| Description | Minutes of a committee established in 1990, together with the Higher Degrees committee, to consider and act with the delegated authority of Senate on proposals for new degrees and amendments to existing programmes of study, and to monitor the content and appropriateness of degrees offered by the University. By 1991 the terms of reference had been amended to include the delegated authority to recommend appropriate procedures and codes of practice relating to programmes of study; and to undertake the academic audit of all programmes of study leading to University qualifications in accordance with approved procedures. The committee also reported to the Committee of Principals and Deans by 1991
The First Degrees committee was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, and membership consisted of the Vice-Principal; two Pro-Vice-Chancellors; one member of academic staff nominated by each Faculty Board; three members of Senate appointed by Senate; and the President and Vice-President of the Guild of Students. A representative of the Careers Service also attended meetings
Minutes of the Higher Degrees committee are described at UB/COM/59
The first meeting of the committee was a joint one, with the Higher Degrees committee, on 6 February 1990. The committee then met in March, June, and November that year, and February 1991. There were joint meetings of the First Degrees committee and Higher Degrees committee in March and June 1991.
Minutes contain papers on the maintenance and monitoring of academic standards and procedures following academic monitoring exercise, including papers on academic standards drawn up by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals; reports on academic standards database and copies of draft student questionnaires to gather student opinion, draft code of practice for consultation with students on academic standards and draft code of practice for monitoring and informing students of their academic progress
The minutes also contain reports of the Faculty Boards on amendments to degree programmes; changes to Faculty handbooks; changes to regulations and syllabus; proposals for the establishment of new degree courses; reports on the Academic Audit; reports on Code of Practice for External Examiners; reports of Scrutiny Teams to identify problems at course level, taking into account student criticism, failure rates, number of first class degrees awarded, contact hours, identifying good practice; and discussion of codes of practice for monitoring and informing students of their academic progress
It was agreed at the joint meeting of the First and Higher Degrees committees in June 1991 to merge the two committees into a new committee to be called the Academic Board of Senate. This new Board would meet twice a term, and each Faculty should nominate one and may nominate two representatives; there should also be three Senate nominees, and one representative from the Careers Service should be in attendance. Minutes of this committee are described at UB/COM/60 |