SB/2007/56
Medway School of Pharmacy- ‘School Board’
Minutes of 13th July 2007
MEDWAY SCHOOL OF PHARMACY
SCHOOL BOARD
Minutes of the meeting of the Medway School of Pharmacy School Board held on
Friday 13th July 2007 in PBL Suite 1 Anson, Second Floor
Present:
Members:
Professor Clare Mackie (Chair)
Dr Buge Apampa
Mrs Harminder Deol
Mrs Catherine Dewsbury
Ms Debby Dixon
Ms Lynn Gallagher
Mrs Min Keating
Dr Gurprit Lall
Dr Ali Nokhodchi
Dr Ruth Rodgers
Mrs Ngozi Sagay
Mrs Trudy Thomas
In attendance:
Dr Cleopatra Branch
Dr Luigi Calzolai (left at 4pm)
Dr Maxwell Casely-Hayford
Miss Marie Chatterton
Mrs Gaby Clezy
Dr Alison Edwards
Dr Tara Ghafourian
Dr Bernhard Gibbs
Mr Stuart Gill-Banham
1.
Mrs Jane Hinton
Dr Stephen Kelly
Dr Eleni Kyriani
Mr Hajinder Lall
Mrs Carol Mayger
Mr Abdul Mohammed
Dr Xiaoju Shi
Dr Vadim Sumbajev
Welcome and Apologies
The Chair welcomed colleagues to the last formal meeting in her role as Head
of School of Pharmacy. The meeting was mainly to sign off and complete
tasks outstanding for this academic session before the new Head of School
(HoS) took up post next month. The Chair informed members that Prof
Alistair Mathie would be acting HoS from 16th -27th July, and Dr Buge
Apampa from 30th July to 10th August.
Apologies were received from Dr Alison Bratt, Dr Sarah Corlett, Mrs Linda
Dodds, Professor Alistair Mathie, Dr Tim Paget, Dr Simon Scott and Mr John
Whitmore.
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2.
Minute of the previous School Board meetings
2.1
Paper SB/2007/27 – School Board minutes of 31st January 2007
Members were asked to confirm with Ngozi Sagay their attendance so that the
minute may be completed. Subject to this change the minute of the meeting
was approved.
2.2
Paper SB/2007/28 – School Board minutes of 14th May 2007
The minutes of the meeting were approved.
3.
Matters arising not otherwise on the agenda
Paper SB/2007/29 – Update on current membership & terms of reference.
This paper notes that there is only one subcommittee of the School Board
(L&Q). The Chair suggested that we formalise the Health and Safety
Committee as a subcommittee of the School Board and establish a new
Research and Enterprise Subcommittee (with Ethics Subcommittee) to be
chaired by Professor Alistair Mathie. Professor Mathie was not present at the
meeting so a decision on this to be deferred to when Professor Mathie is
present. Alison Edwards asked if the Undergraduate Learning Resource
Committee should be a subcommittee of the School Board and the Chair
responded that this would be more appropriate to be a subcommittee reporting
directly to the Learning and Quality Subcommittee in a similar fashion to the
Student Staff Liaison Committee as both committees have a large student
membership. Professor Mackie apologised that she had not included the
minutes of this committee which Alison chaired which should have been
included under Section A.
Action: This item to be placed on agenda of next School Board
Revised membership was tabled to take account of recent changes in
responsibilities. Nominations had previously been requested and it should be
noted that Dr Gurprit Lall had been nominated as an early career academic
representative. A further vacancy exists for an early career academic and
nominations to be submitted to Ngozi Sagay prior to the next meeting. In
terms of representative subject groupings a vacancy existed for a nomination
from the clinical and professional practice group.
Action: Nominations for vacant posts on School Board to be made to
Ngozi Sagay to be considered by new Head of School
Other matters
An agreement had been reached between the University of Greenwich and the
University of Kent such that the University of Kent will take the lead on
research as all academic staff currently have a University of Kent contract.
HEFCE have confirmed that the University of Greenwich cannot submit any
pharmacy staff on a University of Kent contract to the 2008 RAE.
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PART A: Items for noting
4.
Minute of the Student Staff Liaison Committee
4.1
Paper SB/2007/30 - Minutes of SSLC meeting held on 14th March 2007
The minute of the SSLC meeting held on 14th March 2007 was noted.
Dr Buge Apampa (Chair of SSLC) gave a brief report on the proceedings of
the meeting. Officers of the MPSA had now been appointed. Harminder Deol
will replace her as Chair of the SSLC next academic session.
There was discussion around postgraduate students being members of the
student staff liaison committee. The Chair advised that the current
membership reflects students taught on campus and sees little value in
including distance learning postgraduate students whose needs are very
different. She suggested that a virtual forum could perhaps be considered as a
means of engaging postgraduate distance learning students.
Action: Trudy Thomas to establish a virtual forum for distance learning
postgraduate taught students
The Chair stated that one PhD student had previously been a member of the
Student Staff Liaison Committee and that consideration should be given to
establishing a separate Student Staff Liaison Committee as a subcommittee of
a new Research and Enterprise Subcommittee and that Professor Mathie be
asked to explore this as PhD student numbers rise.
Action: Professor Mathie to consider the best forum for liaising with PhD
students as numbers arise
5.
Note of the Special Circumstances Committee held in June 2007
5.1
Note of Foundation Degree Special Circumstances Committee held on
Friday 15th June 2007 – Paper SB/2007/31
An amendment was noted to the decision recorded under Stage 2 for
0000339208. It should read that “The Board agreed for the student to retake
the PDDA2 written exam paper. However the external examiners condoned
the paper due to the nature of the special circumstances” to allow the student
to graduate. The minute was confirmed.
5.2
Note of MPharm Degree Special Circumstances Committee held on
Monday 18th June 2007 – Paper SB/2007/32
The minute of the Special Circumstances Committee held on the 18th June
2007 was confirmed.
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6.
Minutes of the June Programme Assessments Board
6.1
Minute of the Postgraduate Certificate Prescribing Programme
Assessment Board held on Friday 8th June 2007 - Paper SB/2007/33
The minute of the Postgraduate Certificate in Prescribing Programme
Assessment Board held on Friday 8th June 2007 was confirmed.
6.2
Minute of the Foundation Degrees Programme Assessment Board held on
Monday 18th June 2007 - Paper SB/2007/34
The minute of the Foundation Degrees Programme Assessment Board held on
Monday 18th June 2007 was confirmed. The Chair expressed disappointment
at the continuous assessment errors reported after the Board with one resulting
in a change in academic decision such that the student could graduate. This
resulted in having to contact the Lead External Examiner for approval prior to
the graduation ceremony held earlier today. It should be noted that this did no
reflect on data entry but course co-ordinator’s inability to submit marks for
coursework and lab books. There was a need to develop a cross-check system
between receipts given to students for continuous assessment and marks
entered on the spreadsheet to distinguish between a zero for a late submission
and a zero awarded for no submission.
Action: Dr Rodgers to review a double check system of inputs and outputs
6.3
Minute of the MPharm Programme Assessment Board held on Tuesday
19th June 2007 - Paper SB/2007/35
The minute of the MPharm Programme Assessment Board held on Tuesday
19th June 2007 was not circulated due to last minute amendments. This will be
circulated after the meeting. The Chair expressed disappointment with the
number of coursework assessment errors spotted after the Assessment Board
and this together with 6.2 above emphasised the need for Dr Rodgers recent
appointment to the new post of Head of Examination and Assessment.
7.
Minutes of the Learning and Quality Sub-committee
7.1
Minutes of the L&Q Sub-committee held on 4th May 2007 – Paper
SB/2007/36
The Chair apologised that this minute had not yet been circulated and
promised to circulate them next month on her return from holiday.
7.2
Minutes of the L & Q Sub-committee held on 5th July 2007 – Paper
SB/2007/37
The Chair apologised that this minute had not yet been circulated and
promised to circulate them next month on her return from holiday.
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8.
Professional Body Accreditation
8.1
Final report of the MPharm RPSGB Step 6 Accreditation visit held on 7th
February 2007
The RPSGB report (Paper SB/2007/38) had been previously circulated and
was available on the shared drive. The School response on factual accuracy
(Paper SB/2007/39) was also available on the shared drive as it contained
track changes. There were no conditions and one recommendations “That the
School and Universities of Kent and Greenwich give further thought to the
senior management of the School, to ensure a stable structure is in place to
secure succession planning and long term strategic development.” This was
particularly pertinent to the Chair’s departure with the RPSGB informed that
Iain Cumming had been appointed as Head of School with Dr Apampa as
Deputy Head and a commitment given by both universities that the
management and organisational structure would remain as before through the
Joint Planning Group.
8.2
Draft report of the FdPP RPSGB accreditation visit held on 1st May 2007
The report was not yet available, when it was it would be circulated for
comment on factual accuracy only. The Education Committee was due to
consider the draft report on Wednesday 11th July 2007. Unfortunately due to
the large agenda the committee had been unable to consider this item. The
Chair wanted to record thanks to Damien Day for obtaining Chairman’s
approval early this morning to enable us to announce that we had received full
accreditation at the graduation ceremony held earlier today.
PART B: Items for discussion
9.
External Examiners reports and Nominations
The Chair declared her intention to draft responses to all external examiner
reports in late August following staff discussions 9.1-9.3 below.
9.1
MPharm – To agree draft responses to Papers SB/2007/40 - 43
Overall the external examiners comments about were all very positive about
the examination and marking process. Members were congratulated on this. It
was noted that the Awards title was incorrect for all four reports, they should
read “MPharm”. Each report was briefly discussed however the Chair felt that
at these papers were tabled it would be more appropriate to allow staff to
provide comment to be incorporated into the final School response. In view of
impending holidays the Chair suggested that staff be given a month to provide
comments to Joanna Mowbray.
Action: Response to be forwarded to Joanna Mowbray by 2nd week in
August
The Chair apologised that Paper SB/2007/44 (Professor John Dearden’s
report) was not yet available due to technical difficulties with the website. It
would be circulated to all members when available.
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9.2
Fd Pharmacy Practice – To agree draft responses to Papers SB/2007/4549
Overall the external examiners comments about were all very positive about
the examination and marking process. Members were congratulated on this.
The five reports were discussed and members invited to submit comments to
Joanna Mowbray as per item 9.1 above. The Chair apologised that Paper
SB/2007/50 (Professor John Dearden’s report) was not yet available due to
technical difficulties with the website. It would be circulated to all members
when available.
Action: Response to be forwarded to Joanna Mowbray by 2nd week in
August
9.3
Fd Medicine Management – To agree draft responses to Paper
SB/2007/51
It was noted that the Awards title was incorrect. It should read “Fd Medicines
Management”. No other items were raised as this was the first board to
consider this programme and no students had received exit awards.
9.4
Nomination of new external examiners – To consider Papers SB/2007/52
& 53
The nomination of Mr. Peter Clark for short course provision (SB/2007/52)
was approved by the board.
The nomination of Professor Elizabeth Ann Kay for the PgCert/Diploma in
General Practice Pharmacy (SB/2007/53) was approved by the board.
10.
Annual Student Surveys
10.1
The Mock National Student Survey MPharm Stages 2 & 3 – Papers
SB/2007/54 & 55
The Chair informed members that she and Dr Rodgers had conducted a mock
NSS using the paper-based questionnaire on MPharm Stages 2 and 3. Students
received a similar briefing to the Foundation Degree students (in the lecture
theatre) but were asked to be very critical so that any issues raised could be
dealt with in time before their actual survey participation in February 2008.
Despite asking them to “do their worst” the MPharm Stage 3 students rated us
with an overall score of 31 out of 35 with 70% of students completing. This
would rank us number one against all other schools of pharmacy. There were
no items of concern.
In contrast MPharm Stage 2 students rated us with an overall score of 28.4 out
of 35 which would position us about first equal with Bradford who also
achieve a similar score. Scores which achieved less than 4 out of 5 include
Assessment and Feedback, Academic Support and Learning Resources. It
should be noted that Stage 2 students gave an overall satisfaction rating of 4.3
out of 5.
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The Chair stressed the importance of the NSS and the need for the School to
support and facilitate student participation. Briefing sessions had been booked
in next sessions timetable.
10.2
The National Student Survey 2006/07
Dr. Rodgers reported on the 2006/07 National Student Survey taken by the Fd
PP Stage 2 students in February 2007 and described the briefing and
engagements of the students in the actual survey. This was a web based survey
with results expected later this summer. In February this year 44 students
completed the National Survey Student however if they are split between the
University of Greenwich and the University of Kent we will fail to meet the
threshold of 30 and will have no publishable results. The Chair, Dr Rodgers
and Dr Apampa had met with Jeremy Ovenden and Christine Cooper on
Friday 6 July to discuss the National Student Survey in particular and their
contribution to league tables. They are currently exploring the possibility of
setting up a Medway School of Pharmacy return as an independent institute.
11.
Recruitment and Marketing
11.1
Report on applications to date
Ms. Debby Dixon reported that there has been a 22.8% increase in
applications received compared to the same period last year. To date 765
applications had been received.
11.2
Recruitment
Mrs. Min Keating reported that Kent had established partnerships with some
schools in Kent. We have offered an MPharm place to a student from one of
these schools and Kent had awarded her a scholarship for the 2007/08
academic session..
12.
Health and Safety
Mrs. Min Keating together with Mrs Lynn Gallagher reported that the annual
Safety Statement had been accepted by the Safety Unit. The Board was
notified that as Eleni Kyriazi was moving on there was a need to appoint a
new DSE representative. Training of nominated first aiders was being
progressed by the University of Greenwich.
13.
Research and enterprise
13.1
Research grants and contracts
The School was making progress with research grant applications. The Chair
recorded congratulations to Dr. Paget who had received an NHS grant for
£160k.
14.
Resources
The Chair reported that the budget for the next year had only recently been
agreed with both the UoK and UoG.
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PART C: Items for information only
15.
University wide committees
The Board noted the papers that were available for consultation within the
School Office.
16.
AOCB
Technician structure and vacancies
The Chair introduced Paper SB/2007/56, and asked members to support the
new technician structure which had emerged following extensive discussion.
As the School has grown bigger there was a need for local control of each of
the distinct subject groups, Chemistry & Drug delivery, Biological Sciences,
and Clinical & Professional Practice. The technicians would now be integrated
into the subject groups with day-to-day management delegated to group leads.
A discussion ensued following which the Board approved the new structure.
The Chair also reported on the 4 vacancies (2 new and 2 replacement posts),
two to be appointed at grade 4 and two at grade 6 to facilitate this new
structure. The vacant posts have been approved by HR and would be
advertised shortly to allow interviews in time for starting in time for the next
academic session. She had deferred advertising the two new posts for two
reasons, firstly she wanted the new Head of School to Chair the appointment
panel and secondly she had wanted to agree a new structure prior to grading
the posts.
Staff room moves
The School was to obtain full occupancy of the Anson building from 1st
September 2007 resulting in an opportunity to provide much needed staff
offices and additional teaching and research laboratories. For some staff
relocation has been an annual event since 2004 as the School has expanded
each year in line with the estates plan. The Chair gave apologies about the
short notice of the recent staff room moves which was necessary to relocate
the Pharmacy practice team prior to staff going on holiday as much work had
to be done in submitting research ethics applications over the next few weeksalthough discussions about room moves had been ongoing for some time with
the Head of School consulted on the matter.
Finally the Chair thanked members for all their hard work this academic
session and wished them well in the future- colleagues reciprocated there good
wishes.
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