Approved
SCHOOL OF SCIENCE SCHOOL BOARD
Minutes of the Second Meeting of the School of Science School Board 2012/2013 session held on Wednesday 21st November 2012 in Blake B028 Commencing 14:00
21/11
WELCOME AND APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
The Chair welcomed members to the meeting.
PRESENT
Dr. Lucie Pollard (LP)
(Director of Resources) Chair
Prof. Jeremy Everett (JE)
(Head PCE)
Dr Richard Anthony (RA)
Dr. Dave Wray (DW)
(Director R&E)
Mr. StevenWilliams (SW)
(Technical Rep)
Dr. Elinor Thompson (ET)
(Early Career Academic)
Ms. Lynne Spencer
(OSA)
Ms Amanda Lewis (AL)
Finance Support
Sarah Adefule
Undergraduate Student Rep
Steve Mann (SM) (PhD Student Rep)
Mr. Brian Banks (BB)
SQAO (Notes)
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FOR ABSENCE
Mike Sharp (MS)
(Independent
School of Engineering)
Prof. Steve Wicks (SW)
Director of Research
Dr. Richard Blackburn
(RB) (DL&Q)
Prof. Steve Leharne (SL)
(Professorial Rep)
Mrs Veronica Habgood (VH) (Independent
School of Health and Social Care)
Prof. Pat Harvey (PH)
(Professorial Rep)
Ms Nazanin Zand Fard
(Early Career Academic) (NAZ)
Mr. Fakhar Khalid (FK)
(Programme Leader)
Mr. Andrew Larkin(AL)
(ILS)
Dr Mike McGibbon (MM) (Deputy DLQ)
Dr Samer El-Daher (SED) (Head LASS)
Prof. Martin Snowden (MS) (Chair)
Miss Nicola Hunn (NH)
(School Admin Rep)
21/11
1.0
TO AGREE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF 19th September 2012
The Minutes of the First meeting of 2012/13 were agreed with some minor corrections.
21/11
2.0
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
21/11 3.1
The Board decided that an all staff e-mail should be prepared outlining the current budgetary position.
Dean of Science and Director of Resources
Complete 20/09/2012
21/11 5.1
To contact Christine Cooper to establish the source of the data that will be used to judge the Schools performance and to request that data be supplied in advance of any discussion.
Dean of Science
It was noted that data from PAS is different to that from HESA.
Complete
21/11 9.1
To meet with Robert Mayor of the Business School regarding his success with the NSS
Report submitted
It was recommended that the new faculty consider appointing a Director of Student Experience
Heads of Department
Complete
21/11 11.1
To arrange a meeting with Caron Jones to consider ways of improving Public Relations
Dean of Science and Director of Resources
Complete
21/11
3.0
RESOURCES Ms Lewis (Report received)
Ms Lewis noted that a confirmed budget had yet to be received. However, savings on salary costs have been made due to members of staff taking voluntary severance.
Monies are still expected from MSA, NYC and a number of research projects.
21/11
4.0
Health and safety (H&S) (Report and Meeting minutes supplied) Dr Anthony
Dr Anthony summarised his report and requested comments on the new School of Science Health and Safety Management System.
The Board ratified the minutes of the Health and Safety Committee dated 25/10/2012
21/11
5.0
Learning and Quality (L&Q) (Meeting minutes supplied) Mr Banks
Mr Banks reported that the Approval of Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation was successful subject to conditions and a successful resource tour of the facilities in Greenwich scheduled for the 11th December.
The HND and BSc International Agriculture review was successful subject to conditions.
The Board ratified the minutes of the L&Q Committee dated 5/09/2012
The Board also considered the Draft SMRD compiled by Dr Blackburn. It was noted that in future Subject Assessment Panels must address statistics that are outside the normal not just those that are too low. It has become obvious from analysis that students on courses with poor progression rates are not achieving elsewhere. It was pleasing to note that a large percentage of students that left after one year to attend another institution have returned to the school because there is better student support.
The Board approved the draft document.
21/11
6.0
Research and Enterprise (R&E)(Meeting minutes supplied) Dr Wray
Dr Wray outlined the content of the minutes and summarised current R&E bid activity. Research clusters are being reorganised into research groups.
The Board noted that small submissions would not be considered by the REF.
This years bidding activity is matching that of last year.
The Board ratified the minutes of the R&E dated 10/10/2012.
21/11
7.0
DEPARTMENTAL REPORT: Professor Everett
Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Environmental Sciences (Report Supplied)
Course and Programme Evaluations are complete thanks to staff effort.
Work is ongoing in scheduling laboratories for semester two.
A successful team working workshop organised by QA is recommended to all staff.
21/11
8.0
DEPARTMENTAL REPORT: Dr El Daher
Life and Sports Sciences
The iPad project is now operating well, and students are able to access free textbooks from Wiley. Plans are in place to optimise student engagement in the NSS to improve on figures from 2011/12. Recruitment has been enhanced following the efforts of Bob Green and all staff in the department are being encouraged to support Bob. Student feedback to date has been very positive this year, due to the professionalism and hard work of staff within the department.
.
21/11
9.0
Report on Employability: Dr McGibbon
In the absence of Dr McGibbon the Chair highlighted the problems being experienced. A list of Small and Medium Enterprises has been rationalised to a more local demographic and these are being invited to a conference in the new year. One of the problems is that placements are often unpaid and students need to work in their summer break to pay for the next academic year.
23/05
10.0
PORTFOLIO PLANNING
The Board noted the following portfolio of approvals and reviews :
Approvals and Reviews due this year:
Programme
Date of review/approval
Details
P11123
P11124
14/11/2012
HND & BSc International Agriculture
Complete with conditions
P02123
P02510
P02532
10/12/2012
BSc Geography, BA Geography, BSc Environmental Sciences
Panel agreed documents distributed
P12916
08/11/2012
BSc Equine Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Complete with conditions
P12815
06/12/2012
FdSc Sports Coaching
Documentation received
Panel TBA
P11462
10/12/2012
MSc Sustainable Futures
Panel agreed documents distributed
21/11
11.0
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The Board congratulated Dr Pollard on her appointment as Faculty Operating Officer for Education & Health. The Board thanked her for all her efforts in supporting the school, not only in the field of Nutrition but also as Director of Learning and Quality and more recently as Director of Resources.
The Chair thanked everyone for attending what is likely to be the last School Board subject to the new Faculty Structure determined by the yet to be appointed PVC.
Meeting closed at 15:00
DATES OF THIS YEARS MEETINGS
School Board
22nd May 2013
Learning and Quality
19/12/2012
16/01/2013
27/02/2013
21/03/2013 - Thursday
24/04/2013
15/05/2013
Programme Committee Meetings
PCES
LSS
29/01/2013
30/04/2013
31/01/2013
02/05/2013
ACTION SHEET for the second meeting of the School of Science School Board in the [2012-13] academic session on 21st November 2012
MINUTE
Minute No.
ACTION
Brief/concise description of action to be taken
RESPONSIBILITY
Name
Progress
Optional to check status of actions
MSSB Minutes 2012 011 Secretary B Banks
Tel: 020 8331 8787
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