MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CARDIFF UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND QUALITY COMMITTEE (ASQC) HELD ON WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER 2016 IN THE ANEURIN BEVAN ROOM, STUDENTS UNION, AT 10.00 AM. Present: In attendance: Professor Amanda Coffey (Chair), Professor Barbara Chadwick, Mr Niko Ciecierski-Holmes, Professor Martin Coyle, Professor Paul Dummer, Mr Mo Hanafy, Professor Martin Jephcote, Professor Martin Kayman, Mr Alex Kuklenko, Professor Alan Kwan, Dr Jim Ralphs, Dr Andrew Roberts, Professor Helen Williams, and Dr Robert Wilson. Mr Rhodri Evans (Secretary), Ms Janet Peters, Mr Michael Reade, Ms Clare Sinclair, Miss Martine Woodward and Mr Simon Wright. Apologies for absence were received from Professor Walter Gear and Dr Emma Kidd. 1061 MINUTES The Minutes of the meeting of the Academic Standards and Quality Committee held on 29 June 2016 (paper 15/635) were confirmed as a true record, subject to the following amendment to Minute 1051.10 (insertion in bold): 1062 MATTERS ARISING to endorse the direction of travel provided by the definitions and principles detailed in paper 15/626 as the basis for the development of an institutional approach for the recognition of prior learning. Received and considered paper 16/66, Matters Arising. Arising therefrom: 1062.1 Change of Title (Minute 1047.1) that the review of Senate Regulations, to take account of the changes to the University s structure was ongoing and any recommended regulatory changes will be consulted on prior to being presented to ASQC. 1062.2 Review of Senior Doctorates (Minute 1050) that a paper detailing the options for the retention or the discontinuation of senior doctorate awards had not been completed and would be brought forward for consideration at a future meeting of the Committee. 1062.3 Recognition of Prior Learning (Minute 1051) that a Working Group to develop a policy and framework for recognising prior learning would be established in due course by the Chair of the Committee. 1
1062.4 Institutional Review Action Plan (Minute 1052) that the University Executive Board, at its meeting on 26 September 2016, approved an updated Institutional Review Action Plan for publication. 1062.5 GCSE Equivalences (Minute 1054.1) that Schools were being consulted on a single mapping of GCSE grades for the purpose of University entry and, where applied, scoring of applications to ensure a consistent approach and that proposals would be considered at the next meeting of the Admissions Sub-Committee. 1062.6 Other Matters Arising that other matters arising would be considered elsewhere on the agenda:.1 Audit of Executive Actions (Minute 1048.2) See Minute 1070. 1063 CONSTITUTION AND MEMBERSHIP 2016-2017 1063.1 Academic Quality and Standards Committee Received and considered paper 16/67, Academic Standards and Quality Committee: Constitution and Membership 2016/17..1 that the College Deans for Postgraduate Research were now included as members of the Committee;.2 that there was currently a vacancy for an academic member of staff on the Committee, and an appointment was expected to be made at the next meeting of Senate. 1063.2 Sub-Committees of Academic Standards and Quality Committee Received and considered paper 16/68, Terms of Reference and Membership of Sub-Committees of Academic Standards and Quality Committee: Session 2016/17..1 that, during the 2016-2017 Session, the Chair of ASQC would initiate a review of purpose, terms of reference and membership of the sub-committees and would seek the input of members;.2 that the membership of the Postgraduate Research Sub- Committee, agreed last session (Minute 1028.12), had not been finalised and meetings not scheduled pending the appointment of the Director of the Doctoral Academy;.3 that arrangements for the support of accreditation activity within Schools, including the Accreditation Submission Sub- 2
RESOLVED Committee, were being reviewed to ensure alignment with College organisation and management, but that the term of the membership pool for the sub-committee had elapsed at the end of last session..4 to approve the extension of the existing Accreditation Submission Sub-Committee Pool of Members until the end of the 2016-2017 Session. 1064 HIGHER EDUCATION ACADEMY PGT ONLINE STUDY SKILLS PROJECT Received and considered paper 16/69, Developing a shared understanding of the changing nature and demands of postgraduate student study skills needs, providing recommendations for best practice and developing online study skills material and a presentation was provided by the Director of University Libraries and the Head of the CPD Unit..1 that ASQC had previously noted concerns that there was a gap in the provision of Postgraduate Taught (PGT) study skills resources compared to Undergraduate and Postgraduate Research (Minute 975) and a Working Group had been established which had undertaken an audit of existing online study skills support, repurposing, enhancing or developing new online resources to address gaps in PGT study skills provision identified;.2 that the HEA had tendered for bids for a Transition, Retention and Attainment Strategic Enhancement Project (HEA TRA-SEP). A Cardiff University bid had been successful which had enabled work to be undertaken to identify the study skills needs of PGT students, leading to the development of appropriate online resources. These would be evaluated and enhanced over the next 12-24 months;.3 that the Working Group will present a closing report to ASQC by the end of the current session; that the Working Group would also agree a dissemination strategy and work with the Cardiff University Centre for Education Innovation (CEI) to consider future development and sharing of resources;.4 that the development of these resources showed a positive direction of travel for the University s PGT provision, and also touched on broader issues relating to study skills support for students which could help inform development of future University strategies. 3
1065 COMPETITIONS AND MARKETS AUTHORITY PROGRESS UPDATE Received and considered paper 16/101, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) Update and Progress in Implementing SIMS as the Single Source of Programme and Module Information for the University..1 that ASQC had previously taken a decision to develop a single source of programme information to be provided to students and applicants following new CMA guidelines introduced in October 2015 (Minute 986.2);.2 that a systematic review of undergraduate information had been completed in July 2016, and the University now had a single source of information, published via Coursefinder, for all undergraduate programmes, including programme information for 2017 entry;.3 that to ensure all published information remained accurate any School undertaking major or intermediate changes to programmes could publish an appropriate legal caveat statement alongside programme information on Coursefinder at the point that the proposal for changes were put forward by the School;.4 that the caveat statements identified keys dates when updated information would be available on Coursefinder, and a clear Programme Information Timeline had been agreed and added to the Programme Approval Policy Framework, with all major and intermediate changes required to be completed by 31 January of the proposed year of entry;.5 that for undergraduate programmes where one third or more of the content is delivered in Welsh, or where an applicant had initiated communication in Welsh, programme information had been translated from English to Welsh;.6 that a number of system developments had been undertaken to produce a durable medium, including terms and conditions, programme information and the Admissions Complaint Procedure, which had been issued to new undergraduate students in summer 2016, and that in the future these would be issued at the time an offer is made;.7 that an informal review of lessons learned was undertaken before beginning the review of PGT programme information, and that work to establish a single source of information for these programmes was expected to be completed by the end of October 2016, so that durable medium documents can also be provided to PGT applicants during the current session;.8 that guidance on writing and presentation styles required for publication of programme information had also been made available and that support and advice would be provided to Schools by the College Communications staff; 4
.9 that a review of marketing information on Coursefinder would be undertaken to supplement the published programme information;.10 that communication with College and Schools about the timelines for publication and updating of programme information was being reviewed to ensure clarity on the implications of making late changes to programmes and the reasons why more advanced planning was now necessary;.11 that two audits for compliance against CMA requirements had been undertaken and provided substantial assurance and positive benchmarking against the HE sector. 1066 MODULE EVALUATION Received and considered paper 16/73, Module Evaluation Policy..1 that a new, centrally-supported electronic module evaluation tool was rolled out during 2015/16, and implementation of the tool highlighted a number of gaps in the current guidance to Schools, as well as inconsistencies in existing School practices;.2 that a number of Schools had raised conflicting requests for technical changes to the electronic tool, and the PVC-SEAS had subsequently commissioned a review of the online tool, with a particular focus on policy-related aspects;.3 that a task and finish group had met three times to review School experiences of using the online tool, reflect upon current practice and develop recommendations for policy clarification, on the basis of which decisions could then be made about further developments to the online tool;.4 that a proposed new Module Evaluation Policy (paper 16/73) was subsequently considered by the PVC Advisory Group and the Student Experience Sub-Committee;.5 that students should be made aware of the module evaluation process at the start of a module, and consideration should be given to discussing feedback from previous evaluations at this time;.6 that following approval, the Policy should be formally relaunched to ensure Directors of Learning and Teaching and Module Leaders are fully aware of requirements and the online tool;.7 that clarification was requested on the following areas of the Policy: i. the reference to the spirit of partnership between staff and students in the Policy s Key Principles is referred to elsewhere as between Schools and students, and it should be made clear that the partnership is with staff; 5
ii. iii. iv. review the use of words should, will, and must in the Policy s Minimum Standards; terminology should be modified to clarify that the Policy applies to non-modular programme units as well as modules; it is acknowledged that other templates will be developed to ensure all learning experiences can be captured under the policy, e.g. clinical experiences and independent research modules; v. the key principles and expectations were requirements to be followed in undertaking module evaluation; vi. greater clarity should be given to what information is shared with students following evaluation and how this is shared. RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND TO SENATE.8 that, subject to the clarifications listed above the Module Evaluation Policy be approved, and be implemented as follows: i. During 2016/17 immediate implementation of the key principles and minimum standards set out in the policy, with support provided by the Student Engagement Team; ii. From 2017/18 implementation of a refreshed questionset, to include a number of alternatives to certain questions to take account of differences in module type. A task and finish group will be established by the PVC Student Experience and Academic Standards to undertake this work. 1067 STUDENT EXPERIENCE SUB-COMMITTEE Received and considered tabled paper 16/92, A Summary Report of the Student Experience Sub-Committee held on 5 October 2016. Arising therefrom: 1067.1 Review of Student Surveys.1 that the sub-committee had considered the outcomes of a review of student surveys, and approved a Code of Practice on Student Surveys to ensure consistency across all surveys and to establish priority areas on which student opinion would be sought;.2 that a sub-group of the Sub-Committee would be established to oversee the Code and a draft revised question-set for the Welcome to Cardiff Survey;.3 that some adjustments would be required to the Welcome to Cardiff Survey following the publication of the 2017 National 6
RESOLVED Student Survey question set, and these would be approved executively by the Chair..4 to endorse the Code of Practice on Student Surveys. 1068 REVIEW OF THE RESEARCH STUDENT PROGRESS MONITORING PROCEDURE Received and considered paper 16/70, Review of the Research Student Progress Monitoring Procedure..1 that the University's Research Student Progress Monitoring Procedure was reviewed and revised in 2013, but feedback over the last two sessions had highlighted a number of issues and concerns, including inconsistent implementation and inadequate technological support;.2 that in order to consider the range of issues raised, ASQC previously resolved in March 2016 (Minute 1017.2) to establish a Working Group to review the University's Research Student progress Monitoring Procedure including warning of exclusion and the associated SIMS tasks;.3 that following the establishment of the Doctoral Academy it had been anticipated that the work would instead be undertaken by the Postgraduate Research Studies Quality Sub-Committee subsequently established by ASQC in May 2016 (Minute 1028.12);.4 that the purpose of the review should be to re-confirm and to reimplement the Research Student Progress Monitoring Procedure, with modifications where necessary, and to ensure its consistent application. RESOLVED.5 that as there was a need to complete this work before the end of the current session and that the Sub-Committee had yet to be convened (see Minute 1063.2.1), that a Working Group would be established to take the work forward. 1069 ANNUAL QUALITY REPORT 2014-2015 UPDATE ON ACTIONS Received and considered paper 16/93, Update on the Annual Quality Report Actions 2014-15. the significant progress in completing the actions specified in the 2014-2015 Annual Quality Report and a further update would be included within the next report. 7
FURTHER 1069.1 Code of Practice on Placement Learning.1 that the Code of Practice for Placement Learning was being reviewed as part of the Student Engagement Strand of the Education Portfolio;.2 that the requirement in the current Code of Practice for staff to visit students on year-long placements at least twice a year was proving difficult for some schools; there were practical and financial difficulties in arranging visits where placements were undertaken over globally long distances and that other means of managing risks and monitoring placements might be considered and applied;.3 that student representatives should be consulted and provide input into the review of the Code of Practice;.4 that an update on progress would be provided to the next meeting of the Committee. 1070 AUDIT OF EXECUTIVE ACTIONS Received and considered paper 16/94, Audit of Executive Action in 2015/6..1 that whilst decision making is clear and consistent, and the case documentation is good, different filing systems had been used by different teams making it difficult to cross reference decisions reported to each meeting of ASQC;.2 that the ongoing review of Senate Regulations (see Minute 1062.1) would include consideration of the decision-making level for many of the types of decisions currently reported in executive actions. RESOLVED.3 that a review be undertaken to create a standardised filing system across all areas to satisfy the requirements of the audit process and to be considered by next year s audit of ASQC executive actions. 1071 OUTCOMES OF THE CONSULTATION ON THE KEY INFORMATION SET DATA COLLECTION 2017 AND PROPOSED DATA PRESENTATION Received and paper 16/71, Summary of the outcomes of the consultation on detailed changes to the Key Information Set data collection for 2017 and approaches to presenting data on the successor to the Unistats website. 8
1072 ACTION TAKEN ON BEHALF OF THE COMMITTEE Received and paper 16/72, being the summary of Executive Action taken by the Chair on behalf of the Committee since the last meeting. 1073 DATE OF MEETING that the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 25 January 2017 at 10.00 am. 9X