| Description | Minutes of the Broader Education Committee 1955 to 1981, together with minutes of the Post-Examination Period Sub-Committee and associated correspondence 1960-1962
The Broader Education Committee was established in 1955 following informal discussions the previous year between the Vice-Chancellor, Vice-Principal, and members of academic staff about changes in the University since the Second World War, particularly the increased number of students, and the greater proportion of students studying science, mostly driven by government funding and the need for a greater supply of scientists for industry and government service in this immediate post-war period
Concern was expressed about the trend towards vocational training, the need to make science students aware of 'the importance and power of human relations outside the laboratory', and the need for Arts students to know about the influence of science on the development of society. The first meeting of the Broader Education Committee was held on 5 July 1955. Membership consisted of members of academic staff from each of the Faculties, and the Registrar. Terms of Reference were to consider whether, in their contribution to the broader education of students, the courses, arrangement of courses and other requirements for degrees in the University were satisfactory, and to make recommendations as considered desirable. The committee reported to Senate, and later to the Academic Executive Committee (UB/COM/4) to which Senate delegated routine academic business
The committee identified the problem as the increasing tendency to specialisation over the whole range of university studies, and alleged that most students 'show little intellectual concern with anything outside the immediate scope of their own studies'. The committee was asked to set out issues as they seemed to arise in their own Faculties. Minutes of the next meeting, held on 14 October 1955, contain detailed memoranda submitted by each of the members, which seemed to confirm that a problem existed, and the committee agreed that students should be made aware of closely related subjects, but should also be encouraged to look at their own subject from the outside and to see it in relation to wider problems and achievements.
Further meetings of the Committee were held in 1956, together with informal discussions at Westmere [then used as Staff Club premises] which were attended by members of academic staff from Keele; University College, Leicester; Queen's University, Belfast; and the University of Reading, who discussed aspects of schemes of general courses and inter-faculty studies at their institutions. The Committee also discussed the attitude of Local Education Authorities and the Ministry of Labour and National Service towards broader education
Minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 1956 discuss possible ways to broaden education, including the provision of hostels for student accommodation in which it would be easy to create a community receptive to broader education, with students from different Faculties, and the use of common rooms, reading rooms, and dining rooms for socialising; action by departments to provide broader education in the form of discussion groups and special lecture courses; the right kind of library facilities; and the provision of intellectual hobbies. Minutes of the meeting held on 23 April 1956 include a copy of the draft report to Senate on the general education of university students, with comment about social background, and an alleged lack of intellectual grounding at home used by the committee as an argument that broader education should be provided by schools and universities.
There are no minutes of meetings between April 1956 and May 1968. Minutes of this meeting include copies of several reports on the issue of broader education, of the Broader Education Committee to Senate; the Birmingham branch of the Association of University Teachers; the Broader Education Committee's analysis of action taken by Faculties and Non-Faculty Departments to implement proposal contained in the Broader Education Committee report to Senate in 1956; a Memorandum from Guild Council; and a Report of the Non-Professorial Staff on the Broader Education Committee report to Senate
Minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 1959 refer to one of proposals arising from reports, which was the introduction of a programme for the post-examination period in the summer term, consisting of open lectures, courses, and excursions. Faculty Boards were asked to give effect to the recommendations. The minutes also record that the Broader Education Committee was asked to report again to Senate on the general problem of broader education, but also on specific methods of carrying into effect the recommendation of its report. Minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 1960 refer to the inclusion of a report on the Post-Examination Period 1959 with the meeting papers, but this appears to be missing. The meeting papers do include copies of memoranda of each of the Faculties on the subject of broader education
Further details about the structure and operation of the Post-Examination Period programme, later renamed the June Academic Festival, can be found within minutes of the Broader Education Sub-Committee for an Experimental Programme, interspersed with Broader Education Committte minutes, also in a file of loose minutes and correspondence of the Post-Examination Period Sub-Committee (see UB/COM/66/6). These minutes include reports which give details about the speakers; attendance figures; and recommendations for future programmes
The report of the Broader Education Committee to Senate contains information about the programme of broader education for first year students introduced as part of an experimental programme for the 1960-1961 academic session, to be given the general name of Inter-Faculty Studies, and to be attended by all first year students in the Departments of Botany, Physical Metallurgy, Physics, Zoology, English, German, and History, with additional departments invited to participate during the following academic session. This report is included with minutes of the Broader Education Committee meeting held on 17 March 1961, and the programme was discussed further by committee members in meetings held during the rest of 1961. Minutes contain information about the syllabus of the programme, attendance figures, the essays to be submitted by students, and the June Academic Festival
Minutes of the meeting held on 2 December 1961 contain results and analysis of a questionnaire concerning the provision of rooms for University societies and the need for additional accommodation both for these and for staff-student meetings in the new academic buildings on the Edgbaston campus, to provide an informal environment for the cultivation of a broader education and community
By 1962 the committee had established a pattern of meeting three times a year. Minutes of meetings typically contain detailed information about the Inter-Faculty Studies Programme and course content; reports of meetings of Heads of Departments and Group Leaders; arrangements for discussion groups; discussion and analysis of student response to the programme, and lists of essay prize winners. Minutes often include course programmes, statistics for the number of courses taught and the number of students attending each course from different academic department, information about the submission of essays and assessment for prizes, and suggestions for the future programme. By 1963, the courses offered were 'Modern Society', 'The Pursuits of Man', 'Crime and Punishment', 'Race', and 'Britain since the War'.
Minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 1964 also include proposals for changes to the scheme of Inter-Faculty Studies, and a detailed report of student opinion of the 1962 Inter-Faculty Studies programme as seen by students in 1964, with a copy of the questionnaire and some responses
A change in the membership of the committee was announced at the meeting held on 4 June 1964. Membership would now consist of the chair with six other members appointed by Senate, and one from each of the Faculties except Science, with one from Pure and one from Applied Science. Members should be Professors, and two should retire each year in rotation. The Tutor for Inter-Faculty Studies would also attend, as well as co-opted members who would normally be course chairs
The minutes contain evidence of further slight changes to the Inter-Faculty Studies programme offered through the 1960s, through details about the courses offered, reports of each of the section leaders, and comments on the courses. Sometimes provisional programmes are included, and reports of meetings of the seminar leaders and the Tutor for Inter-Faculty Studies are usually included form the mid 1960s onwards.
Minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 1966 illustrate the expanded Inter-Faculty Studies Programme, with courses offered consisting of 'Britain, 1966'; 'Societies in Transformation'; 'Thought and Language'; 'Religion and Ideology'; 'Intimate Enemies (A study of Infection and Disease)'; 'Atomic Energy'; 'Masters of Modern Music'; 'Classicism to Cubism: A Century of French Painting'; and 'The Communication of Meaning by Language'. New courses offered at the start of the 1970s included 'The Soviet Union', 'Pollution', and 'The Computer'
Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 1967 include the report of sub-committee responsible for organising the June Academic Festival, and indicate that the festival in 1966 was the final one to be held.
Minutes of the meeting held on 22 May 1967 include a copy of 'The Student Role' memorandum issued by the Guild of Students, but the minutes make no comment on this, though the memorandum identified the Broader Education Committee as one of the University Committees with a perceived need for student representation. The issue was discussed at the meeting held on 7 March 1968, and the minutes record that the committee welcomed proposals for two student representatives to be appointed to the committee, and suggests that this should be implemented as soon as possible, though on the proviso that student representatives would withdraw from the meeting if confidential topics such as examination details were discussed. There was a student representative on the committee from 1969, together with a member of the Non-Professorial staff
Minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 1968 mention that a joint meeting between the Guild Broader Education Committee and the Broader Education Committee had taken place to discuss aspects of broader education. The minutes show that students wanted more topical lectures; the extension of Inter-Faculty Studies into second year; fewer formal seminar activities; and more broader education activities, especially as the June Academic Festival had been dropped, and the Open Lecture Programme was not attracting large audiences
Minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 1969 include reports on the future of Broader Education, including a report on the Inter-Faculty Studies Programme by the Guild Broader Education Committee, and a Memorandum from the Tutor for Inter-Faculty Studies. As a result, the committee agreed to set up a Working Party made up of representatives from the Broader Education Committee, the Open Lectures Committee, and the Open Forum Committee to consider whether the courses offered were satisfactory and to report and make recommendations by the end of 1969. Minutes of the meeting held on 4 March 1970 refer to a further study to be made by the Working Party
Minutes of meetings held in 1970 and 1971 contain information about the continuing activities of the Working Party, and the group's intention to submit evidence to the Review Body which was by then considering the role and function of the University. Minutes of the meeting held on 15 November 1972 include minutes of a meeting of the Working Party on the Broadening of Education in the University and the Broader Education Committee
Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 1973 refer to problems in recruiting seminar leaders from lecturing staff and includes a paper on the payment of student demonstrators, student teaching assistants, and Inter-Faculty Studies postgraduate seminar leaders
Minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 1973 include a copy of the Final Report of the Working Party on the Broadening of Education with detailed analysis of current situation, and detailed proposals for continuation of ideals and objectives that had led to introduction of Broader Education and Inter-Faculty Studies, particularly broadening departmental courses, and the Broader Education Committee's response to the report
Minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 1974 include a copy of a report by the Tutor for Inter-Faculty Studies on the results of a questionnaire circulated to a 20% sample of third year students who had attended Inter-Faculty Studies courses in the spring term of 1972, and minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 1971 include detailed responses to the questionnaire referred to in the report
Financial pressures on the Inter-Faculty Studies programme are discussed in minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 1975, and there are reference to an investigation into the possible reduction or abandonment of the award of the Inter-Faculty Studies prizes for essay writing; a reduction in the number of outside lecturers on the programme; and a reduction in the number of postgraduate seminar leaders
Minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 1975 contain a copy of the report of the Broader Education Committee to the Academic Executive on the difficulties experienced in delivering the programme, and the committee agreed that the proposals of the Working Party Report for a University level first year broader education course were not practical unless the University were prepared to approve substantial cuts in specialist degree courses, or the extension of courses to a fourth year. The minutes record that the Faculties were considering the problem of the broadening of education on a Faculty or departmental basis, and note that the term 'broader education' was interpreted differently at department and Faculty level. This report includes replies from each of the Faculties. Minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 1975 record that the Faculties were to promote the broadening of education through the Faculty Boards and Faculty level committees, and minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 1976 indicate that some Faculties had set up Faculty level committees for Broader Education, but that others had not considered it necessary.
Minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 1978 refer to concerns about the increasing number of students failing to submit essays for the Inter-Faculty Studies programme, and include a report on a projected student-run Inter-Faculty Studies course, administered by the Guild of Students
Further concerns about the future of the Inter-Faculty Studies Programme were expressed at the meeting held on 21 February 1979, and the minutes discuss possible improvements. There is a copy of the Review of Inter-Faculty Studies for the committee, with proposals including opt-outs from writing essays, and the possibility that departments could opt out of Inter-Faculty Studies altogether if they could provide a course on a departmental basis that was an adequate substitute. Minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 1979 include minutes of a meeting of the Staff/Student Liaision Committee in the Faculty of Law which discussed Inter-Faculty Studies following the results of a student questionnaire, as well as notes of a meeting of the Inter-Faculty Studies chairs to discuss common motivations and to plan action following the review of Inter-Faculty Studies at the Broader Education Committee. Minutes of the meeting held on 9 June 1980 contain discussion of the future of Inter-Faculty Studies in view of the difficulties encountered in recruiting sufficient seminar leaders, with committee members raising a number of possible courses of action including continuing as before; setting aside time in the academic year after the examination period; having a second year programme instead of a first year programme; or using the essay component differently. The committee recommended that a Working Group be set up to prepare a report which would form the basis for submission to Senate on the provision of broader education in the 1980s. Minutes of this meeting also contain a copy of the paper 'Observations on The Future of Inter-Faculty Studies' which points out that the number of academic staff volunteering to act as seminar leaders was continuously diminishing, and the use of paid research students was placing a great burden on the finances of the Broader Education Committee, limiting the funds available for activities. This paper also acknowledges another major problem which was that topics were often either so topical that they were covered in the media and that this removed the impact on and the interest of students, or were so cosmic in subject matter that they bewildered first year students
Minutes of the meeting held on 12 November 1980 include a copy of 'The Future of IFS - Final Report' by the Working Group as well as a background paper on the history and development of Inter-Faculty Studies at the University of Birmingham. There is also a background paper on Open Lectures, which arose out of Liberal Education lectures, when the Liberal Education Committee became the Open Lectures Committee in 1955 (see UB/COM/95 for minutes of this committee)
Minutes of the meeting held on 18 February 1981 report that following the report of the Academic Executive to Senate on Inter-Faculty Studies, Senate had decided to discontinue Inter-Faculty Studies and Open Lectures, and that the Broader Education Committee would be disbanded. The Academic Executive would monitor special courses to be arranged by departments at times set free following the end of Inter-Faculty Studies. The final meeting of the Broader Education Committee was held on 19 May 1981, and minutes of this meeting discuss the end of the programme |