University of East Anglia and University of Essex
UNIVERSITY CAMPUS SUFFOLK JOINT ACADEMIC COMMITTEE
9 November 2011
MINUTES
Chair
Dr Aulay Mackenzie
Present
Phillip Belden; Dr Wayne Campbell; Dr Penny Cavenagh; Jacqueline Collier;
Christine Dobson; Jane Gamble; Chrissie Harrington; Richard Lister; Dr Mark
Lyne; Jen Mackness; Alison Rhodes; Professor Mike Saks; Carol Smith; Phil
Thirkettle; Erica Towner; Professor David Weir; Professor Jane Wright;
Jonathan Wright
Apologies
Angela Carter; Dr Pam Cox; Professor Valerie Lattimer; Professor Brendon
Noble; Professor Nigel Norris; Professor Naresh Pandit; Dr David Pevalin;
Professor Nigel South; Christine Walters
Secretary
Dr Kay Thompson
In attendance
Denis McAuley (deputising for Angela Carter); Fiona Fisk; Claire Nixon; Susan
Spencer; Sally Walker
Introduction and announcements
11/104
Members were welcomed to the first meeting of the 2011/12 academic year.
Minutes of the previous meeting
11/105
The minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 2011 were agreed to be an accurate record
of proceedings.
Chairs’ Report
11/106
Members noted a range of items for information as outlined in Paper JAC/11/97.
Update to Framework Collaboration Agreement Appendix 2: Operational
Responsibilities
11/107
Members approved the updated version of Appendix 2 of the Framework Collaboration
Agreement regarding operational responsibilities. It was noted that a tracked changes
version of the document would have been helpful, although the complexity of the
document made this difficult to produce in a legible manner.
Institutional review of UCS Lowestoft
11/108
Members received a report on the institutional review of UCS Lowestoft, which had
taken place on 12 October 2011. Staff at UCS Lowestoft had found the event useful,
but felt that in future it would be better for panel members to have a greater awareness
of the constraints of delivering higher education in a predominantly further education
environment. Those who had been involved in the review event noted that staff at UCS
Lowestoft had represented the college well, with the UCS Lowestoft panel member
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effectively clarifying any misunderstandings. The commendations for the commitment
of staff, employer engagement and academic support were highlighted.
11/109
It was reported that the HE Strategy would be updated in time for the next meeting of
the UCS Joint Academic Committee in March 2012.
11/110
It was recommended to the Senates of both validating universities that UCS Lowestoft
be reapproved as a partner institution of the University of East Anglia and the
University of Essex for a period of five years commencing September 2012, subject to
the conditions in the institutional review report being met by agreed deadlines.
Institutional review of UCS Bury St Edmunds
11/111
Members received a report on the institutional review of UCS Bury St Edmunds, which
had taken place on 13 October 2011. The College’s Vice Principal Curriculum and
Quality thanked the review panel for their input, and the contribution of students to the
discussions was commended. One of the key issues had been the use of the virtual
learning environment, Wolsey. It was noted that the College currently had three
sharepoint sites in operation due to a transfer of internal systems. This was a common
issue across UCS Learning Network Centres, and had also been picked up in the UCS
Lowestoft institutional review.
11/112
The commendations relating to the commitment and enthusiasm of academic and
support staff and the strong links with industry were highlighted.
11/113
It was recommended to the Senates of both validating universities that UCS Bury St
Edmunds be reapproved as a partner institution of the University of East Anglia and the
University of Essex for a period of five years commencing September 2012, subject to
the condition in the institutional review report being met by agreed deadlines.
Update on response to UCS Otley institutional review conditions and
recommendations
11/114
Members received an update on the response to the conditions of the UCS Otley
institutional review. As noted in paper JAC/11/101, the validating universities had
agreed that more detail was required in the original response to the conditions. They
had therefore decided to extend the original four year period of institutional validation
for a further period of up to one year to allow for measures and support to be put in
place to address the points made by the review panel. Representatives of UCS and the
validating universities had met with UCS Otley staff to discuss the action plan and
progress on this would be kept under review via the UCS Joint Academic Committee
over the current academic year.
Update on support for use of Wolsey within the Learning Network Centres
11/115
Members received an update from the Elevate team on the provision of the virtual
learning environment, Wolsey, across the UCS Learning Network, prompted by the
outcomes of recent institutional reviews.
11/116
Three key issues were identified:
i) Getting students enrolled in a timely fashion so that they can access Wolsey
ii) The variable performance of Wolsey within centres
iii) Encouraging effective use of Wolsey for learning and teaching within centres
11/117
UCS was currently in the process of separating the virtual learning environment and
the intranet, and it was hoped that this would help to improve system performance. The
Elevate team had increased the provision of direct support to staff and students within
centres, although the extent to which this had been taken up varied. The ability to
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create temporary logins had been useful where there were delays in student enrolment
on the UCS Student Record System.
11/118
Members discussed the limitations of the Blackboard system and noted that alternative
systems were being investigated by UCS.
11/119
Members agreed that use of Wolsey remained a significant issue and that firm action
needed to be taken to address this, with an escalation in awareness of outstanding
issues and oversight of action being taken to address them. Getting relevant staff from
all UCS centres together to resolve problems would be a useful step forward.
11/120
The UCS Provost highlighted the need to adopt a more proactive approach to sharing
expertise across the whole of UCS, for example through using technology to deliver
lecture series across a number of sites.
Update on Ofsted inspection of Initial Teacher Education
11/121
Members received a verbal update on the Ofsted inspection of initial teacher education
provision, which was delivered at all Learning Network Centres and coordinated by
Suffolk New College. The inspection had taken place during the previous week and so
a formal report on findings had yet to be received, but the lead inspector had provided
verbal feedback at the end of the visit. UCS had provisionally been graded as
satisfactory both in terms of overall effectiveness and capacity to improve, which was in
line with the findings of the previous inspection in December 2010. However, the
inspector had noted improvement in some aspects of the provision, and some subgrades were likely to increase to ‘good’, for example in relation to admissions and
recruitment, training and assessment, and anticipating change. A full report would be
provided at the next meeting.
General Social Care Council inspection report for Approved Mental Health
Professional Training, UCS Ipswich
11/122
Members received a report on the General Social Care Council inspection of the MA
Mental Health programme, which had taken place in May 2011. The initial risk rating at
the conclusion of the inspection had been red, but action had subsequently been taken
to address areas of concern and UCS had recently had the risk rating confirmed as
green.
11/123
Members noted that awareness of the inspection within UCS and the validating
universities had been limited. In response, UCS had taken firm action to ensure that all
future PSRB visits were centrally logged by UCS Registry and notified to all concerned
via the UCS Course Approvals Group (on which the validating universities were
represented). The GSCC had been asked to ensure that the validating university (in
this case UEA) was copied into all correspondence.
11/124
It was confirmed that the GSCC self-assessment process would also be monitored via
the Committee, to ensure appropriate oversight.
QAA Integrated Quality and Enhancement Review update
11/125
Members received the full reports on the IQER developmental engagements at UCS
Great Yarmouth and UCS at Suffolk New College, following consideration of the key
findings at the previous meeting. Members agreed that the outcomes had been broadly
positive and noted that action plans were in place to address recommendations and
share good practice.
11/126
UCS at Suffolk New College would be the first centre to go through the summative
review stage, and the self-evaluation document had already been submitted to the
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QAA following consultation with colleagues across UCS and the
The reviews would span the period January to May 2012 and
collaboratively, alongside UCS and the validating universities,
commended the work that the centres had put into preparing
them well for the summative reviews.
validating universities.
centres were working
to prepare. Members
for IQER and wished
Update on the approval of UCS Ipswich for the delivery of postgraduate research
degrees
11/127
Members received the report on the approval of UCS Ipswich for the delivery of
postgraduate research degrees, which had been approved by Chairs’ action during the
summer. The response to the conditions had been approved, although it was noted
that the workload allocation model would be kept under review by the Committee. The
forthcoming UCS institutional review would take an early look at the establishment of
research degree provision, although it was recognised that there would be very little to
consider at that stage.
Enrolment update 2011/12
11/128
Members received an update on recruitment and enrolment for the 2011/12 academic
year, and were pleased to note a 19% increase in applications at the start of the
academic year. The conversion had increased too and was currently 9% higher than
the previous year. To date, 5,553 students were enrolled (3624.31 ftes), representing
99.5% of the HEFCE target and with a few more enrolments to process at UCS Bury St
Edmunds and UCS Lowestoft.
11/129
Part-time and postgraduate applications and conversion rates were down, which was
partly attributable to uncertainty in the market and employers cutting back on staff
development budgets.
Student retention and achievement 2010/11
11/130
Members received a summary of retention and achievement during the 2010/11
academic year. The categorisation process for retention and achievement had been
abandoned and a threshold figure of 78% established to highlight courses with low
levels of retention and achievement (but sufficient student numbers to allow meaningful
data analysis). The courses below this threshold would be audited and the resulting
action plans reported through the SARE process.
National Student Survey (NSS) results and action plans 2011
11/131
Members received a summary of NSS results and action plans for all schools, centres
and support services. It was noted that although overall NSS results had increased by
3% since the previous year to 74%, this was still considerably below the national
benchmark figure of 83%. Behind the overall figures there were considerable variations
in performance across schools and centres. The School of Arts and Humanities at UCS
Ipswich and UCS Bury St Edmunds had performed particularly well. 100% of history
students at UCS Ipswich had expressed satisfaction with their course, and radiography
provision had been ranked first nationally for student satisfaction. In contrast, UCS
Otley and UCS at Suffolk New College had achieved low levels of satisfaction across
most areas. The overall satisfaction rate of 81% for the quality of teaching across UCS
provided a good foundation for future improvement, which would be crucial in light of
the launch of Key Information Sets in 2012/13.
11/132
A considerable amount of effort had been devoted to addressing the issues raised in
the NSS, involving meetings with all schools and centres undertaken by the Provost,
the Director of Academic Development and the President of the UCS Union. The
intention was to focus on key issues that, if addressed, would result in a significant
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improvement to students’ learning experiences. UCS had adopted a template for
school and centre action plans to ensure consistency. The absence of the UCS Otley
action plan from the agenda papers was acknowledged. An action plan had been
developed but required further work in liaison with the UCS Head of Quality
Enhancement. This would be circulated to JAC members shortly. The engagement of
the UCS Union in the process was commended, and in particular the production of a
separate students’ union NSS action plan.
11/133
Members noted that low scores were often linked to periods of change (for example
unforeseen staffing changes), and that in smaller centres student discontent in one or
two courses could significantly affect overall results.
11/134
The importance of keeping the previous year’s action plan under review was
emphasised, so that issues were not lost and successes could be promoted to students
(for example through ‘you said, we did’ campaigns). The link between NSS action plans
and the SARE process was noted. UCS was considering how best to fit the two
processes together to avoid duplication. The dissemination of good practice formed an
integral part of the SARE process and provided a mechanism for sharing expertise in
schools or centres with strong NSS results.
11/135
The robust response to the NSS results was commended by the Committee.
Update on internal student survey results 2010/11
11/136
It was reported that the internal student survey had received a very disappointing
response rate of just 8%, resulting in only a limited amount of information that was of
use to course teams (mainly in the form of qualitative comments). In order to improve
the response rate, the survey would coincide with the NSS survey in 2012.
New course proposals
11/137
Members granted outline approval for publicity purposes to the following new course
proposals:
UCS Ipswich
BA (Hons) Care Practice (level 6 progression route)
PGCert / PGDip / MA Healthcare Education (by distance learning)
PGCert / PGDip / MA Journalism
UCS Otley
BA (Hons) / BSc (Hons) / BA (Ord) / BSc (Ord) Land Based Studies (level 6
progression route)
11/138
The intention to recruit overseas students to the MA Healthcare Education distance
learning course was noted, and clarification was sought on how work-based learning
and mentoring would be managed for these students. The Head of the School of
Nursing and Midwifery confirmed that considerable research was being undertaken
regarding the management of distance learning and the course team were conscious of
this issue.
Periodic review proposal
11/139
Members considered a proposal to bring forward the periodic review of BA (Hons)
Dance in the Community at UCS Ipswich, in light of requested changes to the course
title and content. It was agreed that the Chairs of the Committee would decide outside
the meeting whether a periodic review was the best way to handle the changes, or
whether it could be dealt with through the course modification process.
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Update on Quality Enhancement Strategy 2010/11 action plan
11/140
The UCS Head of Quality Enhancement reported that the quality enhancement
strategy was now an integral part of the overall UCS strategic plan, with a separate
strategy now seeming superfluous. The Committee endorsed the proposal that the
maintenance of a separate strategy be discontinued, with quality enhancement to
become a more explicit element of the annual academic report action plan. It was
noted that most points from the 2010/11 quality enhancement action plan had been
taken forward and that any outstanding issues would feed into the SARE process.
The use of Key Performance Indicators within UCS
11/141
Following on from discussions at the previous meeting, the UCS Provost provided an
update on the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) within UCS. Although all
headline KPIs were the responsibility of the UCS Board, some were of interest to the
Joint Academic Committee (for example relating to recruitment, NSS results, external
reviews and employability). It was agreed that a summary of relevant KPIs would be
circulated to the Committee, with an occasional standing item on the agenda to receive
an update on KPI attainment levels.
Additional updates to JAC membership and terms of reference for 2011/12
11/142
Additional updates to the membership and terms of reference of the Committee for
2011/12 were approved.
Update to professional misconduct / professional unsuitability procedure
11/143
The amended professional misconduct / professional unsuitability procedure was
approved.
Chairs’ Action
11/144
The Committee noted action taken on behalf of the Committee by the Director of
Partnerships (UEA) and the Dean of Academic Partnerships (Essex) to approve a
range of items as listed in Paper JAC/11/118.
11/145
It was recommended to the Senates of the validating universities that the title of FdSc
Sports Development and Coaching at UCS Bury St Edmunds be changed to FdSc
Sports Coaching and Development.
11/146
It was recommended to the Senates of the validating universities that BEng (Ord)
Operations Engineering be included as a climb-out award for the existing BEng (Hons)
Operations Engineering level 6 progression route at UCS Lowestoft (for students
completing their Foundation degree at UCS only).
11/147
It was recommended to the Senates of the validating universities that BSc (Hons)
Acute Healthcare Practice (Accident and Emergency) be reinstated as an award,
following discontinuation at the meeting of the UCS Joint Academic Committee in June
2010.
11/148
It was recommended to the Senates of the validating universities that the following
courses be discontinued:
UCS Ipswich
BA (Hons) Digital Media (with immediate effect)
BA (Hons) Performance (with immediate effect)
UCS Otley
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FdSc Sustainable Land Use Management (one student to complete during 2011/12)
Validated programmes 2011/12
11/149
Members received a summary of programmes currently validated across UCS.
Joint Board of Moderators accreditation report: FdSc / BSc (Hons) Civil
Engineering, UCS Bury St Edmunds and UCS at Suffolk New College
11/150
Members received the accreditation report for FdSc and BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering
at UCS Bury St Edmunds and UCS at Suffolk New College, following an accreditation
visit in February 2011.
Annual report on the conduct of assessment boards
11/151
Members received the annual report on the conduct of assessment boards in 2010/11,
and noted that the action plan was being taken forward via the Partnership
Management Team.
Annual report on complaints, appeals, academic misconduct and professional
misconduct / unsuitability
11/152
Members received the annual report on complaints, appeals, academic misconduct
and professional misconduct / unsuitability during 2010/11.
Summary of external examiner appointments 2011/12
11/153
Members received a summary of external examiner appointments for the current
academic year.
Updates to summary of core responsibilities of Learning Network Centres in
delivering HE
11/154
Members received a summary of core responsibilities in delivering HE within each of
the five Learning Network Centres.
Updates to Validation Handbook for 2011/12
11/155
Updates to the Validation Handbook (now renamed Partnerships Handbook) for
2011/12 were noted.
Update on response to 2010/11 validation conditions
11/156
Members received an update on the response to conditions and recommendations of
validation and revalidation in 2010/11, and noted that all conditions had been signed off
by panel chairs.
Update on requirements tracking
11/157
Members received an update on the response to requirements of validation and
revalidation, noting that some requirements were outstanding and would be followed up
by UCS Registry.
Schedule of validation, revalidation and periodic review events for 2011/12
11/158
Members received the schedule of validation, revalidation and periodic review events
for 2011/12.
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Report from Policies and Procedures Working Group
11/159
Members received the minutes of the Policies and Procedures Working Group meeting
held on 5 September 2011. Minor updates to various policies and procedures were
noted, as outlined in the minutes.
Report from UCS Academic Board
11/160
Members received the minutes of the Academic Board meeting held on 6 October
2011.
Any other business
11/161
It was noted that Dr Aulay Mackenzie, Dean of Academic Partnerships, would be
leaving the University of Essex shortly to take up a new post in London. Dr Mackenzie
was thanked for his role in co-chairing the committee and his significant contribution to
the establishment and ongoing development of University Campus Suffolk, and he was
wished well for the future.
Date of future meetings
11/162
Wednesday 7 March 2012, 10.00 - 12.00, UCS Ipswich
Thursday 7 June 2012, 14.00 - 16.00, UCS Ipswich
Dr Kay Thompson
Academic Standards and Partnerships Manager
University of Essex
November 2011
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