1. KEY FEATURES
1.1 Curricula which are consistent with the aims and objectives specified, at departmental, programme and unit levels.
1.2 Curricula which are designed to enable students to acquire subject-specific and transferable skills.
1.3 Clearly specified teaching objectives and learning outcomes which relate to the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.
1.4 Curricula which offer students the opportunity for continued personal development, in line with the principles of the University's Modularisation Guidelines.
1.5 Programmes which are designed and delivered to prepare students for the next stage in their lives, such as progression to employment or postgraduate study.
1.6 Opportunities for innovation in design, content and organisation/delivery of curriculum.
1.7 Practical encouragement for staff to develop new programmes and units where appropriate.
1.8 Mechanisms for ensuring new programmes are designed with the above criteria in mind, and that they are taken into account in the regular review of programmes and units.
1.2 Curricula which are designed to enable students to acquire subject-specific and transferable skills.
1.3 Clearly specified teaching objectives and learning outcomes which relate to the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.
1.4 Curricula which offer students the opportunity for continued personal development, in line with the principles of the University's Modularisation Guidelines.
1.5 Programmes which are designed and delivered to prepare students for the next stage in their lives, such as progression to employment or postgraduate study.
1.6 Opportunities for innovation in design, content and organisation/delivery of curriculum.
1.7 Practical encouragement for staff to develop new programmes and units where appropriate.
1.8 Mechanisms for ensuring new programmes are designed with the above criteria in mind, and that they are taken into account in the regular review of programmes and units.
2. EVALUATION
There are a number of mechanisms through which programme design, content and organisation is monitored and evaluated:
- Departmental curriculum committees
- Faculty Boards
- The University's New Programmes Group and Education Committee
- Five-yearly Departmental Reviews
- Three-yearly programme reviews
- The on-going work of Faculty Quality Assurance Teams
- Student course/programme representatives on departmental committees
- Consultation with External Examiners
3. GOOD PRACTICE
In all the above mechanisms, evidence of good practice is sought. Examples of this are set out below.
3.1 Continuous appraisal of programmes and units at departmental level. This may be linked with the work of departmental committees, incentives to staff to devise new programmes or to replace existing units with new units as a result of feedback received, for example from external examiners, students, alumni, employers, or arising from research being undertaken in the subject. Programmes are also likely to be reviewed as a result of changes in abilities or in the background of the students recruited, for example to reflect changes in the A level curriculum.
3.2 Collaboration and consultation with other academic departments, internally or externally, to:
- share good practice in the subject or group of subjects;
- develop inter- or multi-disciplinary programmes or units
3.3 Provision of accurate, up to date information for students on the content of their programmes and units, which is integrated with information on teaching, learning and assessment methods. This information is most appropriately offered to students in a departmental handbook (undergraduate or postgraduate) and will include aims/objectives, learning outcomes and details of prior reading materials for all programmes and units offered by the department.
3.4 Approval must always be sought according to Faculty procedures, for proposed changes to programmes or units. If such a change affects the mandatory part of a programme, the approval of the New Programmes Group and Education Committee must also be obtained. No new unit should appear in a syllabus unless it has been formally approved through either the Faculty or University route. The criteria used to determine the suitability of the new/substantially revised programme or unit will include:
- assessing design content and delivery against stated aims/objectives and outcomes;
- deciding whether appropriate internal and external advice has been sought;
- if a unit, the extent to which it is combined successfully with other units to make up the programme of study;
- where a programme or unit builds on prior knowledge, how it is proposed to identify students who may not be adequately prepared and whether the support to be offered to such students will be sufficient.
3.5 Each programme and unit should have a director or organiser, to co-ordinate the design, content and organisation of the programme or unit.
3.6 Contributors to programmes and units may form programme or unit teams, to enable on-going monitoring of the curriculum during each academic session, and to make recommendations for changes to the appropriate departmental or faculty committee.
3.7 The resources necessary for the satisfactory delivery of a new programme or unit should always be identified in advance of approval and the needs associated with the proposal acknowledged. Such resources will include: staff, teaching/learning space, computers, library materials.