrar, Quality) Ms Janice Stanton (ASQ Officer) Ms Gaby Steinke (FSS) Dr Megan Thomas (FEHaW) Ms Helen Williams (UWSU) A = Present A = Apologies X = Absent AFRSC13/01 AFRSC 13/02 Apologies As recorded above Membership and Terms of Reference The committee received for approval the committee Terms of Reference and membership for academic year 2013/14. The Chair advised that membership of the committee may change over the academic year as the University moves over to the new faculty structure. However for continuity, the Deans of Faculty had indicated that they would prefer to retain the existing membership until the entire faculty staff was in post. There was some discussion around the existing Terms of Reference and it was agreed that these should be amended to explicitly include Research Degrees and make reference to adherence to the UK Quality Code for Higher Education. Ms Shaw informed the committee that she would look at the TOR outside of the meeting and revise them in-line with the points raised in the discussion. Ms Cathy Shaw to revise the Terms of Reference to reflect the points identified and agreed by the committee for inclusion.

2 AFRSC13/03 AFRSC 13/04 Chair s Business There were four items of other business identified. Three of these were late exemption requests and dealt with under agenda item 13/06.1. The final item is reported under agenda item 13/09. Minutes and Matters Arising The committee received and approved the minutes from the meeting of 9 th May Matters arising from the minutes. The Chair reported that proposed revisions to the Research Regulations had been received at Academic Board on 11 th November These included changes to allow students to register directly for a PhD rather than an MPhil and the introduction of a pre-research course for students still working up their proposal. Academic Board had requested some further minor amendments to the Regulations before final approval was granted. The Chair advised that he would circulate a copy of the updated Research Regulations and also the Professional Doctorate Regulations as these had been amended to align with the new Research Regulations. Mr Paul Travill to circulate to the membership for information, a copy of the revised Research and Professional Doctorate Regulations. The proposed revisions to the University Academic Calendar were to be received at CMT on Monday 18 th November These include a later start date for Undergraduate courses and alignment with Postgraduate provision. AFRSC13/05 New University Titles No requests for the introduction of new University titles had been received for consideration by the committee. However, the Chair noted that on the exemption request received from SAD it indicated that they planned to validate an Integrated Masters course with an award title of MDes. This was currently not an approved title. If SAD wished to proceed with the MDes then this would need approval form Academic Board before it was added to the University By- Laws. AFRSC13/06 Exemptions from the University Regulations 13/06.1 The committee received for ratification, requests approved by Chairs. These were endorsed by the committee. 13/06.2 The committee received for consideration the following exemption requests: SHaW BA (Hons) Social Work Section B.5.1 Entry with Advanced Standing. No students will be permitted to enter the course with advanced standing, as all modules relate to practice and must be studied and passed. Section A.3.1 Module Framework. Exemption to permit the credit value of practice modules as: 5SO003 Practice Learning = 40 credits custom module, to run from September to April to allow for full time placement. 6SO0023 Social Work Placement 60 credits (Designated as Project Module) 2

3 Academic Framework: Module 5SC004 will be a custom module running from September to end of April to allow for full time placement Section D.3 Failure and Compensation. Students found guilty of academic misconduct in their final year will be found to have failed the course. There will be no right to re-assessment, or re-take of the module. Deferred pending further information from HPC. The Head of the Conduct and Appeals Unit informed the committee that she had concerns regarding the approval of this request. The University had a policy for dealing with cases of academic misconduct that applied penalties according to the category of the offence. All proven cases of academic misconduct incurred a penalty, but what was not judged during an academic misconduct hearing was intent. The supporting evidence provided by the School was a link to the HPC website where details of professional standards and conduct are shown. This had been checked, but the statement around this matter was inconclusive. It was agreed that the issue of what constitutes very serious circumstances should be explored further with the HPC during their accreditation visit later in November. The information from this meeting would then be looked at in conjunction with current University policy, to inform a decision on this request. Until this time the exemption would be deferred. Ms Hampton to provide to the course team, a list of the University categories of academic misconduct for forwarding on to the HPC for comment. SHaW MA Social Work Section P.2.1The Admission of Students. Entry requirements to the course will be a minimum of a Bachelors Honours Degree at 2:1. Section P.3.5 Entry with Advanced Standing. No students will be permitted to enter the course with advanced standing, as all modules relate to practice and must be studied and passed. Section D.3 Failure and Compensation. Students found guilty of academic misconduct in their final year of the course will be found to have failed the course. There will be no right to re-assessment, or re-take of the module. Deferred awaiting further information from HPC. SAD Proposed Integrated Masters Courses. Section A.2.4 Differentiation of courses offering specialist options. Permission to include two shell modules at level 7 on all proposed Integrated Masters courses. These modules, Exploring Practice and Realising Practice will utilise the same title and module code, but the content will differ depending on the subject specialisation. The learning outcomes of the modules and assessment regime would remain the same across the iterations. AFRSC13/07 Other Regulatory Matters 13/07.1 The Chair opened a discussion on proposed amendments to Integrated Master Degree Regulations, including: Addition of (Hons) to Integrated Master Award titles; 3

4 Removal of the entry requirement of 2:2 for progression to level 7 for non-psrb regulated courses; The regulatory principles around the top-up of Integrated Masters to a full Masters award by completion of a 60 credit dissertation. The Integrated Masters Regulations had originally been written around the MPharm course and then standardised with the introduction of MEng awards. As the majority of these courses had professional body involvement, the requirement of a 2:2 to progress to level 7 had been included to satisfy their professional standards. With the introduction of further Integrated Masters courses that had no professional body requirements, it was being proposed to remove this criterion from the Academic Regulations. The committee discussed the merits of keeping this criterion, feeling that the jump from level 6 to level 7 was too large for those students who had struggled at lower levels. However, they concluded that students should be given the opportunity to proceed to Masters level if they had enrolled for a four year course. The committee recommended the removal of the 2:2 progression rule and the addition of Hons to the Integrated Masters awards. The Chair advised that the Faculties developing new Integrated Masters had expressed a desire for students to be given the opportunity to top-up to a full Masters award by completion of a 60 credit project. Currently the Academic Regulations (Section W) permitted students to top-up to a generic Masters title, but students had to have a gap in study of one academic year. The committee recommended that students who wished to continue on to a full Masters award should be allowed to do so without the gap in study. However, there should be a requirement that students have to undertake a research module before starting the dissertation. Mr Paul Travill to prepare a draft update of the Integrated Masters and Top-up Masters Regulations and circulate to members of the committee for comment. 13/07.2 The Chair reported that UQEC had requested the committee consider proposals for the removal of the entry requirement of a Bachelors Degree with a minimum classification of 2:2 for students enrolling on Masters Awards. The committee discussed this proposal at length, concluding that the requirement of a 2:2 classification was very much dependent on the individual Masters course. For some subject areas this was a professional body requirement, but in other disciplines students without the necessary academic qualifications could undertake a pre-masters course. It was agreed that before making a recommendation, further investigation was needed to ascertain what other similar HE institutions accept as Masters entry requirements. 13/07.3 The Chair advised that the University was to review the current Degree Algorithm to ensure that it was still in-line with the Sector, particularly around the number of first class Degrees awarded. He reported that this work would be undertaken by a member of the Registry team and as a starting point they would be looking at the algorithm used by similar institutions. He suggested that this project could be done together with the investigation of Masters entry criteria discussed earlier. The Committee supported the Chair s proposal to take this work forward. 4

5 Mr Paul Travill to initiate a review of the Degree Algorithm and an investigation into Masters entry criteria used in similar HE institutions. A progress report on both of these issues to be received at the next meeting in February. 13/07.4 The Chair reported that a small number of HND students with UWBS had been allowed to progress onto a top-up Bachelor Degree trailing 20 credits. This decision had been taken because students in a similar position on a Degree course were allowed to progress from level 5 to level 6, trailing 20 credits. At present, this action was considered as a pilot and the achievement of those students affected would be monitored. However, the Chair asked the committee to consider if this should be permitted in future years and if the Regulations should be amended to accommodate this. The committee were in agreement that in order to ensure parity in treatment around student progression, the home HND students should be given the opportunity to progress on to a top-up Bachelor Degree trailing 20 credits. However, these students must re-take the failed HND module at the earliest opportunity. AFRSC 13/08 AFRSC13/09 Mr Paul Travill to draft an update to the Academic Regulations to permit HND students to progress to a top-up Bachelor Degree trailing 20 credits. Academic Framework Matters None Any Other Business The committee were informed that there had been a change in government policy in Malaysia that will impact on all University courses delivered from this point forward. The Malaysian Quality Agency (MQA) had identified a set of common requirements that all graduates studying in-country must complete as part of their degree. These MPU modules were to be studied in addition to the normal 360 credits and had to be passed before a student could be considered as completing the course. The grading of these additional modules was on a pass/fail basis and would not be included in the degree classification. Proposals were put forward that these additional modules should be recorded on SITS, but carry no credit value. Partner staff would be permitted to enter a pass/fail grade on the system and the results would be included on the student s transcript. The award calculation would be amended to include these modules, but they would not be included in the final degree classification. The committee supported these proposals and agreed that this process was recommended for implementation. AFRSC13/10 Date of next meeting The next meeting of AFRSC has been scheduled for Thursday 13 th February 2014 at 2.00 p.m. in room MX210. 5