UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER
TEACHING AND LEARNING COMMITTEE
1 April 2009
Paper No TLC/09/11b)
Agenda Item 4b)
PgCert/PgDip/MSc Food Regulatory Affairs and PgCert Veterinary Public
Health: Application for joint award status with UCD
The School/Faculty wishes to have the status of joint award applied to the
PgC/PgD/MSc Food Regulatory Affairs and the PgC Veterinary Public Health. The joint award would be between: Ulster and University College Dublin (UCD), although it is anticipated that, for the MSc FRA programme, University College Cork (UCC) would join at a later stage, once their internal approval procedures have been completed.
BACKGROUND
The Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance (IUNA), formally established in 1993 via a
MOU signed by the Heads of UCC, Ulster and TCD (Trinity College Dublin) was formed to foster joint initiatives in research and teaching between the academic nutrition units of the three universities. IUNA now includes UCD (University College
Dublin), following the move of Professor Mike Gibney and his team from Trinity.
IUNA was awarded funding by the European Commission to design an MSc in food regulation (FRA).The need for such an innovative programme was identified by food sector stakeholders in particular international food organisations, food manufacturers and food regulators. Food regulatory affairs is an interdisciplinary and evolving subject area integrating science, law and policy as applied to the regulation of the food chain form pre-harvest to final consumer.
The PgC/PgD/MSc Food Regulatory Affairs has been offered as an award of the
University of Ulster since 2002. The programme is fully online, taught via WebCT and was most recently revalidated in 2007. Members of UCD and UCC have participated fully in the (re)validation processes at every step.
Since its inception, approximately 20% of the MFRA students have had an academic background in Veterinary Medicine, for the most part, as either Official Veterinarians or Temporary Veterinary Inspectors. During routine final course evaluation, they identified a need for further training in Veterinary Public Health in order to fulfil the additional training requirements for Official Veterinarians as required by the
European Union Regulation (EC) 854/2004, Annex1 Section III, Chapter IV.
Following consultation with DAF, DARD, FSAI, and the European Commission FVO, a curriculum to fulfil these requirements was been developed, for the award of PgC in Veterinary Public Health, as stand alone award and a pathway in the MSc FRA.
This programme has potentially a European-wide market.
In recognition of the contribution made by UCD and UCC to this provision, it proposed that these awards be designated joint awards of the three universities for
MSc FRA and of the Ulster and UCD for PgC VPH.
UCD have completed their formal course approval process for such a status, UCC are in the process of doing so and this document is a request that the University of
Ulster also recognises these programmes as joint awards.
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JOINT AWARD STATUS
This status is awarded “where the University offers a course in conjunction with one or more other institutions, and where typically, students undertake elements of the course at the University and the partner(s). (There are usually equal contributions).”
In the context of a distance learning course the location of the students is not relevant but each of the institutions involved has ownership of elements of the content and delivery of the course.
Joint award status is justified for these programmes because they jointly instigated, planned and teach the programmes as in the table below. The success of the programmes has been dependant on the reputations of all three partners. In particular, as Ulster had no reputation in the area of veterinary public health, UCD’s well established reputation in veterinary medicine has been key to establishment of this pathway. Although the percentage contributions are not equal the contribution of all of the partners is essential for the success of the programme and the three universities should therefore be considered joint contributors. IUNA are currently developing another MSc programme in Public Health Nutrition and the model implemented here will be adopted for that development as well.
Table 1: Percentage contribution of the partner institutions to the award
University
Ulster College Dublin College Cork
Course
Directorship
100 0
Module content 50
Module delivery 55
35*
30*
0
15
15
E-tutors 60 e-mentors 100
Assessment 55
25
0
30
15
0
15
Quality management
70 20 10
Resources 55 30** 15
* For PgC VPH specifically this is a higher proportion
** UCD provide office accommodation and consumables for the Course Director
RATIONALE AND PROCEDURES
The rationale behind delivering these as joint programmes is to recognise the contributions of the partners. This programme should always have been a joint award but establishing the principle of teaching a programme such as this by distance learning across three institutions was new to all involved and the process of academic validation of joint award new to the partners. Given that the viability and effectiveness of the model of teaching in this way has now been demonstrated and that UCD have now completed the validation processes, the time has now come to formally recognise these courses as joint programmes. In drawing up an agreement a number of governance and quality assurance procedures will be implemented.
These are summarised below and will be included in a memorandum of agreement to be signed between the partners.
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Programme governance and management
An inter-institutional course committee has been established. Within Ulster this committee will report to School of Biomedical Sciences Teaching & Learning
Committee and School Executive. The School Teaching & Learning Committee reports to Faculty Teaching & Learning Committee. School Executive Committee reports to Faculty Executive Committee. Within UCD the course committee will report to Life Sciences Graduate Taught Programmes Board which reports to the
UCD University Life Sciences Graduate Taught Programmes Committee.
It is planned that the Inter-institutional course committee will meet 3 times per year, normally as follows: (1) Early autumn course committee and Examination Board:
Ulster
(2) January course committee and progression board: UCC
(3) June course committee and Examination Board: UCD
Application and admissions
The admission criteria are as detailed in the Course Document validated at Ulster.
Students will apply online via the Ulster application system. The courses will be listed in the prospectuses of both Ulster and UCD (UCC, eventually). The UCD prospectus will contain a link to the Ulster online application system. Applicant details will be entered into the Ulster Student Record System. All students will also have a record at UCD (and UCC). Twice per year (end of September and start of
February) a database of student details will be sent from Ulster to UCD. UCD will be entitled to ask for an update on student records at any stage if necessary. The
Course Director will screen applications, seeking advice from subject experts from the Course Committee, if necessary. Students will have an Ulster student registration number to facilitate access to the online learning environment. Students will have access to the library at both universities.
Regulations
The course regulations are to be as in the validated course document presented at
Ulster. The MOA between Ulster and UCD will include a table of equivalencies matched to grade descriptors in UCD. The classification of the award will be taken solely on the Ulster system and it is not intended that students will be able to recalculate their grade using UCD descriptors. Information to this effect will be recorded on the student transcripts from UCD and in the Course Handbook.
Financial Arrangements
The fee charged will be determined by the University of Ulster, taking into account the knowledge of the Course Committee have of the market. For the students on the
PgC Veterinary Public Health 25% of the student fees will go to UCD (as in business plan, previously approved). Although the FRA course has been established for some time, to date no portion of the fees has been returned to UCD or UUC. This arrangement has been unfair in not recognising the contribution of the other two universities. The other two universities have been willing to accept this temporarily as an initial investment but this cannot continue. The financial arrangements for
MSc FRA will be discussed by the course committee during 09/10 and if necessary a paper detailing any changes in arrangements will be submitted to VCAG. It is anticipated that any financial model agreed would be applied to other future joint programmes between the three universities (including a new joint PgC/PgD/MSc in
Public Health Nutrition).
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Staff Student consultation
Student consultation will be conducted in accordance with the established practices for distance learning students of the University of Ulster and the outcomes shared with participating institutions.
Examinations and Assessment i. External examiners.
These will be appointed by the University of Ulster ii. and will conform to the practices of the University of Ulster. External examiner reports will be shared with collaborating institutions.
Board of examiners: A joint board formed from all institutions will be formed and will make decisions as determined by the University of
Ulster validation document. iii. Reviews and Appeals procedures will conform to the practices of
Ulster.
Student discipline and complaints
Since all assessments will be submitted through the University of Ulster’s WebCT platform, all matters of student discipline as it relates to assessment will conform to the practices and policies of the University of Ulster. The Course Team will also comply with the Ulster policy for dealing with student complaints.
Quality Assurance
The courses will conform to all quality assurance mechanisms of the University of
Ulster and these will communicated to the partners.
Transcripts
It is intended that students would be entitled to request a transcript from either Ulster or UCD. An explanation of the context of the award will be included on the UCD transcript.
Conferment of awards
It is intended that parchments will be printed at Ulster and in June sent to UCD for the summer graduation ceremony. It is intended that the parchment will bear the crest and seal of each University and will be printed in English. It is intended that graduation in July 2009
- December: Ulster (chiefly MSc FRA)
Consent of current students to any change in award arrangements would be sought.
It is intended that once UCC is formally included in the joint awards that the
December graduations would rotate between Ulster and UCC – with the first graduation ceremony occurring at UCC in December 2011. It is proposed that students would wear the academic dress of the university where their graduation ceremony is taking place.
School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Life and Health Sciences
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