MINUTE of the SCHOOL MANAGEMENT GROUP
held in Room 302, 3 University Gardens on 18th September 2013
PRESENT:
Roibeard O Maolalaigh (Chair), Adam Rieger, Sheila Kidd, Nyree Finlay, Stuart Airlie, Ian Ruffell,
Michael Murray, Lynn Abrams, Thomas Clancy
APOLOGIES:
Ann Gow, Jeremy Huggett, Catriona MacDonald,
ATTENDING:
Pauline McLachlan
Table of Contents
Minutes of the meeting held 15th May 2013................................................................................................................... 1
Matters Arising .............................................................................................................................................................. 1
Head of School Update .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Head of Subject Update ................................................................................................................................................. 2
Administration/Finance Update ..................................................................................................................................... 2
School Committees ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
ROM welcomed NF to her first School Management Group meeting as HoSub Archaeology.
Action:
1.
2.
2.
Minutes of the meeting held 15th May 2013
The minutes were approved subject to corrections.
colleagues.
Matters Arising
PMcL will circulate to all School
PMcL
3.1 Mentors - A paper is awaited which will include a suggested 20 hours per year in the
WLM allocated to mentors.
3.2 Kelvin Hall – Phase one has been approved.
3.3 Modern Apprentice – The business case was not approved.
3.4 GTA proposal – Approved as was. PMcL to clarify implementation date.
PMcL
Head of School Update
4.1 Dr Jeremy Huggett – ROM offered thanks to JWH for his service as HoSub and
extended best wishes to him in his role as Chief Adviser.
4.2 Staffing – ROM reported on recent staffing matters:

Professor Michael Moss – Had now left GU, but had been nominated for honorary
status. A replacement G8/9 Lecturer/Senior Lecturer to be appointed.
 Brad Glisson – Appointed to the University of South Alabama. Congratulations
were offered. A short-term University Teacher will be recruited to assist with
CFED.
 Luke Houghton – Had resigned from his post during the summer and will leave at
the beginning of November. Thanks were offered for his services to Classics. A
replacement post had been advertised.
 Staff news:
Maria Economou – Appointed as Lecturer jointly between HATII/Hunterian Museum
Sim Innes – Appointed as Lecturer in Celtic & Gaelic
Jochen Schenk – 3 years Lectureship for Julia Smith’s Leverhulme project.
Ben White – History lecturer from 1st January 2014
Carol Vessella – University Teacher in Classics (LH replacement)
Marie Martin – University Teacher in Classic (Costas Panayotakis back fill)
Chris Mills – Teaching Assistant for Philosophy
International Officer – Professor Simon Newman appointed
Public Humanities Officer – Dr Daniel Scroop appointed
Complaints Officers – Dr Kenny Hutton and Prof Callum Brown
Advisers – Dr Campbell Brown, Dr Hugh Lazenby, Prof Peter Jackson, Matthew Barr.
Karin Bowie – Awarded a Teaching Excellence Award which will be announced at
College Council on 25th September. ROM encouraged as many School colleagues as
4.
possible to attend.
4.3 Focus Groups – ROM offered his thanks to Karin Bowie for her assistance in setting
the groups up. The Doodle had been completed by 70 staff, with 7 groups organised for
weeks beginning: 30th September and 7th October followed by a full School meeting,
probably in November, which Lawrence Clark will facilitate. It was agreed to hold on a
Wednesday afternoon in November.
4.4 Gender Equality Charter – Two Schools from GU were nominated: Law and
Humanities. Law was successful and will go forward to trial stage. It was agreed to await
the results and take the issues highlighted forward. It was also agreed to circulate the
student figures as they may contribute into REF environment statements. ROM offered
thanks to MM, LA and PMcL for their input.
4.5 KPIs – SoH needs to increase PGTS and PGRs and meet budget figures for RUK. PGR
completion rates also require monitoring.
4.6 PDR – The deadline for completion is 30th September. ROM requested and received an
update from HoSubs on progress.
4.7 Induction – LA had received guidance from HR and would circulate. ROM suggested a
SoH induction session. ROM confirmed that mentoring is not subject specific. It was
agreed that guidance on practical issues, such as systems access for MyCampus, Moodle
and obtaining a GUID would be helpful. MM suggested an induction meeting involving
newly recruited member of staff needs to meet, including the admin team. It was felt that
this would be very useful. A draft process will be produced.
4.8 Inaugural Lectures – Jan Stenger’s lecture will be held on Saturday 21st September in
the Humanities LT, followed by Dauvit Broun on 12th November and Peter Jackson on 21st
November Callum Brown in Semester 2 and Lynn Abrams and Fraser Macbride in Spring
2014. It was agreed to produce a consolidated list of lecture details.
4.9 College Council School Business – It was agreed to discuss further under AOB, but
suggested topics could include REF process ownership and CTT.
5.0 Dates to note – Chancellor’s Fund, school deadline is 18th September; SRA School
deadline is 26th September; R&R no dates as yet and Academic promotion deadline is 25 th
January 2014 with a school deadline to be announced.
5.1 GU KE Application process – ROM tabled guidance and the application forms as
circulated by Neil Bowering and encouraged colleagues to consider.
Head of Subject Update
5.
4.1 Admin Changes – LA expressed concern about the communication of admin team role
changes and at systems issues, particularly CMIS and MyCampus.
In relation to admin team changes, MM outlined that colleagues directly affected by
changes had been communicated with directly. MM also outlined that, in a wider sense, it
would also be useful for academic staffing changes to be communicated to the admin team.
It was agreed to again circulate a link to the admin staff A-Z which is available on the
School webpage detailing roles and responsibilities.
In relation to CMIS, MM outlined that a meeting with the newly appointed Process
Improvement Manager was scheduled for 24th September. The aim of the meeting was to
outline current issues and seek possible solutions; MM would update the group at next
SMG.
Administration/Finance Update
5.1 2012-13 Financial Summary – MM reported on 2012-13 performance and tabled an
overview. Overall, performance contribution was on target at 39 It was suggested that we
review in further detail at the next meeting. ROM offered thanks to MM for his budgetary
management.
5.2 Registration & Enrolment – MM reported on enrolment across the College of Arts:
83% had completed enrolment including financial registration and 50% had enrolled in at
least 120 credits, down on this time last year. MM also provided an update on Subject
Level 1 courses and the issues faced over the last few months, including manually enrolling
students, support works unable to resolve problems and JYAs unable to enrol. The
significant issue at the moment is the inability to enrol students if the course capacity
exceeds room capacity, with room capacity increases only possible following reallocation
from CTT. The main concern is a possible decrease in Humanities student recruitment as a
result Possible solutions were discussed including: requesting larger rooms, using locally
controlled space across the College andvideo linking/streaming content to other rooms. SA
suggested a review of the process in a few weeks. SA will also discuss the issue of ‘losing’
MM
LA
ROM/MM
/PMcL
PMcL
PMcL
MM
MM
MM
potential Honours students at School and College L&T meetings. The additional burden
being placed on admin staff was recognised. MM outlined that he would contact all
Humanities students who had as yet failed to enrol onto any credits with further guidance.
In the meantime, MM would also seek creative solutions to current problems with
Philosophy and History level 1 enrolment. It was also agreed to inform the Dean of
L&T of our intention to do this.
5.3 Admin Team Update – MM reported on some changes to administrative support:
MM

L&T History PGT from Christelle LeRiguer to Sara Murdoch and Kirsti-Ann
Mullen.
 Research Support/Graduate Studies – currently shared by Elaine Wilson and
CLeR. EW will now provide all research and research project support and CLeR
will support all PGR and Graduate Studies business.
 School requisitioning – Isabel Jones will become centralised School
Requisitioning Officer from 1st October with substitution provided by Jordan
McInally in the College Office.
5.4 Atypical Worker review – PMcL provided an update regarding the use of atypical
workers and stressed the need to monitor usage, extend the opportunities to all and review
levels of payments.
6.
School Committees
6.1 Graduate Studies
CMacD was not in attendance but had supplied a report on recent Graduate Studies
business to ROM in advance of the meeting:

PGR induction – To be held on 1st October and to be followed by a ‘social’ event
to which all new PGR and PGT students had been invited. (4pm in the Randolph
Hall, Main Building). Students have been asked to register in advance via
Eventbrite.

Postgraduate Committee – A date is being arranged for a meeting in early
October.

PTES - A major priority this year is to improve PTES results on 2012-2013. All
subjects drafted action plans and these will be monitored over the course of the
year.

HDBoS - To be held on 3rd October. All changes should have been processed via
PIP and passed to School this week. The College Office requires these for 19th
September.

Graduate Studies Board - To be held on 16th October. Please advise CMacD of
any issues you may wish to be raised at this meeting.

PGR Applications – From 1st October RIO will administer all incoming PGR
applications. Further information on how deferred offers for next year are being
handled is awaited. Application approval will remain with Subject experts and PG
Subject conveners remain the principal contact for academic staff.

Career Events - Two careers events will be held for PGT students in Humanities
in Semester 1.

Scholarships – The Alumni Office are actively fund-raising for two scholarship
funds particularly aligned to Humanities interests. These relate specifically to
landscape studies and Scottish studies. ROM and MM are to meet DAO to discuss
further.

New PGT Programmes – Colleagues were encouraged to consider the
development of new PGT Programmes and whether they could be beneficial to
Subject areas or across Subject areas. CMacD and MM are happy to facilitate in
the early phases of programme development.
 Admin support changes – Previously reported under Item 5.4
6.2 Research
TC reported on recent Research activity.


REF Update – An update per Subject was tabled and TC considers SoH to be on
target overall, with a few minor issues to be resolved and some larger issues which
require managing.
Environment & Impact Case Studies – At various stages across each UoA. TC
reported that concerns had been raised regarding the ownership of the studies and
PMcL
about delays in receiving feedback.
PGR and Income data – Figures awaited.
School statement – LA suggested a form of words on the School be produced for
inclusion in environment statements.
 CAP – To meet on 30th September and will be the last meeting for submitting new
staff for selection
 School Blog – TC, Daniel Scroop, IR and CLeR had met to discuss producing a
school Blog and will meet again to discuss further the way forward. The project
may require some technical/design assistance.
 Research Incentivisation – A discussion paper had been circulated in advance of
the meeting proposing to use incentivisation income in a more strategically
aligned way. Arts is the only College to have an incentivisation policy. There is
no current SoH policy. ROM reported that this was a discussion paper to review
how the funds are used and to enable us to spend the funds more strategically. PIs
will be involved in discussions and it should allow for more forward planning.
Useful comments had been received from Professor Dauvit Broun. MM outlined
the proposed process and ROM the panel composition. TC will take the discussion
paper to the School Research Committee meeting for further discussion.
 Research System Management project – MM has been involved in discussions and
the proposed roll-out date is October 2014.
6.3 Learning and Teaching
SA reported on recent L&T activity.


7.
 NSS – There had been very good results for Humanities. SA thanked all
colleagues for their efforts, particularly Honours Convenors and Administrators. The
return of prompt feedback remains an issue. SA will query regarding Q12 and asked
that students are made more aware of what constitutes personal development.
 Open Day – to be held on Saturday 26th October.
 Principal’s Advisory Group (PAG) – Had announced that the teaching day had
been extended to 6pm
 Careers – There will be a variety of initiatives rolled out in 2013-14. An event on
CVs is to be held on 3rd October and Ann Duff is keen to address all level 1 and 2
classes.
 UG BoS – SA reported that School scrutiny should be informed by Subject level
scrutiny. BoS is to meet on 30th October with a deadline of 16th October for PIP
submissions. School L&T Committee meets on 2nd October.
 Teaching Excellence reconsideration – SoH had been involved and SA will seek
an update from Alice Jenkins, who was involved in a project on Teaching Excellence.
 Learning Education Assessment Framework (LEAF) – A project to review
assessment methods involving Glasgow, Dundee, Nottingham and Birmingham. Initial
data gathering will be conducted by an L&T administrator.
 Philosophy PSR – Scheduled to be held at the end of February 2014.
AOB
7.1 Action Points – reported and agreed.
7.2 Next Meeting– ROM reported that budget allocations and L&T process improvements
would be discussed at future meetings.
7.3 Seminar – ROM encouraged colleagues to attend the seminar organised by Marina
Moskowitz to be presented by Professor Steve Lubar on Tuesday 26th September 2013.
TC
PMcL