UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
College of Arts Management Group
Minute of Meeting held on Thursday 19 June 2014 in
the Meeting Room (204), 6 University Gardens
Present:
Professor M Pittock (Convenor); Professor D Broun; Professor K Crameri; Dr J Huggett; Professor A
Jenkins; Professor K Lury; Dr C Martin; Professor R Ó Maolalaigh; Professor N Pearce; Dr F Rowan;
Ms G Shaw; Professor JJ Smith; Ms V Stringfellow
Apologies:
Miss L Broe; Dr B Burns; Dr K McCue
Attending:
Ms J Henderson (for ACMG/2013/107)
ACMG/2013/107
Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities
Ms Henderson attended the meeting to give an update on the newly formed Scottish Graduate School
for Arts & Humanities. The School was currently made up of 8 doctoral training partner institutes,
with 4 other institutions as ‘members’, and 5 further potential members. Most of the staff were now in
place, however a Financial Analyst and KE Impact Officer were yet to be appointed.
A planning session had taken place earlier in the week in readiness for the start of next session. An
initial training programme was being developed, and some visits to partner institutions organised to
discuss the possibility of sharing initiatives and co-working. A corporate identity launch event was
planned for September.
SGSAH had made 54 offers of AHRC DTP scholarships, 52 of which had been accepted. Glasgow
had been successful in securing 19 of these awards, an outstanding result.
The Convenor reported that the Dean of SGSAH would in future receive CMG papers and would be
invited to attend meetings when required. The Director, Ms Henderson, would deputise in Professor
Heddon’s absence.
ACMG/2013/108
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 29 May 2014
The minutes of the meeting of Thursday 29 May 2014 were received and approved subject to minor
amendment to ACMG/2013/93.01.
‘Bicola Barratt-Crane of the DAO was thanked for her help in securing this funding’ should be
amended to ‘Bicola Barratt-Crane and the DAO team were thanked for their help in securing this
funding’.
ACMG/2013/109
Matters Arising
ACMG.2013/109.01
Estates/Campus Vision (ACMG.2012/89)
Dr Martin and Miss Broe were working on a College co-location business plan, and the 100word summary had been now been submitted. A meeting would be held the following week
with the Assistant Director of Estates to take matters forward. Schools and HoSAs would
be feeding back School views and needs into the plan while it was in preparation.
Professor Lury had met with the Assistant Director of Estates to discuss plans for a Research
hub. Professor Jenkins reported that no progress had been made yet on discussions for a
Learning & Teaching hub.
ACMG.2013/109.02
RIO Deloitte Review (ACMG.2012/91)
Dr Martin spoke to a paper detailing proposals for pricing/fee setting for 2015/16 which had
been submitted previously to SMG. The paper recommended a revised approach to fee
setting, the level of fees for 2015 entry and scholarship provision for 2015 entry, and provided
benchmarking data for international and home fees compared to the Russell Group and other
Scottish Universities. A number of areas had been flagged where the University could
consider increasing fees to match, or in some cases exceed, the Russell Group average or
Edinburgh’s current position. CMG noted some concern and a degree of scepticism in regard
to fees being increased to a level exceeding the Russell Group average.
ACMG.2013/109.03
Dean Vacancy (ACMG.2012/92.05)
The Convenor was pleased to announce that Dr Don Spaeth had been appointed as Dean of
Learning & Teaching with effect from 1 August 2014.
ACMG.2013/109.04
HESA Reporting (ACMG.2012/98.04)
Dr Martin confirmed the deadline for HESA reporting as 31 July. Staff data would shortly be
sent to HoSAs for checking. Staff could be returned under several cost centres if Schools
choose to do so, however there was not thought to be merit in this approach.
ACMG/2013/110
Convenor’s Business
ACMG.2013/110.01
CMG Away Day
The Convenor thanked everyone for their input to the recent CMG Away Day, and for the
very interesting presentations. The first draft of the College Plan would be submitted to the
September meeting of CMG.
ACMG.2013/110.02
HATII Review
The Convenor reminded CMG that the HATII Review would take place on 1-2 July.
ACMG/2013/110.03
Leadership Positions
A number of suggestions had been received from the School of Humanities. Colleagues were
reminded that nominees must currently be holding grants which could be transferred to
Glasgow. Final suggestions should be sent to the Convenor by the beginning of July,
following which a list would be sent to CMG for ranking purposes.
ACMG/2013/111
Research
ACMG/2013/111.01
Centres
Since 2010, the University had been working to formalise Centres and research networks. As a
result, it had created an application process by which previously established or new Centres
made a formal application to RPSC via a 5 year business plan. Each year, Centres with
business plans were required to provide yearly reports on progress to College Research Office.
Guidance on Centres could be found on RSIO pages at:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_185779_en.pdf
The College currently had 7 Centres, with an additional 5 pending/under development
(business plans would be circulated to CMG).
The Research Office envisaged a College Centre Development Strategy for existing and new
College Centres which would:
o encourage the ambitious development of Centre grant applications via one-one
meetings and Arts Lab seminars ;
o review current centre activities and work with Centre Directors to map key themes
which could be parlayed into research applications/ future College research strategies;
o create a Working Group which would meet twice a semester to bring together Centre
Directors to discuss current initiatives and future plans;
o explore how co-location may help/hinder current and future Centres; and
o work with Centres to develop bespoke KE and Impact plans.
Centres needed to be woven directly into the future Research strategy of the College. As such,
they should be made responsible for distinct grant capture, impact and KE KPIs.
Professor Lury and Miss Theunissen would be meeting with Centre Directors over the
summer to discuss current and future activities. Plans of seminars/events for Centres would be
completed and should be rolled out over the summer. Work on outstanding Centre
applications which would go to RPSC in autumn 2014 would also be finished over the
summer months. CMG members were asked to provide feedback on this draft strategy over
the summer.
ACMG/2013/111.02
CDAs
Seven CDA applications had been received to date. Professor Lury would review these and
liaise with Dr Burns to agree which applications should be put forward.
ACMG/2013/111.03
Leverhulme Studentships
Professor Lury had requested some additional information from Heads of Schools prior to
submitting the draft to Professor Beaumont by the end of June.
ACMG/2013/111.04
Transforming Research Management
Work on the Transforming Research Management project was ongoing, with some progress
having been made on personnel support. Colleagues should be encouraged to attend a demo
of the system.
ACMG/2013/111.05
Research Leave
The meeting to review Research Leave applications would take place the following week.
ACMG/2013/112
Schools’ Business
ACMG/2013/112.01
SMLC
ACMG/2013/112.01.01 Recommendations arising from Review of MFL Unit
Professor Crameri reported that a project team had conducted a first stage review of
the MFL Unit to consider how the Unit might be developed in terms of activities and
the services it provided, and which could be utilised to support the aims of SMLC and
which was financially viable. The project team developed a number of options which
were subsequently considered by a steering group chaired by the Head of School. The
appropriate Trades Unions were kept informed of progress.
The steering group considered a number of options put forward by the project team:
-
Commercial outward-facing expansion
Teaching focus – credit bearing only
Teaching focus – credit bearing plus a narrow range of non-credit bearing
Teaching focus – credit bearing plus a full range of non-credit bearing
Teaching focus plus a limited amount of other activity (including translation)
Translation as a separate activity
Following due consideration by the steering group, it recommended the credit-bearing
only option, combined with retaining an ability to respond to commercial approaches
that offer sufficient return for the effort and risk involved.
CMG considered the following recommendations as set out in Professor Crameri’s
paper:
- The core mission for Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) should be to focus on high
quality University-facing teaching, within a financially viable model.
- There should be an expansion in the provision of credit-bearing courses within a
strong quality assurance framework, with the current offering of four International
Mobility languages being increased to eight from September 2014, and further
increases in subsequent years if justified by potential student numbers.
- This provision should be integrated as far as possible into SMLC structures, for
maximum cost-efficiency.
- Students whose needs are not met by the International Mobility classes should be
guided towards language courses offered by Open Studies.
- Commercial expansion is not a realistic proposition and would not justify the
necessary investment; more than this, SMLC should cease offering an on-demand
translation and interpreting service.
- However, capability should be retained to respond to attractive commercial requests
for services (such as tailor-made language classes, private tuition and significant
pieces of translation), when this can be shown to be sufficiently profitable.
The recommendations were agreed in principle by CMG, subject to resolution of the
following:



Arrangements for managing commercial opportunities – Dr Rowan to
comment and advise on a possible strategy.
Agreement on how Arabic and Japanese would be integrated into PG
programmes
Any resulting staffing issues to be addressed.
The proposal would be brought back to the September meeting of CMG.
Action: KC
ACMG/2013/112.01.02 Staffing
Professor Crameri was pleased to report that the School had recently appointed Dr
Hongling Liang as Lecturer in Mandarin from NUI Maynooth.
ACMG/2013/113
Learning & Teaching
ACMG/2013/113.01
UG Admissions Forecast
Professor Jenkins presented a table showing the Undergraduate admissions forecast post-5
June, which was the deadline for all applicants to accept offers. The College was currently
c.50 under target for Home/EU intake and c.50 over target for RUK intake. Conversion
activity would continue over the summer, including a phone bank operation.
ACMG/2013/113.02
L&T Proposals
Professor Jenkins presented a paper detailing a number of proposals discussed at the recent
CMG Away Day:
ACMG/2013/113.02.01 Credit Standardisation
The proposal was to agree on Honours course standardisation at either 20 credits (with
multiples) or 30 credits (with multiples), and a feasible timescale for working towards
introduction for Junior Honours.
CMG approved standardisation at 20 credits (with multiples) by the beginning of
session 2016/17, and complete implementation by the beginning of session 2017/18.
Action: AJ
ACMG/2013/113.02.02 Systematic Diversification
In many subject areas in Arts, it was possible for a student to go through an entire
degree programme without being summatively assessed except by essay, exam and/or
presentation.
It was proposed that Schools review and modernise Honours
assessment regimes to decisively increase the proportion of courses involving:
a. summatively assessed presentation;
b. summatively assessed reflective work;
c. work placements;
d. summative assessment other than essay and exam.
CMG approved the proposal in principle, however asked that subject level statistics be
brought to the September CMG meeting for further consideration.
Action: AJ
ACMG/2013/113.02.03 Levels 1 and 2
The proposal was to agree a target for each School to develop at least one new Level 1
course which would be accepted as part of the pre-Honours route for more than one
subject area; for College to offer at least 40 credits of skills training for students in
Level 2; and for subject areas to reduce their Honours requirements from 4 to 3 preHonours courses.
CMG noted that this would not work for all subjects, eg Gaelic Language, and asked
for optional models to be brought back to the September meeting of CMG for further
discussion.
Action: AJ
ACMG/2013/113.02.04 Dissertations
The degree regulations for MA Honours include the requirement that to be eligible for
the award of an Honours degree, the candidate must have achieved a grade D3 or
better for a piece of independent work worth at least 20 credits. The University’s
policy on Independent Work in Undergraduate Degree Programmes states that
‘independent work can be a project or piece of research culminating in a written report
or dissertation’. At present, most of the dissertation opportunities available to our
Honours students take the form of mini-research projects, which is does not
necessarily meet the needs of students not intending to go on to postgraduate study.
The proposal was that Schools work with a Creative Placements Officer to develop a
selection of dissertation opportunities embedded in internal or external partners,
including Special Collections and Archives, Glasgow Life, and others; and to set a
target for each subject area to introduce a model of ‘independent work’ which is
aimed at a non-academic audience (Writing for the World).
CMG agreed this proposal to be implemented by 2015/16, and asked Schools to
provide subject area plans.
Action: AJ/Heads of School
ACMG/2013/113.02.05 Research-Teaching Linkages
This item focused on introducing our undergraduates better into our research cultures
and integrating teaching with the KE and Impact agendas:
The proposal was to allow Centres, Networks and/or analogous structures to offer
undergraduate courses and generate FTE income; and to develop 2-3 pilots of
clustering undergraduate dissertations in research-themed groups, to complement and
interact with existing large-scale research projects in Schools.
CMG asked that appropriate information be drawn together prior to setting
benchmarks, and that this be brought back to CMG for further discussion before the
Christmas break.
Action: AJ
ACMG/2013/113.02.06 Exduction
With a view to using credit-bearing activities in Senior Honours to improve the bridge
to the rest of the students’ lives, this proposal was to develop 3-4 more College-wide
Senior Honours courses aimed at helping students gain experience and knowledge
relevant to the most popular Arts student careers: eg. publishing/media/PR/arts
administration; and to set a target for each subject area to offer at least one course
available to Senior Honours students which is summatively assessed by activities
directly relevant to employability and graduate attributes, eg. presentations and
writing for non-academic audiences.
CMG asked that existing examples of good practice pre-implementation be collated
and brought back to CMG before the Christmas break for further discussion.
Action: AJ
Professor Jenkins would brief the new Dean of L&T, Dr Spaeth, regarding the actions
to be taken forward.
Action: AJ
ACMG/2013/113.03
Advising in the College
Dr Huggett reported that a sub-group of CMG had met to discuss the options for advising in
the College; this item had been deferred at the May meeting of CMG.
The College of Arts continued to operate the traditional pre-Burrows advising model, with a
small team of around 30 advisers who remain in receipt of an honorarium. The typical
advising load remained a 1:120+ adviser:advisee ratio or more, with some advisers having
multiple loads. The advising team was currently supported by one administrator (approx. 0.5
FTE but flexible during the year). The intention had been to move to implement a new
Burrows-style advising system in 2011/12 but, following concern about the dual roll-out of a
new advising system and MyCampus, this was initially deferred for a year with existing
advisers of studies continuing to receive honoraria as members of a transitional team helping
to manage the introduction of MyCampus. For a variety of reasons, the College was still
technically in this transitional phase, with a roll-out of a new advising system continuing to be
deferred. This had left Arts in an anomalous position relative to the other Colleges, as was
apparent in the 2013/14 ELIR self-evaluation document.
Dr Huggett had produced a paper detailing seven potential advising models for discussion by
CMG. Following extensive discussion CMG recommended a ‘fully administrative’ advising
model, whereby Senior Advisers would provide academic advice relative to their School. It
was anticipated that each School would require two Senior Advisers. The Chief Adviser and
Assistant Chief Adviser would provide academic support to the Advising Administration
team, and deal with complex cases referred by Senior Advisers/Advising Administrators,
including support for transfers, progress issues, training etc. The Advising Administration
Team would deal with all student queries, advising sessions, and provide support for
MyCampus (registration, enrolment issues, etc); triage student enquiries, and direct students to
Student Support Services as required.
Dr Huggett would present the proposed approach to advising to School Management Groups
and the SRC in September with a view to full implementation in session 2015/16. It was
acknowledged that there would be resource implications.
The Convenor thanked Dr Huggett and Professor Jenkins for their time and effort spent on
finding an acceptable outcome to the advising provision within the College.
ACMG/2013/114
College Secretary’s Business
There was no further business that had not already been discussed.
ACMG/2013/115
Finance
CMG noted the finance summaries submitted by Miss Broe.
ACMG/2013/116
HR
ACMG/2013/116.01
Staff Survey
High-level analysis of the recent staff survey was currently being worked on and would be
presented to the Principal’s Advisory Group the following week.
ACMG/2013/116.02
P&DR
The HR team were currently working on a timetable for moderation. The same arrangements
as were in place last year would be used for School moderations.
ACMG/2013/117
AOB
ACMG/2013/117.01
Thanks
The Convenor, on behalf of CMG, acknowledged Professors Jenkins’ and Pearce’s continued
contribution to CMG over the last few years.
Professor Pearce was thanked, as demitting Head of School of CCA, for his extraordinary and
visionary leadership of CCA over the last 4 years. Professor Pearce responded that he had
found his role to be challenging but very enjoyable, and that he had gained much experience
during this time.
Professor Jenkins, as demitting Dean of Learning & Teaching, was thanked for her forwardlooking vision in the development of the undergraduate curriculum; improving NSS results;
and her conversion work, including the RUK ‘action lab’. Professor Jenkins thanked
Professor Pittock for being an inspirational and supportive leader during her time as Dean.
Professor Ó Maolalaigh and Dr Huggett were thanked for their contribution to CMG in their
current roles. They would of course be returning to CMG in the new session, Professor Ó
Maolalaigh as Head of College (from January 2015), and Dr Huggett as Head of the School of
Humanities.
ACMG/2013/118
Dates of Meetings 2014/15
CMG meetings would be held at 3pm in the Meeting Room, 6 University Gardens on the following
dates:
Wednesday 17 September 2014
Wednesday 22 October 2014
Wednesday 19 November 2014
Wednesday 14 January 2015
Wednesday 18 February 2015
Wednesday 25 March 2015
Wednesday 29 April 2015
Thursday 28 May 2015
Wednesday 24 June 2015