Mini-Review
Department of Politics
University College Dublin
18 November 2004
The Review
Members of Review Group
Professor Pat Shannon
Professor Jeremy Gray
Dr Derek Mitchell
Ms Elaine Cox
Department of Geology
Department of Environmental
Resource Management
Department of Botany
Quality Assurance Office
Chair
Methodology
The Mini-Review Group (MRG) visited the Department of Politics on
Thursday, 18 November 2004. In preparation for the visit the MRG reviewed
the following documents supplied by the Department:
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Mini-Review Progress Report
Peer Review Group Report
Self-assessment Report
Quality Improvement Plan
Faculty of Human Sciences Draft Strategic Development Plan
Faculty of Human Sciences Strategic Planning Dialogue Phase 1
During the visit the MRG met with the Head of Department, academic and
administrative staff (in groups and individually), undergraduate and
postgraduate student representatives and the Dean of the Faculty of Human
Sciences.
Findings of the Mini-Review Group
1) General Comments
The MRG was impressed by the collegial nature of the Department. It is an
enthusiastic and cohesive department from the top down. A unified view of
how members would like to see the Department develop is very much in
evidence, although it is currently not documented in a formal departmental
strategic plan. Central to this vision of the future is a belief that the
Department should maintain its current breadth of teaching and research
interests rather than focus on a smaller number of specific areas. Department
members are very well informed of developments within the Faculty and the
University. Their vision is that the Department of Politics would act as a
‘growth node’ within the Faculty during the forthcoming University-wide
strategic changes. They hope that relevant disciplines and research units will
be aligned with their discipline as a possible School of Politics and
International Relations. Feedback from students at all levels was strongly
supportive of the Department and it’s members. Students expressed complete
satisfaction in relation to the courses taught and the subject progression
throughout their time at UCD.
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The MRG were also impressed by the level of engagement of the staff in the
QA/QI process. The Department’s success in using their QIP to justify to the
Faculty and the Quality Improvement Finance Committee (QIFC) the need for
a Lecturer, an Executive Assistant and the allocation and refurbishment of a
new room, and their development since the PRG review strongly illustrates
the potential positive outcomes of this process.
2) Planning and Organisation
General
There is a nice mix of formality and informality in the organisation of the
Department that results in a collegial environment. This is a result of the staff
members in the Department having, in general, ‘grown up’ together. Staff
members are aware of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and have a
working relationship that emphasises everyone’s strengths as far as possible.
However, it is important that more formal arrangements be set in place
relating to the Headship of the Department, the allocation of workloads and
the strategic development of the Department.
The members of the Department have a unified strategic vision but it is
important that this be crystallised and documented as soon as possible. A
departmental Strategic Plan is currently being developed and it is
recommended by the MRG that this includes long-term goals as well as
dealing with possible developments over the next five years. This is a key
issue because several staff members will retire in the coming few years, so
consideration of replacement posts in subject areas that the Department
needs to develop or sustain is vital.
The institution of a rotating Headship was recommended in the PRG Report.
This has not happened yet but is being considered. It was acknowledged by
all members of the Department met by the MRG that the current Head of
Department is doing an excellent job. However, he will be retiring soon. The
MRG recommends that the implementation of a rotating Headship be
instigated as a matter of urgency to allow for appropriate planning in the near
future.
One of the recommendations in the PRG Report was that ‘departmental
meetings and meetings of the newly formed subcommittees should be
formalised with the agenda being available at least one week in advance and
planned in a predictable cycle’. This level of organisation has been
introduced and appears to be working well.
The allocation of workloads has not been addressed by the Department in a
formal manner. With the likely changes in departmental staff and new
institutional structures in the coming years, this could become an area of
tension. The MRG recommends that the Department draw up a workallocation model with a transparent system for balancing teaching, research
and administrative functions between the academic staff. It is not necessary
for staff to teach the same number of hours but there needs to be some
degree of equity.
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The issue of sabbatical leave is increasingly important across the University.
After meeting with the Head and staff of the Department, it is clear that
members of the Department have been able to avail of some sabbatical leave.
However, adequate funding is a problem. Members of the Department favour
1-year sabbaticals rather than semester leave. The latter offers more flexibility
with regard to lecture/course schedules and has fewer funding difficulties.
However, it limits the overall benefit in terms of a sustained period of active
research free from teaching and administrative duties. The MRG recommends
that the Department make more frequent use of a semester leave system,
integrated with the fewer opportunities for full-year funded sabbaticals.
Resources
The staff:student ratio (1:441 which will drop to 1:40 after a new appointment)
is very much an issue particularly in light of modularisation. The MRG was
impressed that the Department is able to provide excellent teaching,
administration and pastoral care to students, given the large numbers
involved. The MRG does not believe this excellence can be sustained in the
long term unless the staff: student ratio is reduced further. The MRG is also
concerned that for students, particularly undergraduates, there is very little
social connection with the Department or other students in the Department.
The MRG recommends that the Department consider ways of ‘capping’
undergraduate numbers.
An inequity and lack of transparency regarding resource allocation exists
within the Faculty. The MRG understands that the initiation of the Faculty of
Human Sciences following the subdivision of the Faculties of Arts and Celtic
Studies two years ago, resulted in a decrease in financial resources to the
Faculty. However, the method of allocating resources to departments is
unclear to the MRG and seems to be based on historical reasons rather than
FTEs. The MRG recommends that the University and the Faculty reconsider
their resource allocation model.
Facilities
The budgetary constraints also adversely affect the facilities of the
Department. Space is a key issue. It is paramount that all permanent staff
members continue to have their own office. With two new academic staff
appointments in the next few months, the MRG endorses the
recommendation in the PRG Report that this space be provided. The Dean
has promised to ensure that all staff continue to have individual offices. The
MRG endorses the views of staff that offices should be contiguous to the
Department.
The recommendation in the PRG Report, endorsed by the MRG, to allocate
an office as an administrative centre has not been met. This would allow
easier access to the Postgraduate Administrator, since currently access is
through the office of the Undergraduate Administrator. The existing office
1
Department of Politics Five-Year Quality Assurance Progress Report, November 2004
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space is inadequate for the normal running of an administration office. There
is no storage space.
The PRG Report recommended that the hours of access for students to the
Departmental Administrator be limited. However, as there are now two
administrative staff in the Department the MRG recommends that this limit be
removed. Both staff and students have commended the Administrative staff
on their openness and helpfulness and on their accessibility outside the
posted hours. The MRG believes that this openness is due to the
personalities and professional attitude of the Administrative staff involved and
a problem could arise with limitation of hours of access if staff changes occur
in the future.
One item in the Mini-Review Progress Report was the lack of direct telephone
access for staff. The MRG recommends that the Head of Department write to
the Telephones Service requesting that direct access be given if, on
reflection, the Department decides that such open access is desirable and is
within their budget.
3) Teaching & Learning and Research
The Department offers a wide range of courses to undergraduates who find
them interesting and of relevance. However, there appears to be a gap in
quantitative analysis throughout the syllabus. The running of tutorials seems
to be problematic with regard to catering for large groups of students in each
year. The tutors find the marking of essays involves an excessive amount of
work. However, the students appreciate the thoroughness of this work.
The PRG Report commented that ‘some students feel somewhat frustrated
because they do not know exactly what is expected of them in their
examinations’. This situation appears to have since changed and the students
who met with the MRG all reported that they had a very clear understanding
of what is expected of them. They were very supportive of the structure and
content of the courses and of the examination process.
The MRG got the impression from the Mini-Review Progress and PRG
Reports that double marking of examination scripts is not used by the
Department. However, during the interview with the Head of Department it
became clear that double marking of anomalous marks, all borderline cases
reviewed etc. is undertaken routinely. The MRG strongly approves of this
approach and considers it to be robust. The examination results of the
Department of Politics correlate strongly with the student exam results in
cognate departments. This is also the case with the spread of marks –
something which was highlighted in the PRG Report – and now an increased
proportion of undergraduate First and Upper-Second Class Honours degrees
are awarded, using University descriptors and in alignment with cognate
subjects.
The PRG Report recommended that the Department should devise a system
of formal student evaluation of teaching. While individual members of the
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Department carry out such an evaluation, the system is not uniform and is
sporadically applied. The MRG recommends that a formalised course
evaluation by students be instigated by the Department for all years or
courses.
The Department has recently started using “Blackboard”. Course notes are
available on-line. However, it was the view of the staff that more support in
using “Blackboard” is vital, particularly taking into account the varied levels of
technological abilities of staff in this regard.
The Department favours the idea of introducing Teaching Assistants (TAs) to
support large class teaching, to help reduce the academic staff’s teaching
workload and to increase research output. They envisage such a resource
being salaried rather than being paid hourly like tutors. This would provide
funding to the TA for their own research and they would be available for
teaching for the Department. The proposed TA position is similar to that of
Research Demonstrators in the Faculty of Science. This proposal has a
significant resource implication as it is not envisaged that they would replace
tutors. The MRG feels the proposal merits consideration but does not believe
that it has been fully researched.
The absence of a course in Research Methodology was identified in the PRG
Report. However, it was not an explicit recommendation that such a course
be provided. During the Mini-Review both the staff and students of the
Department identified this as a gap in the undergraduate curriculum. The
MRG is aware that the appointment of such a position would have major
resource implications. The Dean has proposed a compromise position which
would be of particular relevance after modularisation – a Lecturer in Research
Methodology shared between a number of departments in the Faculty, with
the discipline from which the person is drawn having him/her as a half-time
department member. The MRG sees two potential problems with this
solution: (a) it could be difficult to recruit someone who would, in effect, be a
technician with very little opportunity to develop their own academic interests
and (b) there may be resentment from departments that are not the ‘home’
department of the Lecturer. If this position is accepted by the Faculty of
Human Sciences and the successful candidate for the lectureship is housed in
a different department to Politics, then the MRG recommends that a part-time
lectureship be established to provide extra lectures in research methodology
of specific relevance to Politics.
This Department places a strong emphasis on research and all members of
the academic staff are research active. The Department is the most research
active in the Faculty2. There are very strong ties with a number of research
institutes, e.g. ISSC. Feedback from both staff members and research
students indicate that these links work well. The departmental structures for
support and monitoring of the progress of PhD students appear to be very
effective.
2
Faculty of Human Sciences Strategic Planning Dialogue Phase 1, Table 8, p.18
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With the increased emphasis in the University on maximising high-impact
publications, the Department should consider the most appropriate fora for
publication. In particular the balance between international journal
publications and books with reputable publishers needs to be addressed.
4) Faculty and University Support
A number of recommendations that were the responsibility of the Faculty or
the University were raised in the PRG Report and were highlighted again
during the Mini-Review. These included the following:
The Library – issues related to provision of core journals for the discipline and
other relevant journals necessary for research within the Department, and the
provision of textbooks were emphasised in the SAR 5 years ago and the
situation has since deteriorated. Staff reported having to use TCD Library
facilities to access mainstream Politics journals and books due to their
absence from the UCD Library. The Department should instigate a subcommittee to review and prioritise, on a regular basis, the Department’s
journal and book requirements in the context of the limited Library budget.
The MRG endorses the view of departmental staff that the provision of books
and journals is inadequate for the needs of the Department.
Personnel Department – staff reported good contact with individuals in the
Personnel Department. However, there were significant difficulties resulting
from lack of communication between Personnel and departments and a
general poor delivery of service particularly in relation to advertisements for
academic positions. Issues also arose regarding a lack of clear procedures
for interviews and informing successful and unsuccessful candidates. The
MRG recommends that the Head of Department bring these concerns and
issues to the attention of the Head of Personnel.
Bursar’s Office – again staff commented on good personal contact but
problems with late arrival of reports of Accounts, inaccuracies in these reports
and a lack of communication regarding updates to systems cause a lot of
frustration. The Head of Department should convey these issues and
concerns to the Bursar.
Recommendations of the Mini-Review Group
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Although the Department has a strategic vision, it is important that this
be crystallised and documented as soon as possible. The MRG
recommends that the departmental Strategic Plan, currently under
construction, should include long-term goals as well as dealing with
developments over the next five years.

The MRG recommends that the implementation of a rotating Headship
be instigated as a matter of urgency to allow for appropriate planning in
the near future.
7
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The MRG recommends that the Department consider drawing up a
work allocation model and having a transparent system for balancing
teaching, research and administrative duties between the academic
staff.

The MRG recommends that the Department make more frequent use
of a semester leave system, integrated with the fewer opportunities for
full-year funded sabbaticals.

The MRG recommends that the Department consider ways of ‘capping’
undergraduate student numbers. These may include the running of
Denominated Entry Degree Programmes.
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The MRG recommends that the Faculty, in conjunction with the
University, reassess the current resource allocation model in order to
allow a greater degree of transparent equity in funding for departments
in the Faculty of Human Sciences.
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The MRG recommends that all staff have individual offices that are
contiguous to the Department.
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The MRG recommends that an office be allocated as an administrative
centre.
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The MRG recommends that the limit to the hours of access to the
departmental administrative staff be removed.
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The MRG recommends that the Head of Department write to the
Telephones Service requesting that direct access be given if, on
reflection, the Department decides that such open access is desirable
and within their budget.
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The MRG recommends that in addition to exploring the possibility of
sharing a lectureship post in Research Methodology in the Faculty of
Human Sciences, the hiring of relevant expertise outside the
Department be investigated.
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The MRG recommends that a formal system of course evaluation by
students be instigated by the Department for all years or courses.
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The MRG feels the proposal to introduce Teaching Assistants to the
Department merits consideration but that the proposal should be fully
researched.
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With the increased emphasis in the University on maximising highimpact publications, the Department should consider the most
appropriate fora for publication. In particular the balance between
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international journal publications and books with reputable publishers
needs to be addressed.

The Department should instigate a sub-committee to review and
prioritise, on a regular basis, the Department’s journal and book
requirements in the context of the limited Library budget. The MRG
endorses the view of departmental staff that the provision of books and
journals is inadequate for the needs of the Department.
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The MRG recommends that the Head of Department bring the
concerns and issues raised regarding the Personnel Department to the
attention of the Head of Personnel.
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The MRG recommends that the Head of Department convey the
concerns and issues highlighted regarding the Bursar’s Office to the
attention of the Bursar.
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