RTPI/HWU PARTNERSHIP BOARD MEETING 25th February 2014
Annual Programme Review 2014
Angela Hull, Head of Planning
I.
Introduction
The School has four planning programmes with dual accreditation by the RTPI and RICS. These are
the:
BSc Urban Planning and Property Development
BSc Urban and Regional Planning (final year of this programme)
MSc Urban and Regional Planning
MSc Real Estate and Planning
The undergraduate courses have received high ratings for satisfaction with the teaching and learning
opportunities from final year students in the National Student Survey over the last couple of years. In
2013 we were rated the third best planning school in the UK and the top planning school in Scotland.
The Planning team also deliver the following urban management programmes:
MSc Urban Strategies and Design
MSc Sustainable Urban Management
MSc Real Estate Investment and Finance (RICS)
MSc Real Estate Management and Development (RICS)
This programme review covers the 8 criteria listed by the RTPI as qualities an effective planning
school should display:
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Clear planning focus
Institutional support
Achievements
Stakeholder involvement
Professional involvement
External Examiners
Resources
Equality and diversity
II.
Clear Planning Focus
The School’s Statement of Educational Philosophy lays out the distinctive style of planning education
at Heriot-Watt University. This Statement will be available on the Partnership Board website. The
focus has been on promoting critical thinking in students about space and place through the 4 years of
the undergraduate degree and the one year masters. There are always challenges for staff in
incorporating the substantive content they feel necessary in their topic with the practical experience
for students in applying that knowledge. To cover some of the newer topics of climate change,
sustainable building structures and flood management, experienced staff from other parts of the
School now teach planning students and increasingly group work involves all the built environment
students working together.
III.
Institutional Support
This last year the School’s Head of Teaching and Learning (Prof Malcolm Chrisp) undertook a
substantial review of all our planning programmes to assess how relevant they are for future and
current students. This has resulted in changes to the undergraduate planning programme with new
courses introduced and some existing courses delivered at different stages of the programme. A new
non-accredited undergraduate programme entitled MA Geography and Environmental Planning has
been approved by the University’s School Studies committee.
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Dr. Harry Smith (RIBA/ RTPI) has been appointed as Director of Studies to implement these changes
and to provide clear leadership for our suite of programmes. He works with the programme leaders
and year coordinators to ensure that the courses delivered address student needs whilst raising their
performance and that School procedures on designing assessments, marking and moderation, and
feedback are adhered to. We have strong engagement with our students through the student year
representatives who meet regularly with the programme management team (year group meetings;
Staff-Student Committee) during each semester to identify problems with courses and facilities and
initiate delivery of an Action Plan.
The School management this academic year has set in place a programme of action to revitalise
communication and engagement between staff. This has involved outside facilitators to help produce
a new vision for the School and to brainstorm initiatives, which are now being worked up into action
plans by three working groups on (i) creating an SBE community; (ii) staff development, motivation
and empowerment, and (iii) facilities and systems in our work environment. The figure below shows
the rationale for this.
IV.
Achievements
The most notable achievement this year is retaining our high rating in the National Students Survey.
We are rated as the third best planning school in the UK. The Planning programme was assessed by
our 2013 fourth year students with an overall 84 % satisfaction rate. See Table 1 below for a
summary of student responses.
In 2012 we were rated the best planning school in the UK. Our performance has dipped from the
overall satisfaction rate of 96% that year. We have lost three planning staff since then - Marilyn
Higgins, Ya Ping Wang and Paul Jenkins.
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Table 1: Summary Percentage Scores on Student Satisfaction 2013
Group of
Questions
HWU
Planning
aggregate %
85
Mean UK
aggregate
%
85
Assessment and
Feedback
Academic
Support
79
69
88
81
Organisation
and
Management
85
82
Learning
Resources
85
83
Personal
Development
85
82
Teaching
HWU Planning lowest %
HWU Planning highest
%
73: staff have made the subject
interesting
73: received detailed comments
on my work
87: received sufficient support +
advice with my studies
93: staff are good at
explaining things
90: marking criteria are
clear in advance
89: good advice
available when making
study choices
88: timetable works
efficiently as far as my
activities are concerned
84: course is well organised and
running smoothly; any changes in
the course/ teaching are
communicated effectively
82: been able to access
specialised equipment/ facilities/
rooms when I needed to
80: the course has helped me to
present myself with confidence
87: library resources and
facilities are good
enough for my needs
90: my communication
skills have improved
Source:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/whatwedo/lt/publicinfo/nationalstudentsurvey/nationalstudentsurveydata/2013
/
Graduating Students 2013:
The following tables show the degree classes of graduating students, with a high proportion of first
class and distinctions.
Table 2 Degree Classification of Graduates 2013
First class
BSc Planning &
Property
Development
BSc Urban &
Regional
Planning
5
2
Upper second
class
8
Lower second
class
2
5
Third class
2
Total
-
15
-
9
Table 3 Degree Classification of Postgraduates 2013
Urban & Regional
Planning
MSc with Distinction
2
MSc
10 (+ 2 diplomas)
Total
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Feedback from external examiners
Reports were very positive and will be uploaded onto the Partnership Board website.
The practice undergraduate external examiner considered that “The examination scripts cover an
appropriate breadth and depth of detail, certainly with respect to my area of expertise and my
impression is that this holds for the other subjects. The time spent reviewing dissertations, portfolios
and other material such as examination scripts confirmed this view”. And “The students work viewed
this year was of a high standard. There was a grading of ability as is usual, however the overall
performance was high with a large number of high performing students clearly evident.”
The academic external examiner for the undergraduate course states: “I am satisfied with the quality
of teaching, learning and assessment methods. My review of student work indicated a high level of
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student understanding and some very strong student performances. A sufficient variety of assessment
methods were evident; essays, groupwork, practical projects, design output, research-led
dissertations, and oral presentations. A large share of student work demonstrated independent
inquiry and engagement with relevant academic literature and policy.” And “I found this to be a
strong cohort. The better student is excellent displaying an ability to draw on relevant literature to
support arguments, relate answers to theory and policy, and demonstrate an understanding of
professional practice.”
The practice external examiner for the MSc courses states that “
I feel that commitment to excellence remains high and there is continuing effort made to refine
the course according to the needs of employers and current planning issues. For example,
ICT techniques and the “Smart City” concept have been introduced. Development appraisal is
something greatly valued as a skill by developers and its inclusion on the course is welcome.”
She, however, notes that: “The quality of written English – not just from international students - in
written work is sometimes poor. It is not just poor grammar and spelling. The problem manifests itself
in overly verbose language and unclear meaning. Furthermore, it appears that this element is not
strongly weighted in marking, rather, getting the points over seems to be valued more highly.”
The academic external examiner for these courses considers that the examination scripts and
dissertations “were generally of a high quality” and that “The standard of student’s work has been
maintained over the period of my appointment. The strong practice ethos of the course showed
through in individual and group assessments, and I am heartened that good planning education
persists in a Scottish planning school.”
Employability/Graduate Destinations
The latest figures (April 2013) we have for planning students are for those who graduated in 2012
with their first degree are:
 78% of these graduates are in employment
 93% are in graduate employment
 11% are in further study
 1 graduate was unemployed at the time of the survey
Research
The planning team are nested within two research institutes – Centre for Excellence in Sustainable
Building Design and the Institute for Housing, Urban and Real Estate Research. Research within the
planning team includes the following areas of strength:
 Planning modernisation and new challenges
 Open space design, health and well-being
 Urban economic change and property investment
 Housing policy and development
 Sustainable transport
 Regeneration
 Access, use and quality of local services
 Citizen governance
The team is engaged in the following research projects:
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Action research on behaviour change to reduce carbon emissions (Scottish Government
ClimateXChange)
Accessibility Instruments in Planning Practice (EU COST)
Connected Communities programme for Valuing Different Perspectives (AHRC)
Connected Communities programme for showcase event (AHRC)
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Review of Poverty and Social Networks (JRF)
Review of Apprenticeships (The Equalities and Human Rights Commission)
Modelling the impact of property tax reforms (JRF)
Demand and Supply Forecasting Model (Housing New Zealand Corporation)
Ethnicity, Recession and Austerity in Glasgow (Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights)
Sanctions, Support and Behaviour Change: understanding the role and impact of welfare
conditionality (ESRC)
The Homelessness Monitor (CRISIS)
Multiple Exclusion Homelessness (ESRC)
Housing First Evaluation (Homelessness Scotland)
Professor Colin Jones and Professor Mike Coombes (Newcastle University) received the RTPI
Education Award 2013 for Excellence in Spatial Planning Research for their paper on tenure specific
Housing Market Areas for housing planning.
V.
Stakeholder Involvement
The involvement of practitioners and community groups in our course delivery is integral to show
students how their knowledge can be applied to practice, the skill sets that are needed to be an
effective practitioner, and to illuminate the challenges of planning practice.
The undergraduate programme has an integrated project in the first and fourth years which focuses on
skill development and collaboration with external partners. Planning students work in teams with
students from architectural engineering, construction project management, quantity surveying,
building surveying to respond to a challenging design brief. This year the final year project focused on
design solutions for the West Register site in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh working with City of
Edinburgh’s EDI Group who selected the best two designs which were showcased in an EDI
Masterplan and placemaking workshop in November 2013.
We are also trialling UCL’s Urban Skills Portal with some of our students. The portal provides a set
of workshops that give practical guidance on producing graphics for urban design, planning and other
built environment projects using industry-standard software – Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop
– and open-source alternatives – Scribus, Inkscape and GIMP. They also use SketchUp and Google
Earth (both open-source), and give instructions in the use of Edina Digimap.
We have a high level of practitioner involvement in our courses. These were the invited speakers in
11 of our courses last year:
Table 4: External speakers in course delivery
Public sector
Private and Community sectors
Kate Hopper, Edinburgh City Council
David Somervell, University of Edinburgh
John White (Edinburgh Trams
Reggie Tricker (City of Edinburgh)
Riccardo Marini (City of Edinburgh)
Susie Stirling (Scottish Government)
David Givan (City of Edinburgh)
Eric Dawson, A+DS
Sandy Robinson, Scottish Government
Stephen Hajducki, City of Edinburgh Council
Martin Higgins, NHS Lothian
Sarah Boyack MSP
Shona Harper, Scottish Government
Linda Arthur, Wester Hailes Health Agency
Catherine Devlin, Falkirk Council
Liz Richardson, University of Edinburgh
Neil McLean, MWH Edinburgh
Jane Jones, Fountainbridge Canalside Initiative
Drew Mackie, Drew Mackie Associates
Paul Gilligan, Ecological Architect
Stephen Cassidy (MRC McLean Hazel
Peter Leslie (Cycling Scotland);
Steven Tolson (independent planning consultant)
Bill Nicol (Owenstown Foundation)
Stefano Smith (AMEC)
Adam Wilkinson, Director, Edinburgh World Heritage
Andrew Wilmot, Oberlanders Architects
Martin Stevens, Director, Harrison Stevens
Robin Wilson, Geovia
Maeve Fryday, Environ
Karol Swanson MRTPI, Independent Planning Mediator
Euan Leitch, BEFS
Ian Wall, FRICS, Independent Consultant
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Brendan Fowler, Caroline Richards, Prospect
Community Housing
Jim Cairney, Oran Environmental Solutions
Fraser Blackwood URS
VI.
Professional Involvement
We currently have 4 RTPI members: Sarah McIntosh, Dr. John McCarthy, Dr. Caroline Brown, and
Dr. Harry Smith.
VII.
External Examiners
Our undergraduate examiners are:
Mr Colin Smith, Director, Turley Associates, Edinburgh
Professor Aileen Stockdale, School of Planning, Queen’s University, Belfast
Our MSc URP examiners are:
Dr Stephen Hincks, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester
Lesley Martin, Head of Sustainable Economy, City of Edinburgh Council
Our MSc REP examiners are:
Dr Quilin Ke, Bartlett School of Planning, University College London
Mr Andrew Smith, Ashford Property Group, Edinburgh
VIII.
Resources
Last year’s Partnership Board were given a tour of the School and University Resources by our
postgraduate students. This included equipment, study facilities, library facilities and the new
postgraduate centre. The Partnership Board where impressed by the facilities. Fourth year students
gave our Learning Resources a 85% overall rating in the National Student Survey in 2013. This was
broken down into:
Table 5 Percentage of Students agreeing with the statements on Learning Resources
Percentage of cohort
82
85
87
Statement
I have been able to access specialised equipment/ facilities/ rooms
when I needed to
I have been able to access general IT resources when I need to
The library resources and facilities are good enough for my needs
IX.
Equality and Diversity
Our undergraduate and postgraduate planning programmes are designed to reflect diversity within
communities. We have strengthened students’ understanding of equality and diversity by devising a
new 4th year/ PG course entitled Social Sustainability which has been running now for 3 years. Our
detailed assessment of the RTPI learning outcomes for the undergraduate programme that will run
from September 2014 (Agenda item 8) demonstrates how the two learning outcomes on ethics and
equality are introduced, consolidated and assessed in our courses. The Table below shows how
equality and diversity are developed through the planning programmes.
Table 6 development of knowledge and skills on reflecting community diversity through
planning courses
Year of
Political & Ethical Issues, Democratic
Promote equality and effective
programme structures (outcome 5)
engagement (outcome 9)
1
Property, Development & Planning 1;
Property, Development & Planning 1
Built Environment Economics;
2
Development Planning; Development
Development Management; Governance
Management; Governance
& Participation; Design of Place
& Participation
6
3
4/ PG
Planning Theory; Sustainable
Environments; Regional & Strategic
Planning
Social Sustainability; Urban
Infrastructure & Resource Management
Planning Theory; Urban Design Theory &
Practice
Housing Policy & Finance, Transport
& the Environment, Social Sustainability
University staff and students work within the university’s Equality and Diversity Policy, which is
reviewed every three years, with the last review in December 2013. The “objectives are to:
(i)
Ensure that people are treated solely on the basis of their abilities and potential;
challenging inequality and less favourable treatment, and
(ii)
Promote diversity and equality for students and staff, recognising and valuing the
contributions of our diverse population, and
(iii)
Clearly demonstrate our commitment to creating an inclusive environment, tackling
discrimination and eradiating inappropriate behaviour across the University Community.
We will achieve these objectives by:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
ensuring we understand our legal obligations and engage positively with staff,
students and representative groups to fulfil our legal requirements
clear and consistent communication to staff, students and representative
groups
providing access to training and support for staff to enable them to understand
how equality and diversity is relevant to their roles and assist them in fully
mainstreaming equality and diversity into their everyday activities
taking forward activities that meet our commitments and actively promote
equality and diversity throughout the University Community”.
If Board members would like more information, the policy document can be uploaded on the
Partnership Board website. The School operates a mitigating circumstances policy and there are clear
procedures about complaints that students should be aware of.
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