“By creating we think, by living we learn” Patrick Geddes
A Head of Department or School has a clear responsibility to ensure that the Department or School's academic programmes are efficiently and effectively delivered, that the needs of students are adequately met and that research is facilitated.
To fulfil this responsibility a Head of Department or School has the power to determine the allocation of teaching, examining and related administrative duties among Departmental or School teaching staff and to require the availability of staff for such duties. In practice, such matters will normally be amicably decided by discussion with individual staff members or at a Departmental Board meetings, but the Head of Department or School has the right in the absence of mutual agreement to impose a decision. Individual staff members have an obligation under their terms of appointment to adhere to that decision, with the provision that a University grievance procedure can be invoked in a case of serious irreconcilable differences between a member of academic staff and the Head of Department or School.
Most academic staff have in their contracts an obligation to engage in advanced study or research and unless he or she is clear that the obligation is not being met, a Head of Department or School has an obligation to allocate duties on a basis which allows reasonable time for the pursuit of research; that obligation does not however, extend to providing all of the facilities and resources believed by members of staff to be necessary for the pursuit of their research.
The Senatus has adopted a Code of Practice for Supervised Postgraduate Research which is obtainable in either the form of a booklet from the Postgraduate Office (Mrs Muriel Duncan, ext 4034) or in electronic form from the University's website. Regulations prescribing the procedures to be followed in the conduct of appeals by postgraduate students, as well as Regulations governing the maximum period of postgraduate study or research, are contained in the University Calendar and are reproduced in the Code. Details of the University scheme for monitoring the quality of postgraduate supervision is also described in the Code. Applications on behalf of a candidate seeking an extension of the prescribed period must be submitted to the relevant Dean. In the case of a first extension, generally Deans approve the request on behalf of the Faculty Board. However requests for further extensions must be sent to the Faculty Secretary for approval by the relevant Faculty Board, and thereafter the Senatus, and must be supported by full details of the reasons for failure to submit within the prescribed period, including an assessment of the additional time necessary to ensure completion. It is important that any such application is submitted at the earliest possible stage before the end of the normal period and not after it has expired.
The University, in order to be successful, needs to provide quality courses for its students. The purpose of introducing academic audit and quality assessment, now known under the collective term of academic standards, is to provide a structure within the University to ensure that the quality of the University's existing courses is maintained and improved, and that, in addition, new courses satisfy quality standards. One of the key elements of the University's academic strategy is the continuous self-critical review of teaching and learning, taking into account developments from external bodies, principally the Higher Education Quality Council's Division of Quality Audit and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's Teaching and Learning Directorate. The University's academic standards scheme is summarised in the policy statement AS1. A booklet describing the policy was first circulated to all teaching staff in June 1994 and a revised version was issued to all teaching staff in March 1996. The scheme is also described in the Academic Standards Handbook which was circulated to all Heads of Department, Schools and Deans and members of the Senate and Faculty Academic Standards Committees in 1995. The Handbook contains information on good practice in the preparation of student course guides, the design and administration of student course evaluation questionnaires and other topics related to teaching quality.
At the beginning of each session students are required to consult their Advisers of Studies and obtain their approval of the classes to be taken during the year. A student may consult his or her Adviser by appointment at other times during the session. Members of staff are also free to consult the appropriate Adviser of Studies for advice about students' courses of study and examinations.
The University has instituted, as a matter of policy, a personal tutor system whereby each student has a member of staff allocated to him or her as a tutor. In some Faculties this personal tutor system operates in a manner entirely consistent with the traditional role of the academic tutor. In others it extends that role to provide students taking a variety of different subject prior to Honours specialisation with an overview in terms of learning support beyond that available from Departmentally based, individual subject tutors.
Detailed Guidance for External Examiners are available in electronic or booklet form (paper copies can be obtained from the office of the Academic Secretary).
Students have to attend the lectures, laboratory work, tutorials and other meetings of their classes at the hours advertised on the timetable of classes. They must also attend meetings held outside the advertised hours unless prevented from doing so by attendance at other classes advertised in the timetable and meeting at the same time.
Class meetings are as far as possible not held on Wednesday afternoons or on Saturdays.
Class certificates are issued in most faculties to students who have attended and satisfactorily performed the work of a class. The certificates are of first class merit, second class merit and due performance. Certificates of due performance are issued at the discretion of the Head of the Department or on request from the students. The Senatus has decided that if a student is absent from any class for a continuous period of six weeks or more, with the exception of some modular courses and excluding vacations, he/she shall not be entitled to a class certificate except with the consent of the Senatus which shall be given only in special cases of hardship. A student entitled to a class certificate in any subject is qualified for entry to the corresponding degree examination at the two periods of examination immediately subsequent to the issue of the certificate, but for no longer except with the consent of the Dean of the Faculty and the Head of the Department concerned. In exceptional circumstances a student may be granted a deferred class certificate valid only for the second period of examination in the academic year in which it was granted.
A class medal may be awarded to the most outstanding student in any class. It is a necessary condition for the award of a medal that the candidate must have gained a first-class certificate of merit. Class medals should not be awarded in non-graduating classes and no separate medals are issued for practical classes as distinct from lecture courses. Where an endowed medal is attached to a Department, no University medal will be awarded in the class to which the endowed medal is assigned. Arrangements for the award of a medal should be made by the Head of the Department with the Examinations Office through which all medals must be ordered. The cost of class medals is charged to the appropriate class grant.
Class examinations may be held during the second week of the spring term.
A timetable of these examinations is drawn up by the Examinations Office after consultation with the various Departments. Invigilation of class examinations is the responsibility of the Head of Department. Where a particular class does not appear in the timetable, it is understood that the examination, if held, takes place during class hours within the Department. The arrangements for class examinations at other times are entirely the responsibility of the organising Department.
The main diet of degree examinations extends from the beginning of the 5th week of the Summer Term to the end of that term. Timetables for honours examinations are prepared each year early in the Spring Term and copies (in draft and final versions) are circulated to all Heads of Departments.
Arrangements for ordinary degree examinations in May/June are contained in a Standing Timetable which is, for the most part, based upon the grouping together of subjects which are taught at the same time. Any necessary minor revisions of the Standing Timetable to take account of changes in curriculum or class hours is undertaken early in the Autumn term. Heads of Departments and Schools are therefore asked to notify the Examinations Office (ext 4012; E-mail: l.a.low@dundee.ac.uk) of any such changes, as soon as possible and not later than 1 October.
The other major diet -the " resits " - takes place during two weeks in August/September. Timetables for the resit examinations are prepared towards the end of July and are sent to Heads of Departments and Schools and to all candidates.
The Senatus has ruled that only in exceptional circumstances, eg because of serious illness making travel impossible, should a student be permitted to take a "resit" examination elsewhere than in the University.
The printing of examination papers from " copy " prepared by Departments and Schools on specially designed forms is undertaken by the Examinations Office. Departments and Schools are asked to submit master copies to the Examinations Office together with a list of the Papers. This list should be made on the form supplied by the Examinations Office which also makes provision for the specification of requirements for examination answer books. Supplies of the forms and notes on the production of "copy" are obtainable from the Examinations Office (ext 4012; E-mail: l.a.low@dundee.ac.uk). The dates for the submission of examination papers for the various periods of examination are recorded in the University Calendar and Staff Diary. These dates are based upon the time required by the staff of the Examinations Office and the Printing Section of the Media Services to complete all the processes involved and every effort should be made to adhere to them. Unless specifically authorised by the Academic Secretary, examination papers submitted after the due date will be returned to the Department concerned, which will then be responsible for printing. All material for printing should be forwarded, by hand to ensure security, to the Examinations Office in a sealed envelope marked " confidential " .
Lists ("mark lists") of candidates for each paper are compiled in the Examinations Office and sent to Heads of Departments and Schools for scrutiny. Heads of Departments and Schools are asked to notify the Examinations Office of any candidate who has been erroneously included in, or excluded from, an examination list. Students who are not eligible to sit an examination for which they have entered, either for academic reasons (eg withdrawal of class certificate) or because they are in debt to the University, will be so informed by letter from the Examinations Office.
As noted above, responsibility for making arrangements for the invigilation of class examinations rests with Heads of Departments. For degree examinations the procedure to be followed as determined by the Senatus (Minutes 1974-75 no.43, p.81 and Appendix "B", p.85) is set out in the guidance for invigilators.
It is the responsibility of the Head of Department involved in a degree examination to make arrangements for the relevant member of the Department to attend the beginning of each degree examination to check the accuracy of the examination paper and to assist the invigilators in distributing those papers. The " departmental starters " should remain in the examination hall for approximately fifteen minutes after the start of the examination to answer any students' queries and should provide the senior invigilator with a number at which they can subsequently be contacted. It is also the responsibility of the Head of Department involved in a degree examination to make arrangements for uplift of the examination scripts from the examination room after they have been checked by the invigilators.
The results of degree, diploma and certificate examinations are reported by the examiners, normally to the appropriate Faculty Office and to the Registry, in a form specified. In conjunction with Faculty Offices and the Registry, the Examinations Office is responsible for the publication of pass lists and for the preparation of personal, graded results for each student other than final year Honours candidates.
To facilitate the preparation and publication of the graduation programme, it is helpful if the results of final examinations are reported to Faculty Offices as soon as possible after the examinations take place.
It is a matter of University policy that the results of examinations be made available to students in order to permit more effective self-monitoring of academic progress. Currently, all sub-honours candidates, other than Medical and Dental students, are provided with a computer-generated list of their individual results in numerical format.
Honours students will receive the appropriate Honours classification for each Honours paper sat at the end of their first year of Honours study directly from the Examinations Office via a computer-generated personal results list. Grades achieved in honours papers sat in the senior honours year may be made available by the Examinations Office in the form of a transcript of examination results issued at graduation along with Degree certificates.
Text last amended September 1999.
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