UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE
(Wednesday 11 May 2011, 2.00pm – 4.15pm)
MINUTES
Chair
Professor Jane Wright, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic Standards)
Secretary
Rachel Lucas, Assistant Registrar (Quality)
Present
Dr Burnett, Dr Cox, Mr Davies, Ms Fletcher, Dr Hughes, Dr Johnson, Mr Luther, Dr
Mackenzie, Mr Murphy, Ms Murray, Dr Penman, Dr Pevalin, Mr Reily, Dr Stimson, Dr M
Jones, Mr Yates (for Dr J Jones)
Apologies
Dr Campbell, Professor Manson, Dr Wood
In attendance
Ms Warr, Ms Clifton-Sprigg, Ms Nixon, Miss Poole (Minute Secretary)
Noted
The Chair welcomed all members to the last meeting of the Quality Assurance
and Enhancement Committee (QAEC) of the academic year, her first as Chair.
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STARRING OF AGENDA ITEMS
Noted
Agenda items 3, 4 and 12 were additionally starred for discussion.
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The minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2011.
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MINUTES
Approved
MATTERS ARISING
Task and Finish Group on Academic Standards
Noted
The Task and Finish Group were drafting their final report, which would be sent
to Academic Board in advance of the June meeting of Senate.
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The Group had explored the introduction of a winter examination period in
response to the Students’ Union’s call for autumn only modules to be assessed
when taken, rather than in the summer. The Group had concluded that further,
more detailed, work would be needed if this was to be pursued.
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Recommendations would be made regarding the range of assessment, clarity
and timeliness of feedback, access to examination scripts and the need to
focus on plagiarism prevention rather than just detection.
CHAIR’S ACTION (QAEC/11/20)
Admissions Sub-Committee Report
a. Amendments to Admissions Regulations
Noted
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Standards) had taken Chair’s Action on
behalf of the Committee to recommend to Senate that the amendments to
regulations relating to admissions set out in Appendix A to paper QAEC/11/20
be approved with effect from the 2011/12 academic year.
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b. Approval of Admissions Policies
Resolved
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic Standards) had taken Chair’s Action on
behalf of the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee to recommend
to Senate that the Undergraduate Admissions Policy for 2011/12 and the
Graduate Admissions Policy for 2011/12 be approved.
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Senate had subsequently considered the Admissions Policies and determined
that the two policies should be combined into a single Admissions Policy.
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that, the Admissions Sub Committee should submit the combined
undergraduate and graduate Admissions Policy to the next meeting of QAEC.
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QAA INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW: ENGLAND AND WALES (QAEC/11/21)
Noted
The new method for Institutional review announced by the QAA in April 2011
and in particular the increased profile of students in the process. The
University engaged students actively in the majority of its decision making
processes and hoped that this would be of benefit in the revised audit process.
It would be interesting to see how the changes operated in practice, given a
judgement would now be made in three areas: standards, quality and
enhancement (with formal judgements on the quality of public information to
begin in 2012-13).
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Reported
The first theme had been announced as the 1st year student experience. This
was an area the University was presently working on and it would be
interesting to reflect on the outcomes of this theme in the light of University
findings and identified action.
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EXTERNAL REVIEW OF EXTERNAL EXAMINING FINAL REPORT AND
RECOMMENDATIONS (QAEC/11/22)
Noted
At its meeting in November 2010, the Quality Assurance and Enhancement
Committee received a verbal update report from the External Examiners
Working Party advising that the UUK/Guild HE review of External Examining
was outstanding. Subsequently, the report had been published and the
Committee was able to consider how best to address the resulting
recommendations.
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Resolved
that the External Examiners Working Party should be asked to consider the
report and determine how best the University should respond.
Recommendations for action should be made to a future meeting of the
Committee.
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STUDENT CHARTERS (QAEC/11/23)
Noted
The Student Charter Group Final Report published in January 2011.The value
of having a Charter, particularly in the light of the new fee regime, was
recognised. The PVC (Resources) had been leading a group working on
defining the University ‘brand’ and this group might be best placed to reflect on
the adoption of a Student Charter.
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Resolved
that it would be advisable for the University to start work on drafting a Student
Charter. The PVC (Academic Standards) to liaise with the PVC (Resources).
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PROGRESS REPORT FROM EMPLOYABILITY ACTION GROUP (QAEC/11/24)
Noted
The progress report from the Employability Action Group. The ‘Big E’ brand
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had been powerful and worked well; however, the Group had concluded that,
in order for real progress to be made there needed to be formal recognition
through an award or via the transcript of students’ extracurricular work.
The active involvement of the Deans had been beneficial this year and it was
hoped the newly appointed Director of Employability and his team would be
able to implement further changes.
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REPORT FROM THE RULES OF ASSESSMENT REVIEW GROUP: REVIEW OF THE
OPERATION OF EXAM BOARDS (QAEC/11/25)
Noted
There were no recommendations for major changes, rather a call for more
consistency in strategies, and a streamlined approach to be taken.
Resolved
that:
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there should be no major changes to the structures of exam boards in the
immediate future;
Deans and Academic Officers should discuss ways of streamlining the
operation of the main exam boards to make effective use of staff time;
In line with Senate requirements, a reassessment strategy for every
department must be approved by the Faculty Dean in advance of the
examination boards in order to ensure the smooth operation of the Boards.
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wherever possible Deans should explore the establishment of main
examination boards which combined the consideration of UG results from
more than one department;
Deans should liaise with departments which currently held several PGT
exam boards to consider different groups of courses so they could
amalgamate the meetings;
if the post of Faculty Associate Deans were approved, then the postholders should chair the PGT exam boards;
the University should work towards more common practices between the
operation of UG and PGT exam boards;
the University should continue to explore the uses of technology in
enhancing the operation of the boards and reducing the need for paper
grids;
the External Examiner Working Party should consider the most effective
way of involving External Examiners in the exam board process;
the University should make more use of video conferencing to reduce the
need for External Examiners to travel to Essex for exam boards;
the Head of LiFTs should be asked to produce a brief explanation of how
external examiners are utilised in the department, for circulation as an
example of best practice.
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PROGRESS REPORT FROM SUB-COMMITTEE ON LEARNING AND TEACHING
INNOVATION (QAEC/11/26)
Noted
The Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIF) selection had met the
previous week and had received fifteen applications. A focus on Faculty or
University-wide projects addressing technology-enhanced teaching and
assessment, the transition to HE, employability in the curriculum and student
mobility had been encouraged. Eleven of the applications had been approved.
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The Excellence in Teaching Award (ETA) recognised teaching excellence at
experienced, early career and GTA levels. Applications for the award were low
and the Sub-Committee was considering changes to the process to encourage
take-up.
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3
LEARNING AND TEACHING STRATEGY UPDATE (QAEC/11/27)
Noted
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COMPLETION RATES AND WITHDRAWAL ANALYSIS (QAEC/11/28)
Noted
Completion rates and withdrawal were a matter of great concern for the
University, however, the data presented to the Committee would benefit from
further explanation. In particular, a more detailed breakdown in respect of the
‘null’ and ‘no tariff’ categories would be helpful. That the Planning Office should
be asked to provide a more detailed breakdown of completion and withdrawal
statistics for circulation to the Deans for discussion within the Faculties.
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UPDATE ON QAA CODE OF PRACTICE SECTION 8: CAREER EDUCATION,
INFORMATION, ADVICE AND GUIDANCE (QAEC/11/29)
Noted
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ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Noted
The Committee extended its thanks to those members whose term of office
had come to an end and expressed its gratitude for all the hard work they had
undertaken on the Committee’s behalf.
Miss Victoria Poole
Graduate Trainee
May 2011
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