Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund

Briefing document

Teaching Enhancement Student Success Fund (TESS) (replaces the TQEF Fund)

Round 1 – Enhancing the student academic experience

December 2009

Introduction

1.The Teaching Enhancement Student Success (TESS) Fund has replaced the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF). The TESS Fund Sub-Group invites proposals from Schools/Academic Support Areas and seeks to enhance the student academicexperience by focussing on key institutional priorities (other issues may be considered):

• Assessment and feedback
• Curriculum development and delivery: learning in a research context
• Student retention and attainment
• Active and interactive learning
• Bridging the gap/preparing students for University
• Changing the culture: moving to a 7-day week full-time student experience

The Sub-Group would be particularly interested in proposals that draw some of these issues together and/or draw on effective use of technology as potential solutions.

2.Pump-priming funding of up to £6,000 per project is available for up to 6 projects. Projects are expected to last not longer than 12 months. The Sub-Group is particularly interested in proposals that willhave impact within a School and have the potential to betransferable more widely acrossthe University.

3. The deadline for receipt of proposals is 1.00 pm on12 February 2010. Projects should start no later than Monday 15 March 2010. It should be noted that this is likely to be the only call for funding in the 2009/10 academic year.

Eligibility

4.Proposals may be submitted by individual Schools/Academic Support Areas, groups or from interdisciplinary consortia. Proposals involving partnerships would be particularly welcome. In such cases, fundinggreater than the £6,000 indicated in paragraph 2 might be available if the proposal was considered sufficiently strong.

Outcomes of the Project - Objectives, Deliverables and Requirements:

5. The deliverables of the project should include:

• A case study (a template will be provided)
• A brief final report by May 2011(a template will be provided)
• Appropriate internal dissemination of the outcomes of the project, e.g. presentation at an HE Lunchtime Forum, presentation of a workshop or other involvement in the Centre forEducational Development’s annual conference/other activities.

6. Applicants will be required to:

• Provide a letter of support from a Director of Education/Director of Academic Support Areaundertaking to promote the project at School Board, and/or other appropriate,fora
• Ensure that the project runs for a period not exceeding 12 months at a cost not exceeding £6,000
• Participate in an evaluation of the impact of the Fund –as agreed by the TESS Fund Sub-Group.

Evaluation Criteria

7. Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Quality of the proposal and projectplan -the extent to which the proposal addresses the issues and demands outlined in this briefing document and shows innovation, as appropriate; the quality of the proposal will be assessed on the basis of the deliverables identified and the evidence provided of how these will be achieved.
• Impact – the extent to which the project outcomes could be taken up by/ will be of overall value to the School/University.
• Value for money – the value of the expected project outcomes.

Structure of Proposals

8. The content of the proposal should reflect the evaluation criteria as set out above. To assist in the assessment of all proposals against a common baseline, proposals should be structured as follows:

1. Cover Sheet – All proposals must include a completed cover sheet. This can be found at Annex A. The completed cover sheet will not count towards the page limit.
2. Introduction – A brief outline of the nature of the work to be undertaken, an explanation of how the project will be of value to the School/University.
3. Project Objectives – A description of the intended project plan, rationale, timetable and deliverables.
4. Budget – A summary of the proposed budget which in broad outline identifies how funds will be spent over the life of the project. The budget should be broken down across academic years (August – July) or parts thereof and should include itemised staff costs, travel and subsistence, materials and any other costs required. All costs must be justifiedas these may be subject to external audit. An example budget and guidance on the budgetary terms used can be found at Annex B.
5. Key Personnel – Names and brief details of staff expected to contribute to the project.
6. Supporting Letter – A copy of the letter of support from the appropriate Director of Education/Director of Academic Support Areaundertaking to promote the project at School Board, Senior Management Team and/or other appropriate, fora.This will not count towards the page limit.

9. Proposals should not exceed 4xA4 pages and should be typeset in Arial or a similar font at 11 point size. All key information as outlined above in paragraph 8MUST be included within the page limit unless otherwise indicated. The evaluators will discount any information provided beyond the indicated page limit.

Terms and Conditions of Grant

10. The TESS Fund Sub-Group will oversee and monitor the progress of projects.

11.An external evaluator will be appointed by the TESS Fund Sub-Group to review and evaluate the completed projects.

12. The deadline for submissions is 1.00 pm on 12 February 2010. Late proposals will NOT be accepted. An electronic copy of the proposal should be sent in Wordor PDF format to The Centre for Educational Development (email: ) by this deadline.

13.The TESS Fund Sub-Group will review the bids received in March 2010. It is expected that successful applicants will be notified inmid-March 2010.

December 2009

Annexes

Annex A Cover Sheet

Annex B Budget Template

Annex A

Annex B Example Budget

All applications should be costed on an academic year basis ie August – July. A detailed breakdown should be provided.

Please indicate the total funding required for the project and how this will be used over the 12 months of the project (please note thatthe project funding will be released by CED from the TESS Fund in full to the School/Academic Support Directorate/Unit not later than July 2010 – it is the principal project-holder’s responsibility to make arrangements to carry any funding forward to 2010-11 if necessary):

* Staff – payroll costs requested for staff, full- or part-time, who will work on the project and whose time can be supported by a full audit trail during the life of the project. Please clarify rate per hour.

Travel and Expenses – funds for travel and subsistence for use by staff who are involved in the project where these are required by the nature of the work.

Materials – does not allow for the purchase of hardware.

Other Costs – costs of any other items dedicated to the project.

Justification of Costs

All costs associated with the project must be fully justified and accounted for in the final report.