Academic Partnerships
‘ACTION PLANNING’
Annual Programme Monitoring
(APM)
&
Academic Partnerships’ Quality
Assurance of APM
Process and Procedure: Instructions and
Guidance from autumn 2013
2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance
Contents
Glossary of Acronyms ............................................................................................. 2
The Cycle of Annual Programme Monitoring ........................................................ 4
Overview of ‘Action Planning’, the Output of Annual Programme Monitoring,
and Academic Partnerships Assurance of this Activity ....................................... 5
The Cycle of Procedures ......................................................................................... 6
2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance
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Glossary of Acronyms
Acronym Term
Explanation
ALP
Academic
A subject representative from the subject-cognate
Liaison Person Faculty/School at Plymouth University
AP
Academic
Partnerships
The new area (since Aug 2012) in the University
structure that has subsumed UPC, the International
Office and Quality Support
APM
Annual
Programme
Monitoring
The continuous yet cyclic process of managing a
programme through a mixture of monitoring and
reviewing the previous year, tactically planning for the
year ahead and strategically planning for the future.
Ultimately this is recorded on and hence informed by
Action Planning.
CIS
Corporate
Information
System
The University’s provision of quantitative data, for
example: recruitment, retention, achievement, module
marks analysis etc.
https://staff.plymouth.ac.uk//corpinfo/UPCAPM/intranet.
htm
EE
External
Examiner
EEs are found and proposed by the programme team,
but are appointed by the University.
FPM
Faculty
Partnership
Manager
The new role title for Subject Forum Chairs – in place
from August 2012
NSS
National
Student
Survey
A student opinion survey administered nationally across
Higher Education for students in the final stage of their
studies. (http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/)
PCM
Programme
Committee
Meeting
Occurring in Spring (strategic) and Autumn (tactical)
these are key meetings involved in the management of
programmes. Chaired by the PM/L, or other partner
appointed management representative, these involve
student representatives and programme staff.
PM/L
Programme
Manager or
Leader
These terms are used interchangeably across the
partnership, dependent on each College’s management
structure
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SAP
Subject
Assessment
Panel
These panels consider the assessment results within
modules, ultimately reaching agreement on the marks
awarded within modules but also providing an indicator
of the health of assessment across assessment
elements
SPQ
Student
Perception
Questionnaire
Similar to the NSS, this is a student opinion survey run
in-house by Plymouth University for stages prior to the
students’ final stage.
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The Cycle of Annual Programme Monitoring
NSS Results
Contact
ALP
Sept
Student Reps
EE Report
Contact EE
CIS Data
SPQ Results
SAP
June
Student
Handbook
The Action Plan is an
auditable live management
tool; employment of which
benefits from continuous
engagement with and
updating throughout the
academic year
Submission
of
Documents
to AP
Autumn
PCM
FPM – PM/L
Meeting
Dec Submission of
Change Requests
Spring PCM
Mar
EE’s Interim
Visit
2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance
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Overview of ‘Action Planning’, the Output of Annual
Programme Monitoring, and Academic Partnerships’
Assurance of this Activity
Programme-level Action Plans are employed to document the management of HE
programmes delivered with Plymouth University (PU), and thus exist to both lead
management activities over time and provide an auditable record for those activities.
This guidance document details the procedures and process, and includes
documentary templates, for Plymouth University awarded HE programmes delivered
in partnership by (predominantly) Further Education institutions through PU’s
Academic Partnerships (AP) office.
The Programme-level (incorporating module)Action Plan (hereafter referred to as
Action Plan) belongs to the Programme Committee but is led, directly managed by,
and the responsibility of the Programme Manager or Leader (PM/L) or partner
appointed alternate. A number of procedures relating to programme level standards
and quality management occur throughout the academic year; as such it is useful for
the PM/L to update their action plan at these points, rather than waiting for the
autumn term’s Programme Committee Meeting (PCM), as has been the general
approach with past templates for PCM agendas and Action Plans. It should be noted,
however, that an auditable copy of the Action Plan should only be submitted to
Plymouth University twice per year, after each PCM within which they will have been
approved by the committee.
In terms of providing clarity over responsibilities, for programmes delivered in
partnership with a delivering institution (the partner institution) the awarding
institution (Plymouth University in this case) ultimately has responsibilities for
academic ‘standards’ and ‘quality’, which are met through collegiate working, in a
developmental sense, and ultimately ‘quality assurance’ (QA) procedures (QAA,
20121&2). The University’s programme level QA of APM is managed by Faculty
Partnership Managers (FPMs) and is ultimately reported by the FPMs to the Joint
Board of Studies, which feeds into both the AP Action Plan and the College’s
own Action Plan.
1
QAA, 2012, The UK Quality Code for Higher Education: A brief guide,
www.qaa.ac.uk/assuringstandardsandquality/quality-code (25/03/13)
2 QAA, 2012, The UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Part B: Assuring and enhancing academic
quality, Chapter B10: Managing higher education provision with others,
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/Quality-Code-ChapterB10.pdf (23/05/13)
2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance
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The Cycle of Procedures
The cyclic but ultimately continuous management of programmes, through Action
Planning, gains from the Action Plan being both ‘live’ and continuous. It is therefore
useful for the Action Plan to be updated at the points of specific procedures during
the year, if not more often, and secondly that the Action Plan is submitted and filed at
particular points in the year. This latter importantly enables the Action Plan to be
‘refreshed’, post those submissions, by removing completed actions to avoid it
becoming unmanageably large over time.
The following details both the procedural activities that exist throughout the
academic year at which it is either useful or necessary to update the Action Plan,
and the points for documentary submission, through Academic Partnerships, to
Plymouth University:
What
When
How
Employ
/ Update
Your
Action
Plan
SPQ Results
June-July
To be considered when they are released at
the end of May.

Aug-Sept
To be considered and responded to as soon
as possible post receipt at the end of July.
‘Responses to External Examiners –
Minimum Requirements’ may be found at:
https://staff.plymouth.ac.uk//extexam/eerepo
rt/intranet.htm

EE’s Report
Submission of the PM/L’s Response to the EE Report Academic Partnerships
(deadline = 27th September)
NSS Results
Aug-Sept
Academic
Liaison
Person
Initiate
Sept-Oct
External
Examiner
Sept-Oct
To be considered when they are released at
the end of August.
Initiate contact at the start of the academic
year to arrange the ALP’s visit(s) with the
programme manager, their team and
students.
Initiate contact at the start of the academic
year to arrange:
- Review of draft exam papers.
- Opportunity to review other draft
assessment material.
- Visit(s) with the programme manager,
their team and students.
2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance
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
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Student
Reps
Sept-Nov
Corporate
Information
System Data
Oct
Programme
Committee
Meeting
Oct-Nov
PM/L
Meeting with
the Faculty
Partnership
Manager
Nov-Dec
Post-PCM
Appoint new / initiate contact with existing
reps to induct them into their position on the
programme committee.
To be considered quantitatively, when
released in October, in line with:
- Programme level: i.e. recruitment,
retention, achievement.
- Module level: i.e. achievement, pass
rates.
https://staff.plymouth.ac.uk//corpinfo/UPCAP
M/intranet.htm [ use ‘ctrl + f’ to search]
Informs, considers and ultimately approves
the development of the Action Plan to that
date, which should be in response to
monitoring the previous year of the
programme.
Brief the FPM on the Action Plan and enable
further discussion to help inform the FPM’s
report to JBS.
(Arranged via communication between the
FPM and College administration)




Submission of the following documentation to Academic Partnerships (deadline =
25th November 2013):
1. Post the above activities ‘Snap-Shot’ copy of the Action Plan.
2. PCM Minutes.
It is safe to now remove completed actions (dates pre this submission) from
the Action Plan to enable it to ‘refresh’ as it continues from this point.
Replacing the previous (pre-2013/14) annual submission of Student Handbooks to
AP, the following information should also be submitted by the 25th November:
3. Module Records: (as a pack) this is to capture in an auditable manner the
annual updating of the back page of each module record, which should have
been undertaken by the module leaders prior to the start of the academic year.
4. Programme Committee Membership: (in tabulated format involving positions
and modules etc) including any changes to module leaders and student
representatives should be updated annually by the autumn PCM.
Any proposals should be submitted by the
Programme
Dec
end of the Autumn term (through your
Changes
institution’s HE administration).
Programme
Committee
Meeting
Feb-Mar
Informs, considers and ultimately approves
the development and progression of the
Action Plan to that date.


Submission of the following documents to Academic Partnerships (deadline = 1st
June):
1. Post the above activities ‘Snap-Shot’ copy of the Action Plan.
2. PCM Minutes.
It is safe to now remove completed actions (dates pre this submission) from
the Action Plan to enable it to ‘refresh’ as it continues from this point.
2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance
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The EE should be provided the opportunity
to view assessment in practice and meet
EE’s Interim
Spring
with students on the programme.
Visit
Enabling the EE to view and engage with
the Action Plan is recommended.
Confirming marks AND reviewing the mean
and spread of marks across the elements of
assessment within each module. The data
Subject
from this is provided in the CIS data
Assessment Jun-Jul
released in Oct; however any significantly
Panel
negative indicators of ‘assessment health’
should be considered and drawn into the
Action Plan at / immediately post the SAP.
Submission of SAP and AAB Paperwork to Academic Partnerships (deadline = daily
post SAP or AAB):


Module
Records
Jun-Aug
The back page of each module record is
non-definitive and therefore should be
updated each year.

The above concludes the procedures and points at which the Action Plan should be
updated and the points at which documents should be submitted to Plymouth
University. These submissions are generally managed through each partner
institution’s HE management and administration which act as a central
communication with Plymouth University’s Academic Partnerships office; therefore
guidance should always be sought, by PM/Ls, internally within their institutions prior
to sending documents to Plymouth University.
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