UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
BOARD OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Undergraduate Studies held on Wednesday 4th June
2008.
Present:
Prof K O’Brien (in the Chair), Dr J Arroyo, Dr E John, Dr N Johnson, Dr D
Lamburn, Dr G Martin, Dr F McKay, Mr P Ptashko, Dr J Robinson, Dr M
Skinner, Mr M Surve.
Apologies:
Dr J Kidd, Professor S Gilson
In Attendance: Dr T Bell, Mr S Lamb (for items under minutes 29/07-08 and 30/07-08), Dr J
Taylor.
25/07-08
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 20th February 2008 be approved.
26/07-08
Matters Arising on the Minutes
REPORTED:
(a) New Courses of Study (minute 20/06-07, resolutions (e), (f), (g) and (h)
refer)
(i)That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved the proposal from
the Department of French for a new course entitled ‘French with Theatre
Studies’ as set out in papers AUSC20/07-08 (revised), AUSC28-30/07-08.
(ii)That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved the proposal from
Warwick HRI for a new course BSc in Environmental Biology as set out in
paper SFS 21/07-08 (revised).
(iii)That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved the proposal from
the Department of Computer Science for a new course BSc in Discrete
Mathematics as set out in papers SFS 28/07-08, SFS 29(a)-(b)/07-08 and
SFS 30/07-08.
(iv)That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved the proposal from
the WBS for a new course entitled BSc International Management as set out
in papers UFSS 40/07-08, UFSS 41/07-08 and UFSS 42/07-08.
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(b) Progress of Board Recommendations
(i) Proposal for the Department of French Studies to Move to an 8-unit
Classification of Degree (minute 23/07-08 refer)
REPORTED:
That the Academic Quality and Standards Committee, at its meeting on 27
February 2008, had considered the proposal and had resolved that the
proposals from the Department of French Studies to restructure the final year
of the BA French Studies course, with consequential effects on the degree
classification convention be approved, it having been noted that the change
would not affect students already enrolled on the Honours portion of the
course.
(c) Protocol for Assessing Student Participation in Seminars (minutes 12/07-08
and 14/07-08 refers)
REPORTED:
(i) That the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Board of the Faculty
of Arts, at its meeting on 30th January 2008, had considered the
‘Protocol for assessing student participation in seminars’ (paper BUGS
10/07-08) and had resolved that the Committee welcomed the
proposal.
(ii) That the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Board of the Faculty
of Social Studies, at its meeting on 30th January 2008 had considered
the ‘Protocol for assessing student participation in seminars’ (paper
BUGS 10/07-08) and had resolved that the Committee was broadly
supportive of the paper, but had thought that it would be important for
departments to receive the right level of guidance, as the Committee
had concerns about:
(A) Ensuring that student participation was defined in a meaningful
sense (for example, attendance, oral contribution);
(B) Ensuring that changes to modules, so that they follow the
guidance, does not create a significant administrative burden on
seminar tutors, departments or Faculty sub-committees, noting
that the proposal is concerned with only 10% of a module.
(iii)That the Sub-Faculty of Science, at its meeting on 14th May 2008, had
considered the ‘Protocol for assessing student participation in
seminars’ (paper BUGS 10/07-08) and had resolved not to approve
the aforementioned paper, noting that:
(A) Several Science Departments already undertook assessment
based on performance in seminars or similar forums;
(B) Clarification was needed on the definition of a “seminar”, as
assessment based on performance in what could be defined as
a seminar currently exceeded 10% in many cases in the Science
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Faculty; and many Departments objected to the specification of
10% in this protocol;
(C) Clarification was needed on what constituted a “record” of
seminar performance, to ensure that current Science Faculty
practice was not precluded by these proposals;
(D) There was broad concern that whereas these proposals were
clearly aimed at trying to encourage the possibility of
assessment based on seminar performance they may have the
contrary effect in the Science Faculty by putting restrictions on
practices that were already widespread, and had always had
University support.
RESOLVED:
That the ‘Protocol for assessing student participation in seminars’ (paper
BUGS 10/07-08) be made available as informal guidance through the
Teaching Quality website within the limits of University Regulations to the
Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Studies and that the Chair be asked
to seek further consultation with the Chair of the Board of the Faculty of
Science with a view to better defining the concept of “seminar” in the context
of Science Faculty practice.
27/07-08
Chair’s Action
REPORTED:
(a) That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved a request from
the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies to change the
exam paper for EN259 ‘Native American and Mixed-Blood Narratives’ to a
seen paper.
(b) That the Chair, acting on behalf of the Board, had approved a request from
the WBS to change the exam paper for IB2190 ‘Quantitative Methods for
Multivariate Analysis’ to “open book” status.
28/07-08
Guidelines for Consideration of Undergraduate Examination Candidates
Notifying Mitigating Circumstances
CONSIDERED:
A composite report of the responses from departments and faculties to the draft
Guidelines for Consideration of Undergraduate Examination Candidates
Notifying Mitigating Circumstances (paper BUGS 14/07-08).
RECOMMENDED (To the Academic Quality and Standards Committee):
That the revised Guidelines for Consideration of Undergraduate Examination
Candidates Notifying Mitigating Circumstances be approved.
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29/07-08
Discussion Paper for Joint Degrees
REPORTED:
That the Quality Enhancement Working Group, at its meeting of 1st May 2008,
had discussed the paper ‘Organisation of Joint Degrees’ BUGS 15 /07-08 ,
and resolved that members of the Board of Undergraduate Studies be invited
to suggest additional areas which might be included and to highlight examples
of good practice they were familiar with.
CONSIDERED:
The abovementioned paper, provided by the Assistant Registrar (Teaching
Quality), ‘Organisation of Joint Degrees’ BUGS 15 /07-08.
RESOLVED:
That the Chair be asked to raise at the Academic Quality and Standards
Committee the possibility of a working group being formed to produce good
practice guidelines for departments on the management of joint degree
programmes, such a group to consider, inter alia,
(a) what current staff/student liaison structures are in place in
departments and their relative effectiveness;
(b) whether departmental administrators may be the most
appropriate staff to exercise operational responsibility for matters
relating to joint degrees;
(c) whether the course proposal form should require departments to
give more information in inter-departmental liaison and
management of joint degrees.
30/07-08
Oral Report from the Senior Tutor
RECEIVED:
An oral report from the Senior Tutor on both the personal tutor system and
the operations of his office.
REPORTED:
That new guidelines on the personal tutor system will be published for the
start of the next academic session.
RESOLVED:
That the Senior Tutor be invited back to the Board during the next academic
year to discuss the new guidelines.
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31/07-08.
New, Restructured and Discontinued Courses of Study
REPORTED:
That the Board of the Faculty of Arts, at its meeting on the 7 th May 2008, had
approved the request from the Department of English and Comparative
Literature to discontinue the BA in English and American Literature course
from October 2009 (paper AUSC 43/07-08, BFA minute 40/07-08, resolution
(a) (iv) refers).
CONSIDERED:
(a) A proposal from the Departments of History of Art and Italian for a new
course ‘BA in Italian and History of Art’ for introduction in October 2009
(papers AUSC.85-88/07-08), subject to the Chair of the Board clarifying with
the Department of the History of Art the percentage of degree credit to be
derived form each year of study.
(b) A proposal from the Departments of History of Art and Italian for a new
course new course ‘BA in History of Art with Italian’ for introduction in
October 2009 (papers AUSC.89-91/07-08), subject to the Chair of the Board
clarifying with the Department of the History of Art the percentage of degree
credit to be derived form each year of study.
(c) A proposal from the Department of History to make changes to the BA in
History (papers AUSC 95-97/07-08).
(d) A proposal from the Department of Comparative American Studies to make a
change to the structure of BA in History, Literature and Cultures of the
Americas (papers AUSC 98-101/07-08).
(e) A proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning for a revised part-time
course ‘BA in European Studies’ for introduction in October 2008 (papers
AUSC.92-94/07-08 revised).
(f) A proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning to introduce a course
entitled ‘Open Studies Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
(English ESOL) Intermediate Level’ as set out in papers UFSS 96/07-08,
UFSS 97/07-08 and UFSS 98/07-08.
(g) A proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning to introduce a course
entitled ‘Open Studies Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
(English Literacy) Intermediate Level’ as set out in papers UFSS 100/07-08,
UFSS 101/07-08 and UFSS 97/07-08.
(h) A proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning to introduce a course
entitled ‘Open Studies Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
(Mathematics Numeracy) Intermediate Level’ as set out in papers UFSS
103/07-08, UFSS 104/07-08 and UFSS 97/07-08.
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RESOLVED:
(i) That the proposal from the Departments of History of Art and Italian for a new
course ‘BA in Italian and History of Art’ (papers AUSC.85-88/07-08) be
approved.
(j) That the proposal from the Departments of History of Art and Italian for a new
course new course ‘BA in History of Art with Italian’ (papers AUSC.89-91/0708) be approved.
(k) That the proposal from the Department of History to make changes to the BA
in History (papers AUSC 95-97/07-08) be approved.
(l) That the proposal from the Department of Comparative American Studies to
make a change to the structure of BA in History, Literature and Cultures of
the Americas (papers AUSC 98-101/07-08) be approved.
(m) That the proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning for a revised parttime course ‘BA in European Studies’ (papers AUSC.92-94/07-08 revised) be
approved, subject to the Centre being asked to include a fuller statement
regarding the pastoral/personal tutor support for students.
(n) That the proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning to introduce a course
entitled ‘Open Studies Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
(English ESOL) Intermediate Level’ as set out in papers UFSS 96/07-08,
UFSS 97/07-08 and UFSS 98/07-08 be approved.
(o) That the proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning to introduce a
course entitled ‘Open Studies Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning
Sector (English Literacy) Intermediate Level’ as set out in papers UFSS
100/07-08, UFSS 101/07-08 and UFSS 97/07-08 be approved
(p) That the proposal from the Centre for Lifelong Learning to introduce a course
entitled ‘Open Studies Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector
(Mathematics Numeracy) Intermediate Level’ as set out in papers UFSS
103/07-08, UFSS 104/07-08 and UFSS 97/07-08 be approved
32/07-08
Availability of Lecture Rooms in the Faculty of Science
REPORTED:
That the Board of the Faculty of Science, at its meeting on the 13 th May 2008,
had resolved that the concerns of the Sub-Faculty over the pressure on
timetabling raised following the proposal of new degree course Discrete
Mathematics be endorsed and had recommended to the Board of
Undergraduate Studies and the Academic Quality and Standards Committee:
(a) That the major obstacle to creating a workable timetable was the
availability of lecture rooms, and the University should ensure that the
recent award of funds for teaching infrastructure be used towards
developing an appropriate lecture room stock;
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(b) That the University should work towards a solution to the timetable for
2009-10 and, in doing this, should consider what is the maximum,
appropriate lecture size for a given subject.
(BFS minute 26(b)/07-08 refers)
RESOLVED:
That the Chair be asked to note these concerns at the next meeting of the
Academic Quality and Standards Committee
33/07-08
Regulation 11: Cheating in University Tests
RECEIVED:
Summary data from departments regarding any cases of cheating in
University tests dealt with by Heads of Departments under Regulation 11 (B)
(2) (b) in the academic year 2006/07 (paper BUGS 16 /07-08 revised).
34/07-08
Regulation 10.2
REPORTED:
That the Students’ Union had commented on the enforcement of Regulation
10.2 and that the Chair of the Board had provided a response (paper BUGS
17/07-08).
RESOLVED:
That the enforcement of Regulation 10.2 be monitored following the current
examination period.
35/07/08.
Undergraduate External Examiners’ Reports for 2006/07
RECEIVED:
The procedure for the consideration of External Examiners’ reports by the
Boards of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies (paper BUGS2/07-08,
attached).
CONSIDERED:
(a) The reports of External Examiners for Undergraduate courses for 2006/07
received since the last meeting of the Board (paper BUGS 18/07-08);
(b) Pro-forma responses to the External Examiners’ reports received from
departments since the last meeting of the Board (paper BUGS 19/07-08);
(c) Responses from departments on specific issues raised by the Board
following its consideration of reports at its last meeting (paper BUGS 20/0708);
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RESOLVED:
(d) That the Department of Sociology’s response to Professor Robinson’s report
be monitored in the light of Professor Robinson’s report for 2007/08;
(e) That the Head of the Department of Biological Sciences had now fully
addressed the issues which had been raised in the report of Professor
Sparrow.
36/07/08
Annual Postgraduate Course Review and Postgraduate Module Approval
REPORTED:
That the Academic Quality and Standards Committee, at its meeting of the
15th May, 2008, resolved that paper BGS54/07-08 be considered by this
Board (AQSC minute 105/07-08, resolution (f) refer).
RESOLVED:
That this Board should consider in due course the revised version of BGS
54/07-08 to be produced by the Board of Graduate Studies.
37/07/08
Thanks
RESOLVED:
That the Board extend it thanks to Peter Ptashko for his contributions as a
representative of the Students’ Union.
TB/JAT 6/6/08
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