Dr Stoddart introduced the report for the College of Arts and referred to the matters identified for the attention of the University which included challenges which room bookings which had been experienced across all Schools and led to concerns that the room booking system was deterring innovative practice in teaching as non-regular bookings were difficult. There were also specific problems relating to the availability of adequate studio and practice space for Music and Theatre Studies which were long-standing serious issues which were not being addressed. It was also noted that Theatre Studies was not getting access to its own space as there was no local control of these bookings and ASC agreed to recommend that Theatre facilities should be locally controlled in the same way that specialist laboratories were in other Colleges.

Action: Clerk

Other University issues identified in the report included:

• Improvements required for the GTA training and the timing to be brought forward.
• Improvements required for support and development of learning technology including Moodle 2, Turnitin, Echo 360 and Talis Aspire.
• Continuing concerns over the operation of MyCampus and the pressure placed on administrative staff at peak periods such as enrolment and examinations.
• Concerns over the writing competency of students and the need for continued funding of the Student Learning Service and particularly the Writing Centre.
• Concerns of insufficient capacity of the University's Counselling Service to assist students with mental health issues which in effect passed the responsibility to School staff to support their students with difficulties.

Noting the concerns regarding the arrangements for external examiners on intercalated programmes which were found to be cumbersome, ASC sought further information on this problem as it was noted that there should be one examiner per subject and therefore intercalated degrees should not be significantly different from other programmes in terms of external examiner arrangements.

Action: Clerk

It was reported that the Vet School had introduced a Peer Support scheme with students which had a positive impact on student wellbeing and it was suggested that this could be considered for the areas where there was concern about the need to support students with mental health issues.

Attention was also drawn to the Hot Topic, Attendance, and it was noted that a number of courses had removed attendance requirements. ASC noted that Classics had found that the removal of these requirements had no impact on attendance levels. 

Professor Evans introduced the report for MVLS and noted that there were many positive elements, and much good practice had been reported. As a general issue, it was noted that there were various challenges with 'closing loops' and ensuring that staff were aware of actions and improvements arising from the monitoring process. This was considered to be due to the disparate nature of the issues raised which were then tackled in different areas of the University with different timescales which fragmented the process of reporting back. In noting the issues drawn to the attention of the College, Professor Evans reported that these had already been referred to the College Learning & Teaching Committee for consideration.

In reviewing the Hot Topic, Attendance, the College had noted that student attendance levels were not a cause for concern generally, although it had been noted that there is a connection between poor attendance and poorer academic performance.

Various issues relating to infrastructure, room bookings and IT were identified as requiring the attention of the University. In particular the VLE policy was considered to be restrictive and therefore limiting the full functionality of Moodle and Mahara which constrained innovation in learning and teaching related technologies.

ASC also noted that significant concerns had been raised regarding staffing levels and these had been referred to the College. The report indicated that resources for teaching were stretched and it was particularly difficult when staff left, as areas of expertise were then left uncovered, and recruitment for replacement often prioritised research interests above teaching. Members also suggested that there were other factors which mitigated against a team approach to teaching, such as the P&DR process which encouraged staff to focus on individual targets. ASC considered that under-resourcing of teaching was an area of significant concern and there was a potential risk that Professional accrediting bodies would identify gaps in teaching expertise in critical areas.

ASC noted the reported concerns that the criteria for placing students in the discretionary zone were too restrictive and agreed that further information should be sought in order for this to be considered further. Noting the comment that a single poor performance could exclude a student from the zone of discretion, it was suggested that this might be a result of the practice in Life Sciences to only count the final year in determining the degree classification.

Action: Clerk

Dr Macauley introduced the report form Science & Engineering. The issue of staffing had also been highlighted in this College and Dr Macauley drew attention to the NSS scores which had improved for the College, but the two clusters where performance was less good were considered to be related to staff turnover and the lack of fit in replacing staff required to cover specific areas of expertise. Areas requiring attention at University level included:

• Continuing difficulties with the operation of MyCampus and the impact on staff resource, particular problems with late changes to rooms with no notice being given to teaching staff.
• Problems with teaching accommodation, lecture theatre sizes, suitability and issues with video-linking, plus the requirement in Maths to have access to blackboards.
• Issues with the usability of Moodle 2, noting in particular that fonts were faint which limited access for some disabled students.
• Specific concerns were raised regarding developments with transnational education (TNE), firstly encroaching onto staff research time during the summer, and secondly challenges with teaching in Singapore where students performed at a lower overall standard than at Glasgow with particular weaknesses in problem-based work. It was also noted that problem-based work was an area of focus for professional accrediting bodies which were seeking to be increased in assessment.
• Continuing unpopularity of the Code of Assessment and its fit with science based assessment.

Dr Doherty attended the meeting to speak to this report, noting that many of the themes referred to in other College reports were also present. Dr Doherty also noted that this had been a year with a high level of programme re-design and re-shaping of assessment schemes. Key issues and concerns included:

• Increased student numbers and widespread concern over the adequacy of lecture spaces.
• Challenges with a high proportion of students whose first language is not English.
• Staffing concerns and an over-reliance on GTAs.
• Issues with room bookings.

ASC also noted that the School of Social & Political Sciences (SSPS) had raised concerns about the current penalties applied for the late submission of coursework and agreed that further detail should be sought in order for ARSC to consider this matter further.

Action: Clerk

SSPS had also noted difficulties with the PIP approval system which was reported as being overly bureaucratic and a barrier to encouraging innovation in teaching. It was agreed that further detail should be sought to be fed into the current session's review of the programme and course approval process.

Action: Clerk

Following the review of each of the College reports, issues requiring University-level attention would be identified and forwarded to the relevant areas for action. In addition, ASC agreed to highlight the following items to EdPSC as key areas of concern arising consistently across many areas of the University:

VLE - Moodle: this was considered to be an area of increasing priority given the rapid growth in e-learning. Many concerns were identified by staff operating Moodle and other VLE, in terms of usability and reliability plus training and support for staff. It was also noted that students used these systems on a 24hour basis and therefore more extensive support was needed as problems occurred if systems failed out of hours. There was also a strong request for much wider consultation with users in further developments to allow optimal innovation in technology-supported learning.

Teaching Accommodation: a large number of inadequacies were reported some of which were caused by large student numbers. It was agreed that improvements were urgently needed and could not be deferred until the major campus re-development on the Western Infirmary site, and that other areas of the campus should not be overlooked at the expense of this development.

Staffing: there were many concerns at inadequate staffing levels across the Colleges both for teaching and administration. It was agreed that the University must ensure that staffing requirements for teaching were not overlooked and there was a need for improved succession planning to ensure that all areas of teaching expertise were adequately covered when staff left the University.

MyCampus: there were continued reports of difficulties with MyCampus particularly in terms of its usability and drain on staff time. It was requested that any further development of interface should involve comprehensive consultation with users.

Action: Clerk

ASC received an updated on the proposed MRes Economics which had been considered at its previous meeting. Following discussion with the Convener of ASC the proposal had been revised to include standard Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma exit points on successful completion of 60 and 120 credits. No further exit point was proposed. ASC agreed that a further exit point would be possible, given that the final MRes award was 360 credits after two years study, and School was therefore invited to consider an appropriate title and award to allow early exit with a Masters degree.

The proposal was approved with the above requirement of further consideration of a Masters exit point.

ASC/2014/23.2.1 College of Arts

Following recommendation from the Programme Approval Group, ASC approved the following new programme for introduction in 2015-16:

• MSc Creative Industries & Cultural Policy

It was also noted that the proposal for a new MLitt Fantasy had been delayed due to issues relating to full submission of documentation to the College Board of Studies. This had now been completed, and the proposal was currently being considered by the PAG out of committee. 

ASC/2014/23.2.2 College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences

It was noted that the Programme Approval Group had approved recommendation of the following new programme for introduction in 2015-16 subject to satisfactory outcome of the actions identified in the report:

• MSc Immunology & Inflammatory Disease

ASC approval would be confirmed on completion of these actions.

Professor Hill introduced the report which covered three items:

Penalties for Late Submission of Coursework

Following concerns raised by the School of Computing Science ARSC had considered the question of penalties not being given for days over the weekend meaning that students missing Friday deadlines gained the advantage of two additional days with only a one day penalty if they submitted work on the following Monday. The School of Computing Science believed that students were unfairly using the system to gain two extra days for a piece of coursework with minimal impact.

ASC confirmed agreement with the position put forward by ARSC:

1. Friday deadlines could be avoided and a note to this effect added to the Guide on the Code of Assessment.
2. There should not be any amendment to the current position of only applying penalties on weekdays until all University assessments were submitted electronically.

Attendance at Boards of Examiners

ASC was asked to consider making a revision to the Code of Assessment which requires External Examiners to attend all meetings of Exam Boards in person (unless there are exceptional circumstances preventing this). It was noted that arrangements for many PGT programmes involved a number of Exam Boards throughout the session and it was, in practice, problematic for External Examiners to attend all of these. ASC agreed that Externals could be absent from meetings if there was engagement with the process by correspondence which would be minuted. It was therefore agreed that the Code of Assessment should be amended to require attendance of External Examiners at the Board of Examiners at least once per session, on the basis that there would be remote participation in meetings which were not attended. It was agreed that Senate Office guidance to External Examiners and Schools would also be revised to reflect this change.

Action: Senate Office

Examinations for Visiting Students

An issue had been highlighted with visiting students who left Glasgow before their course assessment was due (for example when Semester 1 courses were not examined until the Spring examination diet). Given that visiting students were required to be assessed under examination conditions (where their course included an examination component), it was necessary to arrange examinations for them before they left. In many cases this was done at local level, where numbers were small; but one School had made a request for these exams to be scheduled in the winter diet which had been declined.

While it was accepted that the Winter examination diet was busy, ASC agreed that in order to fulfil policy it was important that examinations should be scheduled for visiting students and that where numbers were large is not appropriate to expect Schools to manage this themselves. It was therefore agreed that Registry should be asked to incorporate regular timetabling of any additional exams for visiting students where requested by Schools.

Action: Clerk

ASC received a paper highlighting concerns from the Senate Appeals Committee on the impact of the regulations on incomplete assessment and good cause in relation to the determination of 'manifest prejudice' on performance when mitigating circumstances were acknowledged. This had been based on a student appeal where good cause was accepted but the review of the student's grade profile, and a comparison of the affected grade against the standard deviation of the full cohort performance, had not determined any manifest prejudice of performance. The Senate Appeals Committee had considered the impact of this decision to be unfair because the student had required only a small improvement in performance (one secondary band) to allow entry to Honours in that subject. The Senate Appeals Committee had therefore recommended that further guidance should be issued on the application of 16.48 (d) of the Code of Assessment:

1. that once good cause had been established, the judgment on whether this had led to manifest prejudice of assessed performance should take into account the potential impact of even small grade reductions on the student's academic career (e.g. progression or final award), and when these appear to be significant, Exam Boards should be encouraged to exercise discretion in the student's best interest;
2. to clarify that decisions regarding manifest prejudice should not normally involve any comparison with the performance of other students in the assessment cohort.

ASC were concerned that the proposed guidance was not fully consistent with the current regulation which was clear that the manifest prejudice should relate to performance itself and not the impact on the student's academic career. It was agreed that the matter should be referred to ARSC to consider further and to determine whether any revision to the current regulation would be of benefit.

Action: Clerk of ARSC

ASC received and noted a report detailing the schedule of PSR reports due to be submitted to the Committee during the current session with allocated ASC reviewers for each report. New members were invited to note the role of the reviewer as detailed in the paper. 

ASC/2014/25.2.1 School of Engineering

ASC received a report providing an update on responses to a number of recommendations arising from the review of Engineering held in January 2013. The Committee was satisfied with progress with recommendations 7, 8 and 12. However it was noted in relation to Recommendation 1 that the College had further work to do in order to communicate its plans for the development of TNE and the benefits of this to the School, so it was agreed that a further update on this communication should be provided to ASC for consideration at its next meeting in February.

In relation to Recommendation 6, which concerned support to GTAs, ASC noted that there had not been any response to the specific suggestion in the recommendation that the School consider appointing a senior GTA, and it was agreed that a response to this particular point should be provided to ASC for consideration at its next meeting in February.

Action: Senate Office

ASC/2014/25.2.2 School of Modern Languages & Cultures

ASC received a report providing an update on progress with one remaining recommendation from the review of the School of Modern Languages & Cultures held in February 2013. The recommendation concerned the delivery of weekly oral classes and the update provided details of the student focus group which had been set up. ASC welcomed the progress that was being made with this issue. 

ASC/2014/25.2.3 School of Philosophy

ASC received a report providing an update on actions relating to various recommendations arising from the review of Philosophy held in March 2014. The Committee was satisfied with progress made with recommendations 1,2,4, and 5 noting that the remainder of recommendations will be responded to at the meeting of ASC in May 2015. In considering the response to recommendation 13 concerning the use of GTAs, it was agreed that a response should also be sought from the Head of Subject and the School of Humanities.  

ASC/2014/25.2.4 School of Physics & Astronomy

ASC received a further update on two outstanding issues arising from the review of Physics & Astronomy in February 2012. It was noted that both issues related to resources from outside the School, and had been long-running. Current reports indicated that they remained unresolved and ASC therefore sought further updates as follows: i) feedback on the outcome of Court's consideration of the Estates & Buildings report on the need for investment in the Kelvin Building for disabled access (April 2015), and ii) feedback on the College plan for administrative support for teaching and research, and confirmation of whether this will result in increased administrative support for the School (February 2015).  

ASC received a report from The Glasgow School of Art proposing a streamlining of its programme approval process which would move away from the current two year process to a one year timescale where by the Statement of Intent document currently produced in advanced would be replaced by a programme proposal document which would be considered by GSA's Executive Group and then ASC. ASC would also receive, for approval, the report of the final programme approval event, and University of Glasgow representation would continue as before on the approval panel. Members welcomed the moves to streamline the process as a positive step and noted that given the tighter timescale for approval, it would be essential for all documentation to be submitted on time in each stage of the process. ASC noted the template documents for Programme Proposal and Programme Approval with interest and agreed that these should be referred for information to the group which was currently reviewing the University's programme approval process.

Action: Clerk of ASC

ASC approved the proposal.

It was noted that the GSA had withdrawn its programme MDes Animation and the final student had graduated in June 2014.