| Description | Minutes of meetings of several Senate committees have been recorded in one volume. Most of these committees were in existence in the early 1960s, but there are also minutes of meetings of the Senate Committee to Consider the Question of Tuition in English for Colonial and Foreign Students, 15 February 1956 to 17 March 1957
Minutes of the Senate Committe to Consider the Question of Tuition for Colonial and Foreign Students suggest that the committee was set up following an investigation into English language skills of overseas students in their first year of study. Minutes of what was apparently the first meeting, on 15 February 1956, identify the need to ensure that overseas students reached the necessary competence in English to follow lectures and to develop their studies and describe some of the methods being used to deal with the problem. These minutes also contain details about individual overseas students who had been the subject of the investigation. Minutes of subsequent meetings contain information about the organisation of a course for Overseas students. Minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 1957 contain a copy of the committee's report to the Senate and record the committee's discussion about the report's recommendations which included amended admission requirements for both first degree and postgraduate courses, the introduction of pre-admission courses, and the establishment of a Tutorship in English for Overseas Students
The Age of Retirement Committee was established by the Senate in February 1963 to consider whether the retiring age in the University should be increased, and to consider the effects of any increase on pension rights. Committee minutes set out the position at the University of Birmingham in 1963 and compared this with the position at other UK Universities, and the retirement policies of the NHS, BBC and Civil Service. There are also copies of letters to the Committee from individual members of academic staff expressing their views on the possibility of raising the retirement age and a copy of a memorandum issued by the Birmingham Association of University Teachers on the retiring age. There is also a copy of a paper which discusses the impact on pension and supplementation rights of staff who continue to work beyond the age of 65 and copies of the report of the Senate Committee on the Age of Retirement to the Senate, recommending that a more flexible policy towards retirement should be adopted and setting out the basic principles on which policy should be based, 1964
The June Academic Festival Sub-Committee was originally called the Broader Education Post-Examination Period Sub-Committee. It had been originally appointed in 1960 to arrange the Post-Examination Period Programme of Activities for students, as part of the University's Broader Education policy, and continued to arrange the programme for the following years. This yearly programme of activities became known as the June Academic Festival by 1961, and the committee's name changed to reflect the change of title. Membership consisted of members of academic staff and student representatives nominated by the Guild of Students. The Sub-Committee reported to the Broader Education Committee (see UB/COM/66 for minutes). Minutes contain information about the time and duration of activities; the form and content of the programme; publicity; arrangements for exhibitions, presentation of prizes, and the entertainment of speakers; finance and expenses incurred; and sometimes separate printed programmes for the festival, though the minutes and copies of the reports of the Sub-Committee provide enough information to give a comprehensive summary of the programme of events for each year. 1966 was the last year in which the University organised a June Academic Festival
The Teaching Timetables Committee was appointed by the Senate in June 1964 on the recommendation of the Committee of Principals and Deans to examine problems set out in a Memorandum by the Vice-Chancellor on both term-time teaching timetables and the fixing of vacation periods. Membership of the Committee consisted of representatives from each of the Faculties, and the Vice-Principal (chair). Minutes record discussion of problems relating to the number of teaching weeks; the scheduling of examinations; pressures on the Guild of Students building and the Refectory at lunch times and on sports playing fields at Wast Hills and Edgbaston outside teaching hours; and the need to keep students at the University after the end of the summer examinations, to avoid reduction in local authority grants, but also to ensure that students paid a full year's hall fees. Minutes include copies of memoranda by members of academic staff and Faculty Boards suggesting different ways of organising the academic year; the administration of examinations; the length of the teaching day; comment on the Hale Committee Report on teaching methods and the use of vacations by students; comment by the Non-Professorial Staff Executive Committee on the organisation of the teaching year and teaching week. Minutes of the last meeting of the committee, held on 24 April 1967, include a copy of the Report of the Teaching Timetable Committee to the Senate recommending the structure of the academic year from 1967 onwards
The Lunar Society Anniversary Steering Committee was formed in 1964 following the Senate's recommendation to Council that a celebration be arranged in to mark the 200th anniversary of the origin of the Lunar Society. It was intended to be responsible for reviewing possible arrangement to mark the anniversary. It was decided to hold celebrations in 1966, and committee minutes contain discussion about a range of events across Birmingham, many of which were not directly connected with the University, including exhibitions; lectures; promotion of the Boulton and Watt papers in Birmingham; and an essay competition. Minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 1966 include a list of sites in Birmingham associated with members of the Lunar Society, prepared by Barbara M. D. Smith. Minutes of the last meeting of the committee, held on 12 January 1967, include copy of the Report of the Lunar Society Bicentenary Celebrations Committee to the Senate, giving a summary of all the events organised; a copy of the Report of the Schools Sub-Committee which gives details about work with teachers and education officers, the lecture programme, and the essay competition; and reports of the lectures sub-committee and on the Lunar Society bicentenary exhibition at Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery. The minutes also include details about press coverage and attendance figures for the events
Minutes of the Educational Usage of TV Committee are also contained in the volume. This committee was constituted by the Senate in 1966 to investigate the educational uses of television within the University of Birimngham, the equipment and technical staff required, and the advantages of centralised television services already established in other universities. It was responsible for ensuring that information concerning educational uses of television was generally available to members of staff; to invite and consider proposals for expenditure on television equipment and technical staff during the quinquennium 1967-1972 and to recommend a co-ordinated plan; and to consider any report that may be published on the 'University of the Air' and other proejcts for general transmission of University educational programmes. Membership consisted of the Vice-Principal (chair); a representative from each of the Faculties and from the Department of Education; and co-opted members as considered necessary by the committee. The first meeting was held on 10 May 1966, and this volume contains minutes of meetings held up to 4 July 1966 as well as a copy of the report of the committee to the Senate dated 12 July 1966. These minutes contain submissions from other universities about the use of television in those institutions, as well as recording discussion of committee members about technical requirements and physical space required for a centralised television service. See UB/COM/77 for minutes of this committee, later called the Television Committee, from 1967 to 1974 |