STAFF / STUDENT LIAISON COMMITTEE

ANNUAL REPORT FOR UNDERGRADUATE SSLCs in 2012/13

It is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that a SSLC Annual Report is completed, in consultation with student and staff members of the Committee (QA48 Section 7.1), by Friday 2 August 2013.

Please type this Annual Report and return electronically via email:

To: Advice and Representation Centre, Students’ Union,

CC: Learning and Teaching Enhancement Office,

1. Which degree programmes are covered by this Staff / Student Liaison Committee?
All Undergraduate programmes at BEng and MEng level in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the joint degree with the Department of Electrical Engineering (IMEE).
All Postgraduate Taught Programmes in the Department of Mechanical Engineering including the joint MSc in Mechatronics.
MEng Aerospace Engineering
MEng Automotive Engineering
MEng Mechanical Engineering
MEng Mechanical Engineering with Manufacturing and Management
MEng Mechanical Engineering with advanced Design and Innovation
MSc Aerospace Engineering
MSc Automotive Engineering
MSc Design
MSc Mechatronics
Is this SSLC for: / (Delete as applicable)
Undergraduate programmes only? / No
Undergraduate and postgraduate programmes? / Yes
2. Membership
Name / Student?
(Delete as applicable) / Staff?
(Delete as applicable)
Chair / Dr Jos Darling / No / Yes
Secretary / Dr Mike Wilson / (N/A; should be a member of staff) / Yes
Online Election Process Contact (i.e. the member of staff within the academic department responsible for liaising with the SU over the annual online election process) / Dr Mike Wilson / (No; must be a member of staff) / Yes
Number of staff members: / 10 (plus 6 in attendance)
Number of UG student members: / 9
Number of PG student members: / 2
Invited to attend?
(Delete as applicable) / Receives Minutes? (Delete as applicable)
Subject Librarian / Yes / Yes
Faculty Reps, Students’ Union, on the Board of Studies / Yes / Yes
Education Officer, Students’ Union
() / Yes / Yes*
Secretary to the Board of Studies / (Not routinely invited to attend) / No
Secretary to the Faculty / School Learning, Teaching and Quality Committee / (Not routinely invited to attend) / No
Representation and Research Manager, Students’ Union () / (Not routinely invited to attend) / No

* Should routinely receive minutes of SSLC meetings

3. Meetings
How many times has the SSLC met during this academic year? / 5
If there were fewer than 4 meetings this year, please indicate why
4. Items, Issues and Good Practice

This table is to record key issues and topics. These will be used to inform an institutional-wide report from the Students’ Union detailing items that both the University and Students’ Union should consider in 2013/14.

Example areas (this is not a comprehensive list of topics covered; feel free to add details of others issues covered by your SSLC) / Record key items discussed / Any example(s) of Good Practice / Any action taken
Last year’s SSLC Annual Report / Please see 2011/12 SSLC annual report / Please see 2011/12 SSLC annual report / Please see 2011/12 SSLC annual report
Programme content and delivery (but not individual lecturers), changes to existing units / programmes and proposals for new units / programmes / Changes to Feedback Policy.
Withdrawal of three full-time MSc programmes.
Withdrawal of Medical Physics Unit.
Prerequisite change to Robotics Unit.
Change to Aerospace degree final year programme content and structure.
Change of assessment for Metals and Alloys.
Introduction of new Manufacturing Unit and name and content changes in other manufacturing units.
Introduction of Composite units into Automotive Engineering programme.
Introduction of new unit in Advanced Helicopter Dynamics.
Change in name of four Thermofluids units. / Full discussion of academic changes before implementation, including feedback from external examiners. / All proposals agreed by student cohort following discussions.
Information to support students in making informed Unit choices / Current range of department information on units and programmes discussed and additions suggested by students. / Students were frequently guided towards the Department’s Moodle pages (Mechanical Engineering Courses Homepage (MECH) to help with unit choices. These pages contain the full Unit Descriptions, the Unit Annual Monitoring Report Action Plans, the Unit Evaluation Results and the Unit Mark Distributions.
The DoS held a ‘Unit Selection Advice Lecture’ for all third year students.
The DoS also held a ‘Degree Programme Selection Lecture’ for second years.
A nominal maximum of 200% Semester 1 coursework content was recommended to students in their final year in order to avoid overloading.
The assessment deadlines for units in the previous year were published on the Moodle site in order for students to plan their assessment work load. / An email was sent to students, currently making their choices, informing them of the information contained on the Moodle pages, as well as encouraging them to speak to the unit coordinators and attend the briefing lectures.
Timetabling / Several tutorials had been timetabled in tiered lecture theatres which was not appropriate for this subject.
There was general concern about the academic suitability of the timetable that was driven more by room availability than Learning and Teaching priorities. / Requests were made to the timetabling office for room changes but these were not always possible.
Group work / No Issues raised.
Assessment and Feedback, including examinations (if applicable) / Feedback from exams was discussed in relation to students wishing to have their exams remarked and access to view their papers / The Department provides generic feedback on examinations on the MECH Moodle Page. / This was discussed by the SSLC committee. It was decided that access to marked examination scripts for 850 students, each taking up to 5 examinations could not practically be provided. (this view was endorsed by the external examiners to our degrees)
Feedback on all coursework now includes percentage marks not grades.
Feedback Policy / The Department feedback policy was reviewed by the committee and considered to be acceptable to the student cohort. / The feedback policy was subsequently reviewed by the DLTQC and the previous restriction on the release of past examination solutions was lifted.
Survey results (e.g. NSS, Unit & Programme Evaluations) / The very poor Unit Evaluation response rates were discussed. In some cases the response rate was less than 10%. / The Unit Evaluation summaries were published on the MECH Moodle page, together with the Unit Annual Monitoring Report Action Plans. / Emails were sent to the students to encourage them to complete the unit evaluations.
External Examiners Reports and University response / The External Examiners Reports from 2011/12 were discussed.
The lack of flexibility of the NFA regulations was raised by a couple of externals although the SSLC meeting recognised the potential benefits of uniform assessment regulations. / The External Examiner Reports are published on the MECH Moodle Page.
Skills development and training / The introduction of a ‘Report Writing Course’, run by the Enlgish Language Centre was discussed. / The first years were given a 7 lecture report writing course. This was well received by some but others felt that it was too biased towards non-native English speakers. Changes will be introduced next year.
Student support (including progress monitoring and the Personal Tutor system) / No issues raised.
Library provision (Was the Subject Librarian invited to attend to discuss relevant issues?) / Subject Librarian attended all SSLC meetings. / Subject Librarian had an agenda item at each meeting and brought the committee up to date with developments.
IT and / or e-Learning provision (Was a member of the relevant team invited to attend to discuss relevant issues?) / The issue of lecture videos was raised by the students.
A request was made by the students to publish appropriate material on Moodle for three units in which nothing was made available by the Unit Convenors. / As a result of staff absence, Panopto videos of a whole unit were made available. This complemented the lectures provided by replacement staff and was appreciated by the student body. / The lectures of a first year unit were provided on Panopto. This was said to be useful during the revision period.
This issue was discussed with the unit convenors, however they felt that paper notes were provided during the lectures and students should attend in order to collect the unit information. The item was left with the HoD who took no further action.
Other academic resources (teaching accommodation, research facilities and electronic resources) / IMEE representative complained about lab organisation for the second year cohort.
The development of the second year laboratory programme was discussed. The lab content, submission schedule, student experience and feedback timing were all considered. / Alternative arrangements were made for IMEE lab attendance.
The Department set up a Lab working party to develop the first and second year programme.
Careers provision (Was a representative of the Careers Service invited to attend to discuss relevant issues?) / A member of the Careers Service gave a lecture to final years in Semester 1 but this was not discussed at SSLC.
Other issues or SSLC initiatives (if the SSLC covers both UG and PG students, include, for example, supervisory arrangements [but not individual supervisors] and research training) / Lack of engagement by students in election of SSLC academic reps despite encouragement by DoS.
A Student Open Meeting with panel members outside of the Faculty was held as part of a continuing University initiative. The outcomes have never been communicated to the Department . Subsequently the Department set up an undergraduate student focus group as part of the Degree Scheme Review process. The meeting was well supported and led to a set of student recommendations and the identification of good practice that will form part of the DSR.
Teaching awards discussed.
Good Practice document discussed at SSLC.
Unit evaluations were discussed
Lack of attendance by PGT SSLC reps.
Lack of two-way dialogue between academic reps who attend Student Council and Department. / The results from the unit evaluations were published on the Department Moodle site. The Unit Annual Monitoring report Action Plans were discussed at SSLC and published on the Moodle site.
We may consider ‘Academic Council’ item on SSLC agenda. / DoS publicised SSLC election process.
An undergraduate Degree Scheme Review will be held in July 2013.
Five members of staff were put forward for teaching awards. Two were awarded prizes, together with the Chancellors Prize for a final year student.
The students contributed to the Good Practice document on Student Engagement.
These were tabled and discussed at the meeting. The results from the unit evaluations were published on the Department Moodle site. The Unit Annual Monitoring Report Action plans were discussed at SSLC and published on the Moodle site.
PGT Reps reminded of SSLC meeting dates.
We may consider ‘Academic Council’ item on SSLC agenda.
5. Unresolved issues

Which of the issues discussed during this year remain unresolved and what steps are being taken to resolve them?

General dissatisfaction over timetabling. However this should be eased somewhat by expansion of the new GTA facilities.
Increasing emphasis is being put on the SSLC to undertake the review of academic related issues, such as the Feedback Policy, External Examiners Reports, Good Practice Discussions etc. By and large the students contribute very little to these discussions and they detract from the more immediate local issues considered important by the students. It appears that the SSLC is increasingly being used as a repository for items that require ‘student engagement’ and it may be that an alternative forum should be set up to deal with these issues.
6. Online election process contact for 2013/14

Who will be the Online Election Process Contact for the academic department? (i.e. the member of staff within the academic department responsible for liaising with the Students’ Union over the annual online election process to promote and to market the online election process for student representatives)

Name: Dr Mike Wilson Email: Ext.: 6325

7. Authorisation

It is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure that a SSLC Annual Report is completed, in consultation with student and staff members of the Committee (QA48: Section 7.1).

Chair of the SSLC

Signature: Print Name: Jos Darling Date: 05 June 2013

In the absence of the Chair, the Annual Report may be signed-off by the Director of Studies or Secretary of the SSLC

Signature: Print Name: Date:

When you have completed this form, please return via email by Friday 2 August 2013:

To: Advice and Representation Centre, Students’ Union,

CC: Learning and Teaching Enhancement Office,

The form should be returned by this deadline even if you have further meetings scheduled in the current academic year; the draft form should, where possible, be circulated to members of the SSLC for comment by email.

The Secretary should keep a copy for departmental records AND place on the agenda for the first meeting of the SSLC in the new academic year.

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