Academic Affairs
Memorandum
To
Faculty PVCs
Interim Deans for Postgraduates
Heads of Schools
Chairs, School Postgraduate Research Committees
Director of Theology
University Co-ordinators (Collaborative Research Degrees)
School Managers
From
Professor M Topping
Dean of the Graduate School
Date
29 September 2015
Distribution
Professor J McElnay, Chair, Research and Postgraduate Committee
Professor T Millar, Chair, Collaborative Provision Group
Ms H McNeely, Acting Head, Academic Affairs
Mr R Millen, Head of the Graduate School
Dr M Spence, Academic Affairs
Ms E Devlin, Secretary, Collaborative Provision Group
Ms C Pollitt, Secretary, Postgraduate Advisory Body
Ms C McVeigh, Academic Affairs
Mrs K Henderson, Academic Affairs
Mr D Berryman, Careers, Employability and Skills
Mrs J Weir, Information Services
Annual Review of Research Degree Programmes
Procedures for the Annual Review of Research Degree Programmes 2014-15 include the following:
(i)
New tables have been added to the form at the recommendation of the Research and
Postgraduate Committee. These relate to offers made to PGR applicants, the number of
students per principal supervisor, and the analysis of temporary withdrawals.
(ii)
The Head of School is responsible for ensuring that all of the RDPs in the School are
reviewed each year. The School RDP Review Group(s) (which may comprise the School
Postgraduate Research Committee) should be chaired by the Head of School (or nominee).
Membership should include a student representative(s), and other stakeholders, where
appropriate.
(iii)
Qsis reports have been developed to aid extraction of the relevant data from Qsis. Training
sessions on the extraction of data from Qsis will be held in Training Room 2 in the McClay
Library, on Thursday 15 October 2015, 11.30am - 12.45pm and Monday 19 October 2015,
2.45pm - 4.00pm. Schools are invited to nominate two staff members to attend.
Registration for a session, entitled Annual Review of RDPs Reporting Workshops, is via
iTrent.
2
(iv)
Briefing sessions offering advice on the completion of the qualitative elements of the
template will be held in the Newark Room, 11am - 12pm on 16 and 20 October 2015.
Please confirm attendance for a session with academic-affairs@qub.ac.uk.
(v)
Please contact Clare McVeigh (c.mcveigh@qub.ac.uk) regarding any queries about PGR
collaborative arrangements.
(vi)
Student Survey data, including the Postgraduate Research Experience Survey, can inform
part of the Student Evaluations section.
(vii)
Schools should develop appropriate mechanisms to enable individual student evaluations to
be gathered and considered as part of the review process.
(viii)
Academic Affairs will provide Schools with data on formal complaints and CSRAC academic
appeals, where available.
(ix)
‘Employment Destinations: Profile of employment status of 2013-14 graduates, by RDP’
data is available from the Student Survey section of the DASA SharePoint site
(http://go.qub.ac.uk/StudentSurveys), accessible by Heads of School and School Managers.
Careers, Employability and Skills can advise further on access to this data.
(x)
It is advised that Qsis data reports are run on or after 2 November 2015 as this is when the
data is at its cleanest following enrolment and registration.
(xi)
The School Report template is available for download from the Academic Affairs website at:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicAffairs/ResearchDegreeProgrammes/AnnualRe
viewofResearchDegreeProgrammes/
(xii)
One Annual Review of RDPs School Report template should be completed by each School,
incorporating data for all RDPs (including Professional Doctorates) delivered by the School,
and signed off by the Head of School/Chair of the School Postgraduate Research
Committee, and the interim Dean for Postgraduates. The School Report should be sent to
Academic Affairs by Friday 11 December 2015.
(xiii)
The School Reports will be considered by the PGR Academic Review Group (a sub-group
of the University’s Research and Postgraduate Committee) in January 2016. The Review
Group will provide feedback to the Schools via the Deans for Postgraduates, and to the
Research and Postgraduate Committee, indicating areas which require attention, and areas
of good practice for dissemination across the University.
Please contact Dr Michelle Spence (michelle.spence@qub.ac.uk) in Academic Affairs if you have any
queries in relation to this process.