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 1 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 2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance 2 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. 2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance 3 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 4 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 5 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 6 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 7 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. 2015-16 Version – APM Process and Procedures Instructions and Guidance 8