Heriot-Watt University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE (USC)
In the Chair:
Mrs F Waldron
Present also:
Professor P John
Dr K Brown
Dr L Georgieva
Dr J Hansen
Dr S Houston
Dr D Johnston
Dr P LeMay-Boucher
Ms S McIntosh
Dr L Potter
Dr J Sanders
In attendance:
Mr S Bitar (Clerk)
Mrs K Wallace
Apologies
Dr D Ball
Mr R Graham
Mr A Grieve
Dr D Harris
Dr C McWilliams
Dr R Westacott
Mr M Parker
CIRCULATED
Date: 29 August 2012
Action
18.
19.
20.
WELCOME
18.1
The Chair welcomed all members to the meeting including new members; Dr L
Georgieva and Dr J Hansen from the School of Mathematical and Computer
Sciences, and Dr L Potter from the School of Life Sciences. The Chair also
welcomed Mrs K Wallace from Academic Registry, who was attending the
meeting as an observer.
18.2
Members and attendees were invited to introduce themselves.
REPORTS/MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
19.1
Approved a report detailing business transacted by correspondence on 2 May
2012.
19.2
Noted the minutes of the extraordinary meeting of 2 July 2012 which had been
tabled at the meeting. Members were invited to confirm their approval of the
minutes with the Clerk by email.
[Clerk's note: the minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting]
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES (USC/12/10)
20.1
Noted actions and progress arising from the Minutes as detailed in USC/12/10.
20.1.1
New Programme: BSc in Psychology with Management (July12/SLS1)
(minute 18.5)
Did not approve the proposal and requested that a response addressing the
Committee's comments be submitted to the Chair (via the Clerk) for approval
on behalf of the Committee.
Noted that the revised paperwork had been received and approved by the
Chair on behalf of the Committee.
20.1.2
New Programmes: Bachelor of Business Administration (Hospitality and
Tourism and Management) (MAR12/SML1)
(minute 12.3)
Did not approve the proposal and agreed that revised paperwork and
responses addressing the Committee's comments should be submitted for
consideration at the next meeting.
Undergraduate Studies Committee Minutes: 29 August 2012
The proposal to introduce the programme at the Dubai Campus was withdrawn.
As Committee comments relating to the introduction of the programme via ALPs
were minor in nature Committee members agreed that approval should be at the
discretion of the Chair.
Noted that revised paperwork had been received and approved by the Chair
acting on behalf of the Committee.
21.
20.1.3
New CPD Course: Certificate of Completion From Fibre to Product
(MAR12/SML1) (minute 12.4)
Did not approve the proposal and agreed that revised paperwork and
responses addressing the Committee's comments should be submitted to the
Chair (via the Clerk).
Noted that revised paperwork had been received and approved by the Chair
acting on behalf of the Committee.
20.1.4
New Programmes: MA in Accountancy and Finance/Business and
Finance/Economics/ Economics with Finance: all with Work Placement
(JAN12/SML1/SML2/SML3/SML4) (minute 5.2)
Approved subject to revisions.
Noted that revised paperwork had been received and approved by the Chair
acting on behalf of the Committee.
20.1.5
New Programme: MA(Hons)/BA/DipHE/CertHE in Finance (JAN12/SML5)
(minute 5.3)
Approved subject to revisions.
Noted that revised paperwork had been received and approved by the Chair
acting on behalf of the Committee.
20.1.6
Programme Modification: BEng(Hons) Civil Engineering (USC/DEC11/SBE1)
(minute 166.3)
Approved subject to revisions and comments
Noted that additional information and revised paperwork had not yet been
received.
(SBE)
20.1.7
Report on School of Management and Languages Dubai Management
Programmes: January Intake (USC/11/42) (minute 159)
Requested additional information from the Director of Learning and Teaching
of the School of Management and Languages.
Noted that additional information had not yet been received. The Clerk
contacted the Director of Learning and Teaching in the School of Management
and Languages to expedite this item. Noted that no further information had
been received.
(SML)
CHAIR'S BUSINESS
21.1
Policy on Block Teaching (USC/12/20)
Noted the above policy which had been approved by the Quality and
Standards Committee and the Senate Business Committee.
21.2
Compulsory Withdrawal Policy (Non-Attendance) (USC/12/21)
Considered the withdrawal of the above policy. The Committee did not approve
the withdrawal of the policy however agreed that the existing policy should be
reviewed and made the following comments:
21.2.1
The end of week four was too early for the Head of School to make a decision
to exclude students and send the relevant notification.
21.2.2
For monitoring purposes the use of email communications should also be
considered as formal contact as well as monitoring of students accessing
Undergraduate Studies Committee Minutes: 29 August 2012
2
learning materials on Vision.
21.2.3
The existing policy did not fit with the current academic sessions. A revised
policy should include semesters and use post-RAY terminology.
21.3
Policy on Programme Titles, Learning Outcomes and Courses (USC/12/22)
Considered the above policy proposal and made the following comments:
21.3.1
Noted that this policy may have implications on accreditation of existing
programmes.
21.3.2
Noted that the School of Management and Languages (SML) had been
allowed two years to implement the policy, one additional year more than other
Schools/Institutes, and recommended that any programmes which included
SML courses should also be given two years to implement the policy at the
discretion of the Deans.
Recommended the approval of the policy subject to the implementation of
minute 21.3.2.
22.
21.4
USC Terms of Reference 2012/2013 (USC/12/22)
Considered the USC terms of reference for 2012-2013 and made the following
comment:
21.4.1
Provision for the distribution of minutes should be amended as follows:
"Confidential Minutes will only be distributed to Lay Members of the Committee
either by tabling them at the Committee meeting or by distribution outside
meetings."
21.4.2
Agreed to recommend to the Senate that the USC Terms of Reference be
approved subject to minute 21.4.1.
21.5
USC Deadline Dates for Submission of Papers and Proposals (USC/12/24)
Noted the deadline dates for submission of papers to USC and made the
following comments:
21.5.1
The paper deadlines should be strictly adhered to. Any papers received after
the deadline should be added to the agenda of the next USC meeting.
21.5.2
Recommended that the deadline date of 29 March 2013 for notifications of
modified programmes was too early. Members agreed that the revised
deadline should be adhered to noting that any notifications received after the
deadline might not be amended on the Banner system before the 2013/2014
academic session.
th
[Clerk's note: the notifications deadline date has been changes to 26 April
2013]
21.5.3
The Committee approved the above schedule subject to minute 21.5.2.
21.6
Subject Benchmark Statement – Forensic Science (USC/12/25)
Considered the above subject benchmark statement and made the following
comment:
21.6.1
The benchmark statement was not relevant to Heriot-Watt University as
Forensic Science courses are not currently available.
AMENDMENTS TO REGISTRATIONS (USC/12/26)
22.1
Noted that the Chair, acting on behalf of the Committee, had considered and
approved proposals submitted by Schools, for amendments to students'
Undergraduate Studies Committee Minutes: 29 August 2012
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registration as detailed in USC/12/26.
23.
PROGRAMME PROPOSALS
School of Management and Languages SML)
23.1
Programme Modification: MA (Hons) in Business Management with Marketing
(USC/AUG12/SML1)
Considered a proposal from SML to introduce the above programme at the
Dubai Campus from September 2013. Agreed that the School should be
invited to provide information on the following points and make any
corresponding amendments:
23.1.1
Noted that the proposed Dubai programme structure varied significantly from
the Edinburgh programme structure. The Policy on Programme Titles, Learning
Outcomes and Courses requires that all mandatory courses within a
programme must be identical across all campuses.
23.1.2
The proposal does not indicate whether or not Approved Tutors are in/will be in
place.
23.1.3
Form P2, Additional Information: it is indicated that SML staff numbers "has
now reached a critical mass". The Committee agreed that further clarification
on this statement was required.
23.1.4
Noted the programme structure comprised of too few marketing courses for a
degree to be awarded "with Marketing" at least 120 (25%) credits of the total
credits should be attributed to Marketing.
23.1.5
Requested further clarification on the use of "option" on the Dubai programme
structure template and "elective" on the Edinburgh programme structure
template.
23.1.6
Noted that Form P8, Progression Requirements indicated that "the award of a
named degree in Business Management and Marketing is not made at ordinary
level" however form P6, stage 3, section 13 indicated the award of "Ordinary or
General Degree".
23.1.7
Noted that Form P1, Section 18 indicated that the course would be available to
current students, however, the proposed starting date in section 17 indicated
the proposed starting date as 2013-2014.
23.1.8
Noted that a minimum SAT score of 750 in Mathematics was very high and
requested confirmation that this was correct.
23.1.9
Queried whether the award of MA (Hons) was available at the Edinburgh
Campus as the programme title indicated on the Edinburgh programme
structure template MA only.
23.1.10
Noted that form P8, Progression Requirements referred to an amendment to
the stage 2 progression rules from 2013/14 however these progression rules
should be included in the main section as the proposed starting date of the
programme was 2013/14.
23.1.11
Did not approve the proposal and requested that a revised proposal and
responses to Committee comments be submitted for consideration at the next
meeting of USC.
(SML)
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPS)
Undergraduate Studies Committee Minutes: 29 August 2012
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23.2
Programme Modification: BEng in Chemical Engineering (USC/AUG12/EPS1)
New Programme: BEng in Petroleum Engineering (USC/AUG12/EPS2)
Considered a proposal from EPS to modify the above programme from
September 2015. Agreed that EPS should be invited to provide information on
the following points and make any corresponding amendments:
23.2.1
Form P1, Section 20 (Petroleum Engineering) should be amended as the
proposal indicated that Home/EU students would not be recruited to the
programme.
23.2.2
Form P2, Section 1 (Petroleum Engineering): Agreed that further details
relating to quality assurance, specifically internal monitoring and quality review
was required (paragraph 2, final sentence).
23.2.3
Form P2, Section 3.1 (Petroleum Engineering): English requirements should
be included in the entry qualifications.
23.2.4
Form P2, Section 5 (Petroleum Engineering): Further details are required on
teaching staff arrangements and HWU's involvement in staff selection.
23.2.5
Form P2, Section 6.2(Petroleum Engineering): Refers to "Teaching assistants",
the Committee queried whether this should be Teaching Fellows.
23.2.6
Form P6, Stage 2 (Petroleum Engineering): The EPS Maths 4 course is
incorrect and should be replaced with the correct course.
23.2.7
Form P6, Stage 1 and 2: "Mathematics for Science and Engineers A/B/C/D"
should be amended to 1/2/3/4.
23.2.8
Form P6, Stage 3 (Both): The title of B49CF should be amended to "Process
Modelling and Control".
23.2.9
The UCAS code should be left blank or "N/A" should be entered as these are
non-UCAS programmes.
23.2.10
Form P8 (Both): Referred to optional courses e.g. in the Stage Notes it states
"Availability of options" however the structure of both programmes contain
mandatory courses only
23.2.11
Form P10, Section 13 (Chemical Engineering): Remove references to
"industrial placement".
23.2.12
Approved the introduction of the BEng in Chemical Engineering following
receipt of minor modifications (via the Clerk). Did not approve the introduction
of the BEng in Petroleum Engineering and agreed that revised paperwork
addressing the Committee's comments should be submitted to the Chair (via
the Clerk) for approval on behalf of the Committee.
(EPS)
Any Other Business
24.1
Outstanding Items from USC Matters Arising
The Chair drew the Committee's attention to two longstanding matters arising
from USC meetings and recommended that a time limit by which Schools
should submit responses/revisions should be implemented. Committee
members agreed that responses/revisions should be received within three
meetings. Failure to do so would require papers/proposals to be returned to
USC for complete re-approval.
24.2
Appeals Board Meeting
Undergraduate Studies Committee Minutes: 29 August 2012
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Noted that following resits there was insufficient time for students to appeal
progression decisions made by School Exam Boards. The Committee agreed
that a special meeting of the USC Appeals Sub-Committee should be
convened on day one of week 0 (Fresher's week) for such appeals to be
considered.
25.
NEXT MEETING
25.1
Noted that the next scheduled meeting of USC would take place at 2.15 pm on
3 October 2012 in the Court Room, Lord Balerno Building.
Undergraduate Studies Committee Minutes: 29 August 2012
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