Course Lives
I Initial course life
1.1 The initial life of a course may be fixed at one of the following:
- the norm for the programme in which it will be presented (eight years for the undergraduate programme), or;
- a period shorter than the norm for the programme, for profile or resource planning reasons (this might, for instance be the case with a 4th level course) or because it is in a subject which is particularly sensitive to rapid changes in the understanding of the subject or in the external environment, or;
- an 'indefinite' period where the subject matter of the course does not change rapidly and where there are reasons to suppose that the course can be maintained in the profile for a period substantially longer than the norm for the programme; (note that 'indefinite' in this context means effectively, the final date of presentation is not fixed and that a course life review will be necessary to confirm that the course can be presented for longer than eight years).
1.2 In the case of the first two options, the initial approval of the course will cover the proposed course life. In the case of the third, the course will be approved initially for the period of the programme norm (eight years for the undergraduate programme) and continuation of presentation beyond that date will depend on the outcome of regular course life reviews.
1.3 A presentation pattern may be adopted in which a course is not offered every year (alternate year, one year in three, etc.). In such cases the course life is measured by the number of years elapsed since the first presentation and not by the number of years in which the course has been presented.
1.4 The initial course life is approved by the proposing academic unit (and the Curriculum Development Committee where appropriate) as part of the UCA1 procedure.
1.5 Any changes to the proposed date of first presentation, subsequent to the submission of the UCA1, require the approval of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Curriculum Development) and are subject to the agreement by operational areas that they are able to accommodate the revised presentation schedules.
2 Review of course life
2.1 The course life initially approved may subsequently be reviewed in the light of the following:
- a partial or rolling remake activity;
- an awareness that the life initially approved for the course was unnecessarily restricted;
- the need to consider a further extension to the approved presentation period of a course with an 'indefinite life';
- in the event of an ad hoc extension being desirable.
2.2 Conversely, a course may be withdrawn before the completion of its planned period of presentation where monitoring of its effectiveness or other changes indicate that withdrawal is desirable. Grounds for withdrawal might include the failure of a course to attract a viable student population or the rapid dating Of course materials as a result of changes in legislation. A decision to withdraw a course before the published final presentation should be taken only after careful consideration of the implications for students who may have based their course choices on the assumption that the course would be available for the whole of the published period.
3 Review process
3.1 The intention to consider an extension to the published life of a course should be signalled as early as possible in the unit's annual forward course plans.
3.2 An extension to the life of a course should be considered by a course life review panel convened by the unit administering the course. The membership of the panel, which should be approved by the unit Board, should include members of the unit familiar with both the course materials and the presentation of the course. For a panel considering a life of more than ten years the membership should include in addition a representative from outside the unit and a representative from outside the University. For panels considering a course with broadcast elements, a representative of the BBC should be included.
3.3 The course life review panel should consider the available information, giving due weight to how the course is presented, as well as to the printed materials and any audio-visual elements, residential school, computing and home experiment kit. Statistical information on student numbers and progress should be available. Information on stocks, rights issues and other resource matters should be prepared by the unit for the panel's information.
3.4 The panel should prepare a report for the consideration of the unit Board setting out its assessment of the academic health of the course, any essential or desirable alterations to the course and a specific proposal for any extension to the agreed course life. The unit Board, acting on behalf of Senate, should consider the report of the course life review panel and any proposal for an extension to the life of the course. As well as accepting or rejecting a proposal a unit Board might resolve to refer the matter back to the course life review panel and ask for additional evidence in support of the proposal, or it might approve an extension to the life of a course, but make it subject to certain changes being made to the course.
3.5 A copy of the course life review report together with the unit Board's decision should be sent to the Assistant Secretary (Academic Development), OCD.
3.6 An extension to the life of a course cannot be for more than four years in addition to the currently agreed life of a course. Subsequent course life reviews may result in further extensions of up to four years. A course with an 'indefinite' life should therefore be subjected to a course life review during its sixth year of presentation, and at four yearly intervals thereafter. If at any stage such a course is modified significantly (i.e. a partial remake necessitating academic approval by the academic unit concerned) as a result of one of the reviews, this sequence would be restarted from the first year of presentation of the modified version as long as the external assessor's report submitted in that year explicitly covers the academic health of all elements of the course, both new and old.
3.7 The Curriculum Development Committee, acting with the delegated authority of the Senate, will have the authority to reconsider the life of a course in cases where the unit has not followed the approved procedures in fixing the course life.
3.8 In the case of a course undergoing a partial or rolling remake, the unit Board may approve the remake course team (including the external assessor) to act as a course life review panel. In such cases the panel is still required to produce a report for consideration by the unit Board.
4 Timing
4.1 The timing of a review should take account of the need to inform students of the outcome in sufficient time for them to plan their courses and for stocking and rights issues to be resolved. For a course with an approved life of eight years, the review should therefore occur during the sixth year. For a course with an 'indefinite life', there should be reviews in the sixth, tenth and fourteenth years (ad infinitum).
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