University of Glasgow
Academic Standards Committee
Minute of Meeting held on Friday 20 May 2016 at 9:30 AM in the Melville Room
Dr Jack Aitken, Ms Helen Butcher, Professor Neil Evans, Professor Tom Guthrie (Convener), Mr Matthew Hastings, Professor Bob Hill, Dr Maria Jackson, Dr Martin Macauley, Dr Raymond McCluskey, Dr Niall MacFarlane, Professor Douglas Macgregor, Dr Anna O'Neill, Dr Helen Stoddart.
In Attendance:Mrs Lesley Fielding, Professor John Davies, Mr Fred Hay (vice Mr John Marsh).
Apologies:Professor John Briggs, Ms Jane Broad, Professor Frank Coton, Dr Gordon Curry, Ms Gemma Gratton, Dr Charlotte Methuen, Dr Anna Morgan-Thomas, Dr Allison Orr, Ms Anna Phelan, Dr Bryony Randall.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
Professor Davies provided members with an update on progress made addressing the various difficulties affecting the January intake of students. There had been improvements with regard to MyCampus and its accommodation of the students, nevertheless members noted that manual intervention was still required. There had been some concerns over the performance of the January starters, however, due to the small numbers of students involved, it had been difficult to drawn any firm conclusions. With regard to this, the School planned to improve support for research and writing skills. The problems related to the support provided by University Services to the students were still a source of concern and work was ongoing to address this.
At the February meeting, ASC had considered the issue that outcomes for students from the same School could be determined with reference to different discretionary criteria depending on whether a student was on a single or joint degree programme. The College of Arts Learning & Teaching Committee had advised that additional guidelines had been introduced to address this issue and that these had been circulated to the Deans of Learning & Teaching.
ASC considered the responses of the School of Life Sciences to comments made by external examiners regarding the role of viva in the operation of discretion. ASC noted that the School had introduced clearer criteria which would restrict the numbers of students involved in vivas and was satisfied that the new policy fully addressed the issue.
The Convenor provided an update to members regarding the matter of Translation of Grades from Study Abroad, advising that draft guidance on grade conversion would be circulated to the members of the Sub-Committee for consideration and comment, together with the subset of tables. Further to this, the full table would be published over the summer period and would be available for students studying abroad in 2017/18.
ASC had requested this proposal was considered by the Deans of Learning & Teaching and the Dean for International Mobility and their subsequent responses identified a number of concerns. The potential difficulties identified were ensuring consistency of treatment, interpretation of grades, the challenges presented in trying to set work from another institution in context and incomplete evidence where students failed to bring home the complete range of their assessed work. In view of the Deans' comments, ARSC's proposal was not endorsed by ASC.
Further to ASC's consideration of the proposed changes to Generic Regulations for PGT degrees, the Deans of Learning & Teaching (DoLTs) had been asked for their views on the proposal. The DoLTs responses indicated they were not in agreement with the proposal to amend the required grade for the award of a Masters degree to a D average. Subsequently, the Convenor proposed three options to address the key issues of accreditation and the inconsistency of the standard MSci and MSc together with the issues regarding accreditation requirements where compensation was more limited than in an average degree. The options presented were:
- Change the MEng regulations to specify a threshold of C;
- Introduce a special set of regulations for the MSc in Engineering which departed from the threshold set for other PGT programmes;
- Amend the current generic PGT regulation to permit use of a D threshold.
Members discussed the options and identified that the proposal to change the MEng regulations to specify a threshold of C would make the MEng regulations inconsistent with the requirements for other integrated Masters programmes. The second option whereby a special set of regulations for the MSc in Engineering was considered to be the most feasible of the possibilities. This was, as Professor Davies confirmed, the preferred option of the School of Engineering Members noted that there was already a precedent with the Diploma in Legal Practice in the School of Law and agreed that this was the appropriate way forward. However, ASC agreed that it was important that the forthcoming review of the PGT regulations should review the issue identified in option 1 regarding a threshold of C. The special set of regulations would apply to accredited MSc programmes only in the School of Engineering. It was also noted that it would be necessary to review joint programmes with other schools. The regulations would have to disapply the threshold for reassessment set out in the Code of Assessment and provide that only students with a grade lower than D would be permitted to resubmit.
Action: Senate Office
Mrs Fielding spoke to the above report. ASC noted that the subject of marking drew the most comments made by external examiners. Issues identified included inconsistent use of marking schemes and the need to utilise the full marking range. Members noted that the External Examiner online database had been developed to facilitate the submission of nominations of external examiners on-line and would be piloted over the summer period with implementation planned for session 2016-17.
ASC/2015/65.1.1 Archaeology
ASC received the report of the Review of Archaeology which had taken place on 25 February 2016. The PSR reviewers reported that the responses articulated the Subject Area's vision.
ASC requested that Recommendation 7 be reworded to state that the complete database of courses should be reviewed to ensure that only active courses are uploaded on PIP.
With regard to the issue of GTAs, ASC considered that an extra recommendation should be added requesting the Subject Area consider how efficiently the GTAs could execute their role if their contract precluded them from doing so (see para 5.2.2.4).
Subject to these amendments, the report was approved for onward transmission to relevant officers responsible for taking forward the recommendation.
Action: Senate Office
ASC/2015/65.2.1 Economics
ASC received the six-month update from the review of Economics which detailed the responses and progress made to date in implementing the recommendations. Overall, the recommendations were considered adequate, however, updates were requested for the following recommendations to the September meeting of ASC unless otherwise stated:
Recommendation 1: The subject area should clarify whether staff explain to students the rationale for using a specific model of teaching and give further consideration to the development of their central policy and conclusion.
Recommendation 3: An update should be provided on the development of Graduate Attributes within the curriculum.
Recommendation 4: An update should be submitted to ASC in Spring 2017 on the Subject Area's views on the success of their strategy, particularly in relation to the first year cohort.
Recommendation 5: An update should be provided on the status on the development of the online formative assessments and the subject area's long-term strategy.
Recommendation 7: An update to be provided on the amended office hours and how the process is managed.
Recommendation 8: An update to be provided on the review of current assessment practices.
Recommendation 9: An update to be provided on the status of office hours for GTAs.
Recommendation 11: ASC requested an update outlining the level of staff engagement in this process.
Action: Senate Office
ASC/2015/65.2.2 Theatre, Film & Television Studies
ASC received the six-month update from the review of Theatre, Film & Television Studies which detailed the responses and progress made to date in implementing the recommendations. Overall, the recommendations were considered adequate, however, updates were requested for the following recommendations to the September meeting of ASC unless otherwise stated:
Recommendations 2 and 8: An update should be provided on development opportunities for University Teachers and to elaborate further on TS's comments that University Teachers' work is moderated, stating why this is necessary, particularly in view of the University's policy on moderation of assessment. The initial response should be clarified with regard to University Teachers' temporary contracts and how these translate into career progression and what development opportunities are available for University Teachers.
Recommendation 3: ASC requested an update on the development of the new cross-School postgraduate programme at the end of session 2017.
Recommendation 11: ASC sought further clarification of the FTVS statement regarding the circulation of the minutes from the Staff Student Liaison Committee. The initial response referred to the minutes being held by the Subject Office, HoSA and class convenors but did not indicate if these were circulated to students
Clarification should be provided as to whether there was a formal minute of the CCPR meetings and if this was circulated.
Action: Senate Office
ASC considered the proposal for the addition of a new pathway to the MLitt Fine Art programme within the School of Fine Art. ASC noted the requirement for the additional Pathway to secure its own studio/performance space which was not currently available within the Fine Art estate and that negotiations would be required further to the relocation of the School of Fine Art. ASC approved the proposal for the addition of a new Pathway related to the provision of Performance within the School of Fine Art.
ASC approved the proposal for an amendment to the regulations governing the award of the MSc Visualisation with Merit or with Distinction, under which, the regulations will revert to the previous generic taught Masters regulations, whereby the award of the degree with Merit, or with Distinction, is calculated on the basis of the results obtained in both the taught component and the dissertation of other substantial independent work element.
ASC considered the report from GSA on the Periodic Review of the School of Design held in February 2016, noting the report was through and reflective. Accordingly, ASC approved the revalidations of the following GSA programmes for a period of six years, with effect from September 2016:
- Master of Design in Communication Design
- Master of Design in Design Innovation and Citizenship
- Master of Design in Design Innovation and Environmental Design
- Master of Design in Design Innovation and Service Design
- Master of Design in Fashion and Textiles
- Master of Design in Graphics
- Master of Design in Illustration
- Master of Design in Interior Design
- Master of Design in Photography
- Master of Education in the Creative Disciplines
- Master of Engineering in Product Design Engineering
- Master of European Design in Product Design
- Master of Research
- Master of Science in Product Design Engineering
- Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching
- Postgraduate Certificate in Supervision
- BA(Hons) in Communication Design
- BA(Hons) in Fashion Design
- BA(Hons) in Interaction Design
- BA(Hons) in Interior Design
- BA(Hons) in Silversmithing and Jewellery Design
- BA(Hons) in Textile Design
- BDes(Hons) in Product Design
- BEng(Hons) in Product Design Engineering
ASC considered the update on recommendations from the Periodic Review of the Mackintosh School of Architecture held in February 2015 and was satisfied that all the recommendations had been completed.
ASC noted the update on recommendations from a Programme Approval event related to the following programmes:
- Master of Research
- MDes Fashion and Textiles
- MLitt Curatorial Practice (Contemporary Art)
- BA (Hons) Fashion Design and BA (Hons) Textile Design
- BA (Hons) Interaction Design
ASC noted the proposal to transfer delivery of the BA Sports Coaching & Development from SRUC's Ayr Campus to the University of the West of Scotland's Ayr Campus..
ASC noted the new programmes approved by the Programme Approval Groups (PAGS) for introduction in 2016-17:
College of Arts
MLitt History of Art: Collecting & Provenance Studies in an International Context
MMus Composition & Creative Practice
MMus Musicology
MSc Film Curation
MSc Political Islam
College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences
BSc(Hons) Nursing (SIT)
MSc Conservation Management of African Ecosystems
MSc/PgDip/PgCert in Molecular Pathology
College of Science & Engineering
BSc Mathematics & Statistics (Designated Degree)
BSc Statistics (Designated Degree)
MRes Mathematical Sciences
MSc Data Analytics
College of Social Sciences
International Master in Central & East European, Russian & Eurasian Studies
MSc Education, Public Policy & Equity
Friday 30 September 2016 (10.00 a.m. start)
Friday 25 November 2016
Friday 27 January 2017
Friday 24 March 2017
Friday 19 May 2017
PSR Reports
The Convenor reminded members of the process pertaining to the consideration of PSR reports submitted under Summer Powers. Under this process, PSR reviewers should submit their comments to the Convenor and the Clerk of Senate for consideration prior to the final approval of the reports.
Good Practice Arising from PSR
The Convenor advised members that, further to a meeting with the Director of the Learning and Teaching Centre (L&TC), future identification of Good Practice from PSR reports would be undertaken by L&TC.
Professor Bob Hill
The Convenor noted this was Professor Hill's final meeting of ASC. The Convenor thanked Professor Hill for his valued contribution as a member of ASC and wished him well in his forthcoming retirement.
The next meeting of the Academic Standards Committee will be held on Friday 30 September 2016 at 10.00 a.m. in the Melville Room.
Created by: Mrs Lesley Fielding