Timetabling Policy
Summary and Overview
1.
2.
3.
4.
Introduction
Purpose and scope
Guiding principles
Definitions
Policy
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
The teaching year
The teaching week
Teaching events
Teaching space
Teaching staff
Students
Prioritisation of teaching events
Notification of constraints
Non-teaching events
Student electives
Timetable publication
Room booking
Addendum - Roles and Responsibilities
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Timetabling Team
Heads of Department
Vice Deans Academic
Departmental Timetabling Coordinators
Faculty Timetabling Coordinators
Academic staff
Students
Nomenclature
For convenience, ‘Department’, ‘Head of Department’, etc is used throughout the document but
this should include ‘School’,’ Head of School’ etc, where appropriate.
May 2012
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Summary and Overview
1
Introduction
1.1 The Timetabling Team, (hereafter referred to as TT) is responsible for the production of
the annual teaching timetable. In producing the teaching timetable, the TT undertakes to
recognise and act on the needs and requirements of a range of stakeholders, principally
students but also teaching staff and departments. The TT aims to produce an equitable
and workable timetable that is designed to meet defined constraints, including optional
pathways within courses, staff and student availability and the availability of suitably
equipped teaching rooms and facilities.
1.2 The terms of this Timetabling Policy will be applied fully, consistently and fairly across
the University.
2
Purpose and Scope
2.1 This document sets out the University’s policy in respect of :
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the preparation and production of the University’s teaching timetable
the provision of facilities to support teaching
the booking of central pool teaching space for non-teaching events.
Guiding Principles
3.1 The timetable will be designed based on:
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The primacy of the student learning experience
The pedagogic imperatives as identified by the teaching staff
The need to rationalise and make efficient use of space and resources
The need for equality of access to teaching facilities
The need to provide timely and accurate timetabling and room booking information
to students and staff.
3.2 The timetable will be ‘demand-led’, constructed on the basis of accurate and up-to-date
data, in the knowledge of students’ class choices where possible (for continuing
students) and based on predictions of class choices (for new students). Each year the
timetable will be constructed from scratch from updated data regarding teaching
events as described in section 7.3 below. While some similarity from year to year
is desirable, neither time slots, nor the rooms allocated for teaching activities are
automatically rolled forward from one year to the next.
A range of factors will be taken into account when developing the timetable:
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Accurate data on all teaching activities
Accurate data on all teaching rooms
Central pool (CP) and departmental teaching facilities
Student choice – pathways
Student availability – standard teaching week
Staff availability – standard teaching week
Clustering / distribution of activities across the teaching week
Geographic ‘zoning’ of activities where possible
Prioritisation of teaching and other ‘bookable’ activities.
Definitions
4.1 TT – Timetabling Team within Estates Services.
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4.2 CPT - Central Pool Teaching and Learning space which is centrally managed and
timetabled and used for teaching and non- teaching events.
4.3 Course (Programme) – a group of teaching activities delivered regularly during normal
semester periods only and comprising compulsory classes, or compulsory and optional
classes.
4.4 Departmental Timetabling Coordinator (DTC) – a nominated person within each
academic department responsible for the management of the timetabling process at
departmental level as described in section 19 of this policy.
4.5 Faculty Timetabling Coordinator (FTC) – a nominated person responsible for
management of timetable at Faculty level as described in section 20 of this policy,
including the liaison between academic staff, the Departmental Timetabling Coordinators
and the TT who will manage timelines within the departments, seek possible resolutions
to difficulties and negotiate solutions on a Faculty wide basis.
4.6 Syllabus Plus (S+) / Enterprise – the name of the timetabling software.
Policy
5
The Teaching Year
5.1 The University operates a 52 week year, with weeks numbered consecutively from 1 to
52. 1 August (or the nearest Monday) is defined as the start of week 1 and teaching will
be scheduled during the following weeks:
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Semester 1 – weeks 9-20 inclusive
Semester 2 – weeks 26-35 and 38-39 inclusive
5.2 The week structure is published online in advance of the academic year by the TT at
http://www.strath.ac.uk/media/ps/estatesmanagement/roombooking/UniversityTimetablin
gWeekPattern20112012.pdf
5.3 For clarity, and lack of confusion, all published timetables and all timetable
communications will use the week numbering as defined above.
6
The Teaching Week
6.1 The standard teaching week extends from Monday to Friday. Standard teaching hours
are from 09:00 to 17:00 except for Wednesday (see below) and students are expected to
attend scheduled activities within this period.
Teaching activity outside the standard
hours is permitted provided:
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Students and staff have been consulted
Head of Department has approved
Faculty Timetabling Coordinator has approved.
6.2 On Wednesdays teaching events for undergraduates will normally be scheduled to take
place from 09:00 to 13:00 in order to facilitate participation in sporting activity. Teaching
events may however be scheduled to take place after 13:00 where no alternative
timetable slot is available elsewhere during the week.
6.3 Teaching starts at 5 minutes past the hour and ends at 5 minutes to the hour, to allow
students and staff to move on to their next teaching event.
7
Teaching Events
7.1 Teaching events are associated with an approved class. Classes are designed and
delivered by departments (in this context Department is a generic term intended to
include centres with students and other academic units which deliver teaching). Each
department will determine the format of the class it delivers, including:
The start date of the class
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The number of weeks for which it will run
The number of teaching events per week
The format and duration of each teaching event
The teaching staff who will deliver the event.
7.2 The Student Records System will provide the definitive record of classes that are being
delivered during the teaching year.
Departments must provide SEES with
information about classes for these purposes.
7.3 Syllabus Plus shall hold the definitive record of the number and format of teaching events
associated with a class, the weeks during which the teaching events will occur, and the
teaching staff who will deliver events. DTCs shall provide the TT with information about
teaching events for these purposes.
8
Teaching Space
8.1 All bookings in teaching space, regardless of whether they are in centrally-managed
or departmentally-managed rooms, must be made via S+ in order to provide
comprehensive information about space utilisation and to support the publication of full
and accurate timetabling information to staff and students.
8.2 An ongoing process of increasing the number of Central Pool teaching resources and
reducing the Departmental generic teaching capacity will be pursued in order to facilitate
a more efficient use of the current estate. Where Departmental facilities are retained,
Departments are required to justify this, either on the grounds of specialist facilities (for
example teaching laboratories) and/or on the grounds of a high level of effective
utilisation.
8.3 Where ‘ownership’ of the space is retained by departments, departments will be able to
utilise those rooms as required for teaching activities. However if departments do not
require to fully utilise that space there will be an expectation that the space will be made
available during its free slots if required for central timetabling.
8.4 All ad hoc use of departmentally managed space should be booked via the Web Room
Booking system. Vacant slots in departmentally-managed rooms should be bookable for
non-teaching events by other departments. These should be booked via the Web Room
Booking system.
8.5 The number of participants in any teaching event must not exceed the capacity of the
room allocated.
9
Teaching Staff
9.1 The Head of Department, or nominee, shall determine the allocation of teaching staff to
teaching events. Departments must strive to provide this information within the data
collection deadlines. Doing so will minimise the impact that any potential staffing clashes
will have on changes to the published timetable. Where Departments do not or cannot
provide staff names within the data collection deadlines, the HoD or nominee will be
responsible for allocating the teaching staff to the scheduled teaching event and for
communicating this information to students. Amendments to the final timetables to
accommodate problems arising from the non-allocation of staff can only be made in
exceptional circumstances.
9.2 Staffing constraints will be handled in accordance with the following policy:
9.3 Staff on teaching-only contracts can be scheduled to teach at any time during the
teaching week, subject to contractual arrangements (see 9.3.3 below);
9.3.1 Staff on teaching and research contracts may be scheduled to teach at any time
during the teaching week, subject to contractual arrangements (see 9.3.3 below).
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9.3.2 Part-time and external staff shall be scheduled to teach at times specified by the
Department, in accordance with the contractual arrangements relevant to each
individual.
9.3.3 Constraints on staff availability for teaching must be authorised by the Head of
Department. The Head of Department is required to take into account the
potential impact of these constraints on the viability of the teaching timetable.
9.3.4 The limits on consecutive taught hours for teaching staff are set as follows:
Lectures
Classes/Laboratories
:No more than three consecutive hours
:No more than four consecutive hours
10 Students
10.1 Full-time students are expected to be available at any time during the teaching week.
Students taking a standard course in part-time mode are expected to select classes in
accordance with their own availability. Teaching for students studying part-time in
modular mode, e.g. on a ‘day-release’ basis, will be scheduled in accordance with
constraints specified by the relevant department.
10.2 The TT undertakes to schedule combinations of compulsory classes on courses so that
they do not clash. The timetabling of optional combinations of classes is informed by
the selections students have made via the class selection process. However, where
optional class choices are not received in time to inform the production of the teaching
timetable, which is particularly true for first year undergraduates students, the TT
undertakes to minimise the clashing of optional combinations of classes wherever
possible, but cannot guarantee to do so (see section 7.2). Where a student enrols for
two classes with a timetable clash between lectures, they are required to change one of
the conflicting classes.
10.3 In accordance with the University’s policy on equality and diversity, the University will
make every effort to accommodate students with individual requirements relating to
disabilities. Students requiring individual arrangements must inform Disability Service
as soon as possible in order that they can be taken into account when scheduling
teaching. Disability Service will liaise with the TT regarding reasonable adjustments and
will advise students on other alternative arrangements where adjustments could not be
considered reasonable.
11 Prioritisation of Teaching Events
11.1 The following are guidelines for the prioritisation of activities:
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Precedence will be given to teaching activities associated with Classes which are
offered to students across multiple programmes, departments or Faculties.
(These activities may also be scheduled earlier, because of the greater number of
student availability constraints).
Larger classes will have precedence over smaller classes.
Learning events which are regular, full-semester bookings will have precedence
over sporadic or single-week bookings.
Activities which have a longer duration will take precedence over events of a
shorter duration.
In the case of specialist resources, precedence will be given to learning activities
which explicitly require access to the specialist equipment and/or accommodation.
Learning activities, including class tests and students placements, timetabled
during the annual timetabling process will take precedence over all other bookings.
Exams, exam boards and graduations will be scheduled after teaching events, but
within the same booking window as the teaching timetable. Bookings for
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Departmental Open Days and UCAS may be requested as part of the timetable
construction process, however due to the demand on teaching space there is no
guarantee that the rooms required will be available.
Events such as departmental receptions, internal conferences and symposia and
research seminars will be scheduled after the scheduling of teaching events,
examinations, exam boards and graduations.
12 Prioritisation and Notification of Constraints
12.1 The timetabling process recognises two levels of constraint; ‘hard’ constraints, and
‘soft’ constraints. These constraints must be notified to the TT by DTCs. Hard
constraints are inflexible restrictions, while soft constraints express preference and can
be applied flexibly.
Hard constraints will include the following:
1. Suitabilities (Equipment) - Where teaching activities have set equipment
requirements
2. Sequencing - When tutorials must always follow Lectures for Classes taught on a
Programme
3. Breaks - A lunch break time of one hour between the hours of 12 – 2.00 will be set.
4. No more than 4 hours of consecutive classes/teaching for students
12.2 Soft constraints will include the following:
1. Avoiding large unscheduled gaps between teaching events on the same day, e.g. a
teaching event on a Monday at 9 to 10 with no further event scheduled until Monday
4 to 5.
2. Avoiding an undesirable distribution of lectures for students and staff e.g. all
teaching on the same two days or conversely spread sparsely across all five days.
3. Locations - Where a central pool teaching room in a building or zone is requested.
4. Zoning of the campus to manage travel constraints
12.3 Constraints will be set at institutional level.
12.4 Constraints will be geared mainly towards the needs of students, not staff.
13 Non-teaching events
13.1 Centrally-managed teaching space may be used for a wide range of internal nonteaching events. With the exception of bookings for centrally-managed examinations
and graduation ceremonies, bookings for teaching events (see section 7 above) will
take precedence over bookings for non-teaching events. Conflicts of interest may arise
where centrally-managed rooms are required simultaneously for internal bookings and
commercial bookings. Such conflicts will be referred to the Chief Operating Officer,
whose decision will be final. The Chief Operating Officer may delegate his/her authority
in this respect.
14 Student Electives
14.1 Where degree programmes incorporate provision for student choice of classes, giving
rise to multiple pathways, the timetable will provide for a reasonable amount of choice
for the most popular pathways but it must be recognised that the larger the number of
pathways included the more impossible it is to achieve a clash free timetable. All
departments must therefore identify and prioritise the reasonable feasible pathways
within their degree programmes. Departments should, when developing and reviewing
academic pathways, give full consideration to the timetabling issues and should seek to
minimise complexity wherever possible.
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14.2 Uncertainty in student numbers for any teaching activity is a major problem for
timetabling. Where students are continuing (either for a new session or for Semester 2)
the deadlines for student choice should be robustly enforced by departments.
15 Timetable Publication
15.1 The final teaching timetable is the version that is approved for publication by the TT
following consultation with Departmental Timetabling Coordinators. Only minor and
essential changes, e.g. those arising from a late change to student numbers, will be
accepted after its publication (all change requests must be submitted using the relevant
pro forma – see Appendix 3)
15.2 A final draft timetable will be available to view online, or in hard copy, for a period of at
least two weeks before formal publication. During this period DTCs are responsible for
ensuring that the timetable is appropriately reviewed and checked to ensure that all
teaching events have been entered correctly and resourced appropriately. This
includes ensuring that staff and locations are assigned to teaching events.
15.3 Changes to the teaching timetable after publication in the first week in September
should be kept to a minimum. Changes requested by departments will only be made at
the request of the DTC. Valid reasons for changes include:
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unexpected staff changes;
a location that is/becomes a health or safety hazard;
a class is no longer deemed viable to run;
reasonable adjustments to accommodate students/staff with individual needs;
class size exceeds the capacity of the room allocated;
additional occurrences have to be scheduled to take into account of a growth in
student enrolments on the class.
15.4 Departmental Timetabling Coordinators are responsible for notifying all those staff and
students affected by a change to the published timetable.
16 Room Bookings
16.1 The use of rooms for teaching events takes precedence over use for non-teaching
events.
However there are non-teaching events which are essential to the
management and operation of the University. Therefore specific non-teaching events
will be accommodated as follows:
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calendar of events activities in the University Diary for the Academic Year will be
accommodated within the timetabling process;
essential centrally-managed University events and functions,
including
examinations, graduation, student recruitment events and core Freshers’ events
will be allocated appropriate space prior to the scheduling of the timetable. The TT
will act on advice from the relevant stakeholder offices within the University;
departmental-level activities and programmes in Freshers’ week (week 1) will be
allocated appropriate space prior after the scheduling of the timetable and after the
core events have been included;
16.2 Upon final publication of the teaching timetable, departments, administrative sections
and support services may make room booking requests for any available centrallymanaged space. The process for making a room booking is outlined in Appendix 4.
16.3 Room booking requests for conferences or any event which involves external parties or
the charging of any fee must be made via Conferencing and Events.
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16.4 The TT will not accept bookings directly from individual students. Student Clubs and
Societies which are recognised by USSA may use the room bookings service provided
by TT in accordance with published policy and procedures.
16.5 In the event that a room booking is no longer required, the person who has booked the
room must inform TT by e-mail as soon as is practicable. The TT will confirm the
cancellation and release the space back into the available room pool.
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Addendum - Roles and Responsibilities
17 Heads of Department
17.1 The Head of Department (or nominee) is responsible for:
i.
appointing a Departmental Timetabling Coordinator and delegating authority to
him/her, as appropriate, to manage timetabling activity in the department;
determining the allocation of teaching staff to teaching events;
determining constraints on the availability of staff for teaching, in accordance
with the Timetabling Policy and relevant guidance from the TT
resolving any conflicts which may arise at departmental level in relation to
timetabling.
demonstrating the need for a generic departmental teaching room to remain as
part of the department space allocation on an annual basis, as part of the
department occupancy survey.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
18 Vice/Associate Deans Academic
18.1 The role of the Vice/Associate Deans Academic is to liaise between the Project
Steering Group and the departments within their Faculty, ensure that departments
within their Faculty are complying with the University Timetabling Policy and manage
any conflict which arises either within their Faculty or cross Faculty. All timetabling
amendment requests in each Faculty will be processed through the relevant VDA who
will prioritise them, give guidance on implementation to the TT, and communicate
directly with Timetabling Coordinators in their respective Faculty. Through time it is
hoped that some, if not all of these responsibilities can be delegated to the FTCs.
19 Departmental Timetabling Coordinator (DTC)
19.1 There is a designated ‘Departmental Timetabling Coordinator’ (DTC) in each
Department . In order to support this role Departments either must ensure they have
more than one person within their Department able to fulfil this role, or that they ‘buddy
up’ with another Department with the DTC covering if necessary for any periods of
absence for the other Department’s DTC.
19.2 The DTCs have authority to liaise with academic staff within their Department or
School, and to liaise with the Timetabling Team. This appointment must therefore be
fully supported by the Head of Department/School.
19.3 Role Description – Departmental Timetabling Coordinator (DTC)
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Collects data on all UG and PG teaching activities from academic colleagues
Checks that all UG and PG teaching activities are included
Has knowledge of delivery of activities
Has knowledge of student pathways
Has knowledge of constraints at Departmental level
Has knowledge of staff availability
Has knowledge of Departmental teaching facilities
Ensures that all timetabling deadlines are adhered to
Works with other DTCs, the Faculty Timetabling Coordinator, and the Timetabling
Team to develop the draft timetable
Checks draft timetables at relevant points in the timetable construction process,
liaises with colleagues and coordinates their responses as appropriate
Liaises between academic colleagues and the Timetabling Team concerning
timetabling issues in general and negotiates the resolution of issues
Filters all Department amendment requests to ensure that only essential requests are
sent to the Timetabling Team, and not requests in the ‘nice to have’ category
Is the primary point of contact between the department and the Timetabling Team
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 Is able, empowered and supported to take decisions.
20 Faculty Timetabling Coordinator (FTC)
20.1 The Faculty Timetabling Coordinator will work with the DTCs and with the Timetabling
Team to resolve issues at Departmental level. The FTC must be supported and
empowered by the Dean to take Faculty-wide decisions. This role should be filled by a
senior academic.
20.2 Role Description – Faculty Timetable Coordinator (FTC)
 Manages and supports the tasks of the DTCs, including by appropriate
communications to the Dean, HoDs and individual academic staff
 Negotiates with HoDs to ensure that the DTCs are granted sufficient time, and have
sufficient training, to undertake their duties effectively
 Where DTCs are unable to resolve amendment requests, ‘adjudicates’ on a Faculty
basis
 Liaises with the DTCs and the Timetabling Team to resolve problems and, if
necessary, to finds innovative solutions
 Advises DTCs on the creation and acceptability of constraints
 Represents the Faculty on the Timetabling Steering Group
 Is able, empowered and supported to take Faculty decisions.
21 Academic Staff
21.1 Academic Staff are responsible for:
i.
responding to requests for information from Departmental Timetabling
Coordinators in relation to the production of the teaching timetable;
alerting Departmental Timetabling Coordinators to the presence of disabled
students on courses (however the Disability Service is responsible for provision of
advice on the requirements of individual students.)
setting class timetables in accordance with these guidelines
notifying Departmental Timetabling Coordinators of any specific requirements
relating to teaching events, e.g. AV or IT facilities;
ensuring that teaching rooms are left in a clean and tidy condition, including
cleaning of whiteboards, and that the room is returned to the standard layout
where changes have been made during the teaching session;
informing the Departmental Timetabling Coordinator of any difficulties arising
from teaching activity, e.g. relating to the size of allocated rooms;
reporting any problems with teaching rooms, e.g. relating to equipment, furniture
or cleanliness, by e-mail to roombookings@strath.ac.uk.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
22 Students
22.1 Students are responsible for:
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selecting optional classes, using the relevant class choice process, in a timely
manner;
viewing and checking the teaching timetable regularly;
notifying Disability Service as early as possible of any individual requirements
relating to disabilities, in order that they can be taken into account during the
timetabling process.
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