Quality at Queen Margaret University - Collaborations Manual

Joint Boards of Studies and Committees

Collaborative programmes will fit into the QMU committee structure as follows:

• Student-Staff Consultative Committee . The partner institution should organise regular meetings with students to allow them to provide constructive feedback on their experiences. A Student-Staff Consultative Committee is required only for programmes leading to an award of the University and not for Short Programmes leading to the award of academic credit only.

• Programme committee / programme team meetings . The partner institution should organise meetings of their internal programme team to discuss operational issues. It is good practice to invite the Academic Link Person to attend some of these meetings. Ideally, the Student-Staff Consultative Committee should take place before the programme team meeting so that any issues raised by the students can be passed to the programme team for consideration.

• Joint Board of Studies . Self-contained programmes leading to an award will normally have a Joint Board of Studies (JBoS). Notes of the Student-Staff Consultative Committee and programme team meetings should be reported to the Joint Board of Studies. The JBoS is chaired by the Dean of School or nominee, typically the Academic Link Person, and a member of Registry staff (Quality Enhancement Unit or School Office) acts as Secretary. This committee is the key forum for liaison between the partner institution and QMU and discusses all issues relating to the collaboration. Most matters will be dealt with through the JBoS, but if the issue requires input on a School or institutional level it will be reported upwards.

• School Academic Board. The JBoS reports into the School Academic Board which has overall responsibility for conduct of academic programmes within the School. The School Academic Board is the first point of call for quality procedures, such as module approval and external examiner appointments. The Academic Link Person should advise the partner institution as to how and when to provide documents for the Board.

• Internationalisation Committee . This committee includes within its remit responsibility for overseas collaborations. It monitors the effectiveness of QMU’s arrangements for supporting international collaborations and recommends changes to the University’s policy and regulations accordingly.

• Student Experience Committee. This is the senior committee which decides on academic policy and regulations. It has delegated authority to recommend approval of programme-related business on behalf of Senate.

• Senate is the highest level academic committee within QMU. Only Senate can approve the award of degrees to individual students. Only Senate can approve changes to the University regulations.

The remit of the Joint Board will be to monitor and review the operation of the programme; to receive reports from the external examiner/s, review the annual report and action plan, receive minutes of subsidiary committees; and to submit minutes of its meetings to the School Academic Board. (See sample Joint Board of Studies agenda. )

In drawing up the Memorandum of Agreement, partner institutions should agree with Queen Margaret University whether there will be one or two meetings of the Joint Board of Studies per year. (The number of meetings per year will be reflected in the price.)

Some short programmes, including those which form part of other QMU programmes, will not have their own Joint Board of Studies but will be managed through a joint programme committee (e.g. the Post Registration Board of Studies in Nursing). Representatives of the partner institution should be full members of these committees and minutes of programme team meetings reported to the joint programme committee as above.

Making changes

As time goes by it may become clear that changes are required to the programme. This may be a result of feedback from students, feedback from external examiners or a response to developments in the area. Any changes to the programme as originally validated must be agreed by the Joint Board of Studies and then submitted to the relevant University committee for approval (normally the School Academic Board).

Changes to a single module

The original and revised module descriptor must be sent to the School Academic Board along with a module alteration form explaining the nature of the change and rationale.

Change to programme title

A memo should be sent to the School Academic Board explaining the reasons for the change. The Board will want to be assured that there has been appropriate consultation with students, the external examiner and (where relevant) potential employers of graduates.

Normally, it is not possible to change the title of the award for existing students unless they all agree to it.

Adding or withdrawing a module

The module alteration form, available from the Quality website, should be completed and submitted to the School Academic Board explaining the reasons for the change. Module descriptors should be included as appropriate.

Changes to programme learning outcomes or to a number of modules

Advice should be sought from the Quality Enhancement Unit, as these revisions might constitute a ‘major change’ requiring scrutiny by the original validation panel for the programme (or most recent review panel). This scrutiny is usually done by correspondence without the need for a further review event.

Change to programme leader

The new programme leader must be approved by the Joint Board of Studies.

Change of premises

If the location where the programme is delivered has changed, the new site must be approved by QMU. In almost all cases a fresh evaluation visit will be required.