BOARD OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Undergraduate Studies held on 20 November 2015.
Present: Professor R Leng (in the Chair), Mr P Brown, Dr W Curtis (on behalf of Dr F McKay),
Mr L Gupta, Mr C Hindhaugh, Professor C Jenainati, Dr J Lee, Dr J Pearson,
Dr T White, Dr D Wood.
In Attendance: Mr D Brandist, Dr J Taylor.
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Apologies: Dr A Broome, Professor P Corvi, Professor L Roberts, Dr P Young.
Terms of Reference
REPORTED:
(a) That the Terms of Reference for the Board were as follows:
(i) To consider academic issues relating to undergraduate provision offered by individual departments and across departmental boundaries, including matters that may be raised by academic departments and/or Directors of
Undergraduate Studies, and make recommendations or comment to the
Academic Quality and Standards Committee and/or its sub-groups, the
Boards of the Faculties or other appropriate bodies within the University;
(ii) To receive and consider as may be appropriate proposals and reports relating to undergraduate academic provision from the relevant sub-groups of the Academic Quality and Standards
Committee;
(iii) To scrutinise all new undergraduate course proposals and report to the Academic Quality and Standards Committee on the Board’s consideration and approval of such proposals;
(iv) To consider relevant issues relating to undergraduate academic provision noted in the Faculty Summary Reports of the Annual
Course Review reports, in Strategic Departmental Reviews or by
Student-Staff Liaison Committees and liaise with departments as may be appropriate regarding any issues of interest or concern;
(v) To advise the Academic Quality and Standards Committee on matters relating to examinations processes and procedures in undergraduate courses;
(vi) To advise the Academic Quality and Standards Committee on the role of internal and external examiners for undergraduate courses;
(vii) To consider external examiners’ reports and departmental responses relating to all undergraduate courses, to discuss
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particular issues of concern with departments and to report to the
Academic Quality and Standards Committee annually on issues raised;
(viii) To consider and approve submissions from departments and the
Undergraduate Studies Committees of the Boards of the Faculties for non-standard examination methods (including seen papers, open-book examinations and reading time);
(ix) To consider and approve variations requested on personal grounds in the arrangements for undergraduate examinations for individual students;
(x) To consider all matters affecting undergraduate admissions practices and policy and make recommendations to the Academic
Quality and Standards Committee where appropriate;
(xi) To consider and approve requests for variations to the University's
Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) policy for individual students or groups of students;
(xii) To monitor the approval process for interdisciplinary undergraduate modules developed and offered by the Institute for Advanced
Teaching and Learning;
(xiii) To advise on matters relating to the policy and strategy underpinning the production of the student Higher Education
Achievement Report (HEAR).
(b) (by the Chair):
That further discussions would be held with the Teaching Quality Office and the
Chair of the Quality Assurance Working Group (QAWG) about the future coordination of the Board’s business with that of the QAWG.
2/15-16 Membership 2015/16
REPORTED:
That the Senate, at its meeting on 12 October 2015, had resolved that the membership of the Board of Undergraduate Studies for the academic year 2015/16 was as follows:
Chair Professor Roger Leng
Two full-time members of the academic staff from each of the Faculties of Arts,
Science and Social Sciences appointed by the Senate:
Arts Professor Cathia Jenainati
Dr Tim White
Medicine
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Professor Lesley Roberts
Mr Paul Matthews

Science
Social Sciences
Dr David Britnell
Dr Philip Young
Professor Peter Corvi
Dr Andre Broome
One member of the Board of Graduate Studies appointed by the Senate:
Dr Jonathan Pearson
The Chairs of the Undergraduate Studies Committees of the Boards of the Faculties of Arts Science and Social Sciences:
Arts Dr Joanne Lee
Science
Social Sciences
Dr David Wood
Mr Peter Brown
One member of staff appointed by and from the Centre for Lifelong Learning:
Dr Fergus McKay
Two members nominated by the Union of Students:
Charlie Hindhaugh
Lokesh Gupta
RESOLVED:
(a) That the membership of the Board be kept under review and, in the current academic year, the Students’ Union be permitted to nominate (subject to the prior approval of the Chair) a third representative to attend any particular Board meeting, if appropriate in view of the agenda to be considered;
(b) That in instances in which a member is unable to attend a meeting, it would be appropriate for a substitute to attend in order to maintain representation;
(c) That Board papers be circulated to the Director of Undergraduate Studies of the
Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL), for information and that a representative of IATL would be permitted to attend any meeting at which an issue of concern to IATL was on the agenda, it being noted that IATL had a significant role in the delivery of undergraduate courses across the University;
(d) That, at its next meeting, the Board consider its role in the forthcoming Institutional
Teaching and Learning Review.
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3/14-15 Freedom of Information
REPORTED:
(a) That the Steering Committee, at its meeting on 29th October 2007, had considered a paper outlining how the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to the publication of minutes of University bodies together with the University Publication
Scheme adopted by the Steering Committee in December 2003 (paper SC.60/07-
08), and had resolved that a standard item be included on the agenda of the first meeting of each University committee at the start of each academic year to inform new members and to remind continuing members of the University policy on the publication of minutes.
(b) That all non-reserved minutes and agendas of the Board were published on the
University’s Governance website at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/committees/bugs/minutes/
4/15-16 Conflicts of Interest
REPORTED:
That, should any members or attendees of the Board have any conflicts of interest relating to agenda items for the meeting, they should be declared in accordance with the CUC
Guide for Members of Higher Education Governing Bodies in the UK.
5/15-16
6/15-16
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2015 be approved.
Matters Arising on the Minutes
(a) Postgraduates as Teachers (minute 34(b)/14-15 refers)
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair on the implementation of the revised policy on the
Employment of Postgraduates as Teachers (as set out in paper BUGS 3/14-15).
(b) New undergraduate courses of study (minute 39(a)/14-15 refers)
REPORTED:
That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had considered confirmation from
Warwick Business School of the number of finance-related modules required in the
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third year of the new undergraduate degree course of BSc in Management with
Finance, and had approved the proposal, as set out in paper UFSS 39/14-15.
(c) Credit and Module Framework (minute 41/14-15 refers)
REPORTED:
That, at its meeting on 29 June 2015, the Senate had resolved that the revised Credit and Module Framework be approved, as set out in paper AQSC 48/14-15 (Senate minute 145(c)/14-15 refers).
(d) Mitigating Circumstances Review (minute 42/14-15 refers)
REPORTED:
That, at its meeting on 29 June 2015, the Senate had resolved that the report from the
Mitigating Circumstances Working Group providing an update on progress and draft
Guidance on Mitigating Circumstances, be noted as set out in paper AQSC 74/14-15
(revised 2), and that particular thanks be recorded to Dr C Constable who had led the
Working Group (Senate minute 135(b)/14-15 refers ).
(e) Monitoring and Review Working Group (minute 44/14-15 refers)
REPORTED:
That, at its meeting on 15 June 2015 the Academic Quality and Standards Committee had resolved that further consideration be given in the implementation of the revised proposals for Annual Academic Monitoring to how these would apply to joint courses and courses with large numbers of staff involved in delivery.
The Committee recommended, to the Senate, that the report from the Monitoring and
Review Working Group setting out proposals for revisions to the Annual Course Review process be approved, subject to amendments being made to reflect the differing departmental roles that might undertake the function of a course leader (AQSC minute
119/14-15 refers).
7/15-16 Chair’s Business
(a) Directors of Undergraduate Studies lunch - Autumn Term
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair on the Directors of Undergraduate Studies lunch, held on 26
October 2015, in which he indicated that it was proposed that the first DUGS lunch of each academic year would be used as an induction and updating session.
REPORTED (by the Secretary):
That the Powerpoint presentations given at the DUGS lunch on 26 October 2016 were available for consultation at: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/examinations/resources_for_departmen ts/dugs_lunches/ .
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(b) Working Group on Scaling
RESOLVED:
(i) That the Chair’s proposal that he convene a Working Group on Scaling be approved;
(ii) That members of the Board who wished to be members of the Working Group should inform the Chair;
(iii) That a student representative from the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the
Board of the Faculty of Science be invited to join the Working Group.
(c) Quality Assurance Working Group of the Academic Quality and Standards Committee
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Chair on matters arising from the business of the Quality Assurance
Working Group, in particular the matters recorded under the following minutes:
(i) Reviews of Assessment Regulations and Conventions (minute QAWG 22/14-15 refers)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(A) That a Group would shortly be convened to take forward a review of degree classifications and that the Chair had prepared a discussion paper for consideration by the Working Group to inform future discussion;
(B) That the paper set out some fundamental principles for increased harmonisation across the University;
CONSIDERED:
(A) A discussion paper relating to progression and awards on taught courses (Paper
QAWG 33/14-15)
RESOLVED:
(A) That the Group noted the following points: a.
That discipline-specific issues needed to be appropriately recognised; b.
That where a student had, on average, demonstrated sound academic performance across the programme, it was not appropriate for the student to fail by default of stringent regulations; c.
That, where possible, the policy should support a suitable level of flexibility for the University to exercise the appropriate duty of care to its students; d.
That the repercussions of any changes be considered and modelled; e.
That any module resit policy made it explicit that this did not relate to passed modules;
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8/15-16 f.
That in recognition to resits for finalist students, greater thought be given to both the appropriateness of compensation but also the relative weighting of modules taken in year 2 and year 3; g.
That a robust and consistent nomenclature regarding condonation and compensation was essential; h.
That marks, progression decisions and classification be recorded in such a way that they remain transparent throughout the duration of the student’s studies.
( QAWG minute 32(a)/14-15 refers )
(ii) QAA Consultation on Degree Characteristics (minute QAWG 27/14-15 refers)
REPORTED:
(A) That, at its meeting on 10 February 2015, the Quality Assurance Working Group considered [inter alia] the following consultation document
Draft Foundation degree characteristics (paper QAWG 22/14-15);
RECEIVED:
(B) The final University response to the consultations as approved by the Steering
Committee at their meeting on 16 March 2015 (paper SC 109/14-15) as follows:
… Annex C: Foundation Degree Characteristics
( QAWG minute 35(a)/14-15 refers )
Chair’s Action
REPORTED:
That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved the following requests:
(a) A variation of assessment, on the grounds of disability, for a named student in the
Warwick Business School, in that any module of the course normally assessed by examination now be assessed by three written assignments of 1000 words.
(b) A variation of assessment, on the grounds of disability, for a named student in the
Department of History, School of Comparative American Studies, in that the examination element for Module AM211 be substituted by two essays of 1500 words, to be submitted by 7 August 2015.
(c) A variation of assessment, on the grounds of disability, for a named student in the
Department of Philosophy, in that examinations in PH251-15, PH334-15 and PH356-15 be replaced with assessed essays.
(d) A variation of assessment, on the grounds of disability, for a named student in the
Department of History, in that a 3-hour examination in HI33S be replaced by a 2-hour examination plus an essay of 2000 words and a 2-hour examination in HI31X be replaced with assessed essay.
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(e) A variation of assessment, on the grounds of disability, for a named student in the
Department of History, in that 3-hour examinations in HI323 and HI390 be reduced to 2 hours, together with an assessed essay for each module.
(f) A variation of assessment, on the grounds of disability, for a named student in the Centre for Lifelong Learning, in that the examination element for Module HI163 (50% essay and
50% examination) be substituted with a 4,500 word essay.
(g) A recommendation from the Undergraduate Studies Committee for the Faculty of Arts
(AUSC minute 52(c)/14-15), that the following degrees (approved by the Board at its meeting on 10 February 2015) may commence in October 2015:
(i) French Studies and Linguistics;
(ii) French Studies with Linguistics;
(iii) German Studies and Linguistics;
(iv) German Studies with Linguistics;
(v) Italian Studies and Linguistics;
(vi) Italian Studies with Linguistics;
(vii) Hispanic Studies and Linguistics;
(viii) Hispanic Studies with Linguistics;
(ix) Modern Languages and Linguistics;
(x) Modern Languages with Linguistics.
(h) A request from the Department of Economics to add reading time to two MSc examinations, EC9011 and EC9012, with effect from January 2016:
(i) A request from the Senior Assistant Registrar (Teaching Quality), on behalf of Warwick
Business School, recommending proposals for progressing students from the Foundation
Year of their new degrees to the First Year, the proposals being:
(A) First Year Board of Examiners conventions are used;
(B) Regulations on the decisions open to the exam board are the same as for First
Year Board of Examiners and appeals processes are the same as for first and intermediate year students;
(C) The constitution of the Exam Board is the same as that for the intermediate years of study (i.e. sits within WBS rather than go through Faculty First Year Boards).
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(j) A request from the Senior Assistant Registrar (Teaching Quality) recommending an update to the Intermediate Progression Requirements, consequent to revisions to
Regulation 8 recommended by the Board at its meeting on 10 February 2015 ( BUGS minute 25/14-15 refers ).
Note: the update progression rule was set out in paper BUGS 1/15-16.
New Courses of Study
RESOLVED:
(a) Centre for Lifelong Learning
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That the recommendation of the Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the
Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences, acting on behalf of the Committee:
(i) to amend the name of the existing 32 credit Certificate in Education and training to
‘Certificate in Education and Training (36 Credits)’
(ii) to recognise the former non-accredited ‘Award in Education and Training’ as a new level 4 course ‘Certificate in Education and Training (12 Credits)’ to continue to be delivered in conjunction with existing partners approved for the original ‘Certificate in Education and Training’ as set out in papers CFDLSC 18(a-e)/15-16 , be approved.
(b) Department of Politics and International Studies
That The recommendation of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Board of the
Faculty of Social Sciences, from its meeting on 27 October 2015, that the proposal from the
Department of Politics and International Studies to introduce an Intercalated Year variant of the BA in Politics, International Studies and Quantitative Methods as set out in papers
UFSS 14(a-c)/15-16 , be approved.
(c) Liberal Arts
(i) That the recommendation of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Board of the
Faculty of Social Sciences, from its meeting on 27 October 2015, that the proposal to introduce a new pathway in Economics through the BA Liberal Arts degree as set out in paper UFSS 13/15-16 , be approved.
(ii) That The recommendation of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Board of the
Faculty of Arts, from its meeting on 28 October 2015, that the proposal to introduce a new pathway in Film and Television Studies through the BA Liberal Arts degree as set out in paper AUSC 7/15-16 , be approved.
(d) School of Modern Languages and Cultures
That the recommendation of the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Board of the
Faculty of Arts, from its meeting on 28 October 2015, that the proposal from the School of
Modern Languages and Cultures to introduce the new courses listed below, delivered jointly with the Department of Economics, as set out in paper AUSC 6/15-16 , be approved.
(i) Modern Languages and Economics;
(ii) French Studies and Economics;
(iii) German Studies and Economics;
(iv) Italian Studies and Economics;
(v) Hispanic Studies and Economics.
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10/15-16 HEAR – Section 6.1 Additional Information
RESOLVED:
(a) That the application from the Department of Economics for the inclusion of the
Warwick Laksh Volunteering Programme in Section 6.1 of the HEAR, as outlined in paper BUGS 2/15-16 , be approved.
(b) That the application from the Liberal Arts Programme for the inclusion of the
Certificate of Coaching Practice in Section 6.1 of the HEAR, as outlined in paper BUGS
3/15-16 , be approved.
(c) That the application from the Global Sustainable Development joint degrees for the inclusion of the Certificate of Coaching Practice in Section 6.1 of the HEAR, as outlined in paper BUGS 4/15-16 be approved.
(d) That the School of Law be asked to reconsider and resubmit its proposal for the inclusion of a Law Personal Development Certificate in Section 6.1 of the HEAR, outlined in paper BUGS 5/15-16 , in the light of the concerns expressed by the Board that:
(i) That some of the activity included (e.g. attendance at public lectures and workshops) did not appear suitable for accreditation;
(ii) The inclusion of completed URSS projects would constitute doublecounting an activity in terms of a student’s overall achievement record.
11/15-16 SSLC Undergraduate Annual Report
CONSIDERED:
A report from the Education Officer of Warwick Students’ Union, compiled from the annual reports and minutes of all University SSLCs during the academic year 2014/15. BUGS 6/15-
16 .
RESOLVED:
(a) That the recommendations of the report under the following headings be endorsed by the Board and brought to the attention of the relevant offices within the University for their further consideration, together with the additional comments of the Board noted below:

Seminar Sizes and Overcrowding

Lecture Overcrowding

Lecture Breaks

Wednesday Afternoons Free for Sport (it being noted that there may need to be exceptions, e.g. in order to schedule open language modules)

Communication between Joint Degrees (it being noted that departments should be encouraged to harmonise internal deadlines relating to module registration processes and that University deadlines for the approval of new modules should be observed)
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
Congestion at major lecture rooms (noting that it was important that lecture start/finish times of five minutes past/before the hour should be observed)

24 Hour Library

Overcrowding in the Library

Lack of Charging Points
(b) That lecture capture should be endorsed as best practice, it being noted that:
(i)
(ii) capture may be inappropriate for classes involving substantial student participation; that the University should equip all rooms used for lectures with recording facilities;
(iii) that generally where a lecture has been recorded it should be made available through the Echo 360 portal within a week, unless there was good reason for delaying publication;
(iv) that departments should attempt to monitor attendance where lecture capture is used
(v) that the University should reconsider its advice to academic staff concerning intellectual property rights in recorded lectures, noting that this had discouraged participation in some cases.
(c) That, with regard to the report’s comments on “Individual Exam Feedback”, the Board noted that, while it may be impractical to routinely give individual feedback (e.g. where there are very large numbers of candidates), it was good practice to give such feedback upon request, and it would strongly recommend that all candidates who fail an examination should receive individual feedback;
(d) That the Chair be asked to consult the Department of Politics and International Studies concerning the system it has developed for providing exam feedback, and report to the next meeting of the Board;
(e) With regard to the report’s comments on “Assessment Printing and Submission”, the
Board noted that, while online submission was good practice, it would not be appropriate for all assignments in all disciplines. The Board would further recommend:
(i) That online submission should be sufficient to satisfy submission deadlines;
(ii) That feedback via Tabula/Moodle be provided (except where verbal feedback can be given);
(iii) The Tabula team be asked to develop a “Print All” option for the convenience of staff needing to print submitted work.
12/15-16 Amendment to Regulation 11 on the Procedure to be Adopted in the Event of Suspected
Cheating in a University Test
CONSIDERED:
A paper from the Senior Assistant Registrar Graduate School outlining a proposed amendment to Regulation 11 to enable Chairs of Faculty Boards and (Under)
Graduate Studies Committees to sit on committees that consider students within their own
Faculty (paper BGS 3/15-16) .
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RECOMMENDED:
That the proposed amendment as set out in BGS 3/15-16 be approved.
13/15-16 Undergraduate External Examiner Reports 2014-15
CONSIDERED:
(a) The report of the sub-groups of the Board, at meetings held on 3 rd , 5 th and 11 th
November 2015, summarising key points and matters for further action and enquiry arising from their consideration of Undergraduate External Examiners’ Reports for
2014/15 (paper BUGS 7/15-16) ;
(b) A report from the Chair summarising particular themes and issues arising from the
Undergraduate External Examiners’ Reports for 2014-15 (paper BUGS 8/15-16);
(c) The External Examiner’s Report for IATL Interdisciplinary Modules for 2014/15 (paper
BUGS 9(a-b)/15-16 );
(d) The External Examiners’ Reports for the MBChB and the Certificate in Diabetes Care
( paper BUGS 10(a-f)/15-16 ).
RESOLVED:
(e) That the report and recommendations of the sub-groups of the Board, as set out in paper BUGS 7/15-16, be approved;
(f) That the report from the Chair summarising particular themes and issues (paper BUGS
8/15-16), be approved and that the following recommendations should be endorsed:
(i) That departments should continue to complete pro-forma responses to their External Examiners’ reports, but should not see these as the exclusive means of communication with their External Examiners about the reports; in particular, where an External Examiner has raised an issue of substance, it is recommended that the department should respond directly to the
External at the same time as completing the pro-forma response;
(ii) That departments should reconsider whether their boards of examiners should be conducted with complete candidate anonymity, where this issue has been raised by their External Examiners. Departments in which boards are not conducted with complete candidate anonymity should consider adopting a protocol relating to advocacy on behalf of individual students;
(iii) That all departments should make their External Examiners aware of the
University Policy on Moderation and should indicate which moderation or second marking practices are used;
(iv) That where moderation or second marking has taken place, this should be visible to the External Examiner (e.g. by notation on scripts or marksheets, or by a record of the sample viewed etc);
(v) That where a mark has been awarded following double marking, the reasons for arriving at a particular mark should be recorded;
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(vi) That departments which use scaling should ensure the procedure used is fully explained to the External Examiner and that s/he is given an opportunity to comment on the procedure used.
(g) That the Chair be asked to convene a working group to consider and propose amendments to the 17-point marking scale (taking account of the comments of
External Examiners), to include the following members (subject to their agreement):
Professor R Leng (Chair)
Dr D Britnell
Dr C Jenainati
Dr J Lee
Dr J Pearson
Dr D Wood
A student representative
(h) That the Board noted the positive comments of Dr Lawler, the External Examiner for the IATL Interdisciplinary Modules;
(i) That the Warwick Medical School be asked to comment on the following points raised by External Examiners for the MBChB degree:
Examiner Issue(s) on which WMS be asked to respond
Aylett, V The use of “recommended to withdraw” (section 4 of report); location of the OSCE exams (section 9); reassessment of failed student (section 11).
Ross, S Poor metrics from one written paper (section 3).
(j) That the comments of Dr J Burton (in section 14 of his report for the MBChB) on requiring External Examiners to hold professorial status be referred to the Teaching
Quality Office.
14/15-16 Directors of Undergraduate Studies Lunch - Spring Term
REPORTED: rl/jat 24.11.15
That the Directors of Undergraduate Studies spring term lunch would take place on
Monday 14 March 2016, from 12 noon to 2 pm, in room CMR 1.0, University House.
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