Unapproved
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Wednesday 16 October 2013
2pm - 4.15pm
MINUTES
(Unreserved)
Chair
Professor Jane Wright
Present
Dr Andrews, Ms Bernsten, Professor Fox O’Mahony, Ms Houlihan, Dr Jones,
Professor Landman (from 3pm), Dr Luther, Mr McAuliffe, Dr Micklewright, Professor
Norval, Ms Padurariu, Dr Penman, Mr Potter
Apologies
Ms Fisher, Mr Johnson, Professor Underwood
Secretary
Mr Stock
In attendance
Mrs Nixon
STARRING OF AGENDA ITEMS
Noted
Items in Section A of the agenda relating to Education Strategy and Policy are
starred automatically for discussion.
The following additional items were starred for discussion:

Committees reporting to the Education Committee - Membership and
Terms of Reference (item 5)

Art History IELTS Change for Postgraduate Taught Provision (item 14)
EC/13/01
EC/13/02
Resolved
That, for all future meetings, requests for additional items to be starred for
discussion either in the General Business and Academic Business (Section B)
Sections of the agenda must be sent to the secretary by midday on the day
before the day of the meeting. This approach was in line with Senate and
members agreed that it would ensure that any additional information required
to facilitate the discussion could be made available and, where necessary,
authors of the papers linked to newly starred items could be invited to attend.
EC/13/03
BUSINESS TAKEN WITHOUT DISCUSSION
Approved
Without discussion, those items not already starred on the agenda or indicated
at the meeting
1
EC/13/04
EDUCATION COMMITTEE – MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF
REFERENCE (EC/13/01)
Noted
EC/13/05
COMMITTEES REPORTING TO THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE –
MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF REFERENCE (EC/13/02)
Received
A paper prepared by the secretary setting out the membership and terms of
reference of the Committees reporting to the Education Committee.
EC/13/06
Noted
Professor Wright provided the background to the establishment of the
Education Committee, which was as a result of the recommendations from the
Working Party on the Review of the Effectiveness of Senate in relation to the
University’s academic decision-making structures, which had created a new
Senate Committee structure. The Education Committee was a major subcommittee of Senate and would be undertaking important and hard work to
develop and monitor implementation of the Education Strategy. It was noted
that the new structure was genuinely new with significant new features and
fresh membership and terms of reference and was not simply a renaming of
previous Committees. In particular, it was noted that the Executive Deans
would chair the new Faculty Education Committees and Heads of Department
would be members.
EC/13/07
EDUCATION ACTION PLAN 2013-14 (EC/13/03)
Noted
Professor Wright stated that the Education Action Plan for 2013-14, which had
been approved by Senate in June 2013, provided a set of actions for initiation
and implementation during the 2013-14 academic year. It was stressed that
delivery would be undertaken in partnership across the institution between
Faculties, Departments and the Professional Services. Discussions were
already under way with colleagues in the Academic Section, Learning &
Development and the Strategic Planning and Change Section regarding the
timescales and next steps for delivery.
EC/13/08
During discussion, the following was noted:

Two papers were being prepared for consideration by the Faculty
Education Committees and then Education Committee during the
Autumn term 2013 in relation to assessment: (i) the principles of good
assessment design (Dr Andrews), and (ii) the Rules of Assessment
and the processes through which the examination grids were
produced, particularly within the context of borderline degree marks
and approaches to marking (Mr McAuliffe).
EC/13/09

Work was being undertaken to assess practice in relation to the new
student adviser arrangements following the approval by Senate in April
2012 of a new policy in this area.
EC/13/10

Consideration had already started in relation to the items in the action
plan regarding the review of Student Assessment of Modules and
Teaching (SAMT) and the plans for a new student experience survey
to replace the existing Student Satisfaction Survey (SSS). It was noted
that the SSS would run as normal in 2014 with the new survey
expected to be run from 2014-15 onwards. Members noted that the
timing of the new survey in the academic year would be crucial to
EC/13/11
2
ensure that survey feedback could be acted upon in a way that
enabled any changes implemented in response to the survey to benefit
the students who had participated and provided the original feedback.
It was agreed that the new survey should ensure feedback was sought
from postgraduate research students.
EARLY ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE AGAINST STRATEGIC PLAN KEY
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (EC/13/04)
Received
A paper prepared by Dr Sonia Virdee (Director, Strategic Planning and
Change) and Dr Ray Lashley (Head of Planning), which provided an early
overview and assessment of the University’s performance against the
Education-related Key Performance Indicators set out in the Strategic Plan.
EC/13/12
Noted
While welcoming the University’s strong performance in overall student
satisfaction, members expressed caution in relation to some areas, particularly
learning resources, personal development, teaching and assessment and
feedback where the rankings were lower. It was noted that further work was
needed to ensure students were familiar with and understood the terms used in
the survey, for example, the definition of learning resources did not focus solely
on IT facilities but encompassed the full range of resources available to
support learning. It was also acknowledged that the learning resources ranking
covered resources available across the University’s three campuses where the
planned investment through the establishment of The Forum in Southend and
improvements in Loughton would not yet have had an impact. Members noted
that the University was also committing substantial resources to personal
development through the implementation of the Employability Strategy and that
the review of the student adviser system (included in the Education Action Plan
2013-14) was timely.
EC/13/13
The University’s commitment to the maximisation of student benefit being at
the heart of its core mission was reiterated. The role the Education Committee
would play in ensuring that the issues arising from the survey outcomes were
addressed properly to meet this commitment was underlined, particularly
through the new planning process and reporting to Faculty Education
Committees, as well as integration through the development of the Education
Strategy.
EC/13/14
Members expressed concern about the drop in the overall graduate prospects
ranking from 92nd to 113th but welcomed the increase in graduate employment,
noting that the decline in performance was attributed to a fall in students
continuing on to postgraduate study. Discussion focused on work that could be
done to support the uptake of postgraduate study and preparing undergraduate
students for further study. Ideas included identifying potential students at the
end of level 5 with a view to supporting them to achieve the required 2.1 to
enable postgraduate study, particularly where the overall year mark at that
stage was just below 60. There was discussion about the impact of small
cohorts at postgraduate level on the student experience, where, in some
cases, there were as few as one or two students enrolled on a programme of
study. It was recommended that the work already started to consider small
cohorts was continued to ensure it covered postgraduate courses in order to
maximise the most attractive and positive student experience for those wishing
to undertake further study at postgraduate level.
EC/13/15
It was noted that the University's performance on good degrees correlated
strongly with Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) outcomes
EC/13/16
3
and that the data for the 2012-13 leavers indicated a significant improvement,
which should have an impact in the forthcoming survey.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAMME (EC/13/05)
Received
A paper prepared by Dr Jo Andrews (Head of Learning & Development) setting
out details of the new Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme
(UROP) scheme, which would be available to students from November 2013.
EC/13/17
Noted
Dr Andrews stated that the new scheme had been proposed as part of the
overall work to embed research-led education. It was envisaged that the
programme’s impact would be limited initially but was expected to grow over
time. Ten bursaries would be available for each Faculty and a light touch
application process had been developed. Executive Deans would decide how
the bursaries would be allocated within each Faculty.
EC/13/18
During subsequent discussion, members noted that the programme would be
available in 2013-14 to undergraduate students in the middle year(s) of study
who achieved a year mark of 60 or above. This threshold had been set
deliberately to safeguard the quality and credibility of the programme. It was
noted that the programme was designed to reward excellence and that
Departments and Schools were free to undertake their own local programmes
if they wished to proceed with different eligibility criteria. It was agreed that the
60 year mark threshold should be retained but that inclusion of the word
‘normally’ would enable flexibility where required. It was also suggested that,
once the programme was established, it may be sensible to review the criteria
in order to ensure these kinds of opportunities were available more widely as
the programme grew in the future.
EC/13/19
ACTION PLAN TO IMPROVE POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENT
COMPLETION AND AWARD RATES (EC/13/06)
Received
A paper prepared by Professor Aletta Norval (Dean of the Graduate School)
providing progress in relation to plans to improve postgraduate research
student completion and award rates.
EC/13/20
Noted
Members noted that, although completion rates were excellent in relation to
Research Council funded students due to stricter rules, around 25% of
postgraduate research students currently withdrew each year without
completing their award.
EC/13/21
Led by Professor Norval, members discussed each item of the action plan.
During discussion the following was noted and agreed:

Although the University Steering Group had approved some elements
of the action plan, other areas required approval by Senate.
EC/13/22

Compulsory training for all supervisors would be introduced. It was
also suggested that there should be training introduced for Chairs of
Supervisory Boards.
EC/13/23

Regarding the options for revising the arrangements for confirming
postgraduate students, members agreed with the general principle that
early confirmation should be sought but there was concern expressed
about introducing the changes without considering the full impact. It
was agreed that analysis would be undertaken of practice in other
EC/13/23
4
institutions alongside further reflection on the impact of introducing the
change at Essex. It was noted that there were particular implications
for the Faculty of Science and Health.

An additional column would be added to the table in the action plan to
allow deadlines for each action to be included.
EC/13/24

The revised action plan would be considered by Faculty Education
Committees on 4 December 2013 and the Education Committee on 18
December 2013 with a view to submission to Senate for approval in
January 2014 in relation to those areas that fell within Senate’s remit.
EC/13/25
DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATION STRATEGY
Noted
Professor Wright stated that the Education Committee would play a key role in
developing the new Education Strategy and confirmed the arrangements for
the away day scheduled for 23 October 2013 for Committee members to
discuss the Strategy. A small Task and Finish Group had already started
developing the key themes, which had been discussed at the recent University
Steering Group away day. Documentation would be circulated to the members
before the away day.
EC/13/26
Members noted that the draft Strategy would be considered by the Education
Committee in December 2013 and Senate in January 2014 before being
subject to consultation across the University during the Spring term 2014. The
final version would be submitted to Senate for approval in April 2014.
EC/13/27
QUALITY ASSURANCE AGENCY HIGHER EDUCATION REVIEW (EC/13/07)
Noted
EC/13/28
REPORT FROM THE ACADEMIC QUALITY AND STANDARDS COMMITTEE
(EC/13/08)
Noted
EC/13/29
VARIATIONS TO RULES OF ASSESSMENT (EC/13/09)
Resolved
That the proposed variations to the Rules of Assessment in relation to the MA
Psychodynamic Counselling and the BA Sociology with Social Anthropology be
recommended to Senate as set out in paper EC/13/09.
EC/13/30
ART HISTORY IELTS CHANGE FOR POSTGRADUATE TAUGHT PROVISION
(EC/13/10)
Received
A paper from the School of Philosophy and Art History requesting approval for
a change to the IELTS requirements for Art History postgraduate taught
provision.
EC/13/31
Noted
There was discussion about the reasons for lowering the IELTS requirements.
Members noted that the current requirements were not justified in comparison
to those in place at other, well-respected institutions and may prevent wellqualified applicants from applying to study at Essex. It was envisaged that the
change would support an improvement in the recruitment position but was
EC/13/32
5
subject to monitoring of student performance and review for the 2015-16
recruitment cycle.
Resolved
That the proposed the changes to the Art History postgraduate taught IELTS
requirement for 2014-15 entry be recommended to Senate as set out in paper
EC/13/10.
Richard Stock
Deputy Academic Registrar
Secretary, Education Committee
Academic Section
16 October 2013
6
EC/13/33