The course team will operate under the general direction of Elaine Harris, Head of School of Professional Studies with day to day co-ordination in the hands of Roger Willetts, Course Leader heading the course team of tutors who deliver the course.
A Steering Group will oversea the conduct of the course. The group will meet at least three times a year and will consist of:
Further more, the course team will meet as a board of study at least three times per year and hold minuted meetings. These meetings will normally take place shortly after the Steering Group meetings.
The University College Northampton (UCN) forum for debate and discussion of the course operation and evaluation is in the Board of Study meeting. These will follow Steering Group meetings at least once per term and take account of delegate issues. The meetings are minuted, and actions arising are progressed at subsequent meetings.
At the end of each academic year, the course team is required to produce an annual review for the course, following the standard College pro-forma. The main vehicle for arriving at this report is the annual review meeting at which all aspects are throughly discussed by the course team, and actions for the following year agreed. Cohort representatives contribute to this meeting, as do I.T Services and Library representatives. The draft report from this process is then circulated and discussed by the team, to arrive at the final report.
The actions agreed at the annual review form the basis for discussion at the course planning meetings which take place at the beginning of the academic year, once course budgets have been agreed.
The maintenance of academic standards is the responsibility of the College academic Board, which, for academic programmes has delegated its responsibilities to the College Committe for Academic Standards.
That committee has established the principles and processes on which the college's system of validation, periodic review, course monitoring and evaluation are based.
In their discussion of quality characteristics of the course, the course team recognise the importance of adhearing to relevant standards and procedures. Performance indicators have been set for the course, monitoring areas which the course team consider to be significant in the assessment of quality.
Course evaluation is carried out informally throughout the year, and the individual delegates are encouraged to raise any issues of concern with course team members, as they become apparent. Delegate representatives also canvass your opinion in advance of Steering Group meetings.
The formal delegate evaluation for each module is carried out through individual completion of questionnaires at the end of the workshops. A full report is produced following analysis of the results.
All reports identify actions where neccessary, and these are then carried out by the course team. The report, and any proposed actions, are also summarised to the delegates at a report back session by the course leader. Delegate Course Evaluation reports are appended to the Annual Review report and are further discussed as part of the annual review process.
Your performance will be assessed during and after attendance at each workshop (see section 5). Module results are monitored at the Steering Group meetings to ensure satisfactory progress of each cohort. You will be notified of your module results within 8 weeks of completing the module assessment. These results are provisional until confirmed by the Examination Board. Coursework is not usually returned to you. Feedback from the module tutor will be referenced to your work and sent to you, with your module results via the local agent. It is essential that you retain a copy of all coursework submitted for assessment, and that it is page numbered.
Individual results profiles are considered by the Examination Board applying the regulations (see section 6), for the recommendation of awards. The Examination Board is chaired by the Head of School and consists of the course tutors and external examiner(s).
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