SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

FACULTY OF ARTS & HUMANITIES

FACULTY LEARNING AND TEACHING COMMITTEE

Tuesday 11th November 2003 The Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities – Professor Brian Bocking (Chair)

Dr L Dolce Dr E Moore Dr W Dooling Dr Paru Raman Dr L Duran UG Student representative* Teaching Assistant Rep.* PG Student rep*

In attendance: Mrs M Seetul (Secretary) Ms Zoë Davis (Student Disability Officer) Mr N Martland (Library) Dr Mark Hobart (Anthropology Department) Mrs Pam Radford (Registry) Dr Rachel Harrison (South East Asia Department)

Those marked * were unable to attend.

12.

Minutes of last meeting Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 7th October 2003 were approved.

13. Matters Arising

Action points 50.2 completed 50.6 Course/programme evaluation is now in the hands of LTPC 69.0 Completed 3.3 A TA rep had not yet come forward. Efforts would continue to identify a representative. There were no other matters arising.

14.

Chair’s action The item dealt with by Chair’s action at Appendix A was NOTED.

15. 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4

Chair’s Business The Chair reported on items of interest from Faculty Board and LTPC. Individual departments were to consider Peter Robb’s report on curriculum reform, and would forward their comments to Faculty Board. The Faculty had resolved to set up a working group to reduce the overall number of course offerings. Personal Tutors were required to initiate contact with first year UG students only (other year students to contact the Tutor).

15.5 15.6

The QAA Institutional Audit Report had listed 142 recommendations for the School, which were now being progressed. These included publication of Assessment criteria, student evaluation of courses/programmes and Peer Observation of Teaching. A further paper on resubmission of coursework had been considered by LTPC but no decision had been made.

16. 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5

Library Matters The Faculty Librarian reported that the library budget is a cause for concern. The budget was reduced last year by £100,000 to £250,000 and the funds had not been restored. It was AGREED that the Chair would write to the Dean of Faculty and Pro-Director expressing the Committee’s concern that the Library is now unable to support any further new course proposals requiring purchase of books or journals. It was also reported that reading lists are not being submitted to the library, so that multiple copies of essential books are not ordered, resulting in student complaints. May/June is the ideal time to supply reading lists. Older courses are the main problem since the library receives copies of each new course proposal with reading list. The Faculty Librarian would liaise with the Faculty Office in future years to secure missing reading lists. It was AGREED that the Faculty Librarian would send a list of currently missing reading lists to the Associate Dean, Learning & Teaching, who will assist in chasing these up as a matter of urgency. The Faculty Librarian recommended that maximising use of electronic resources and study packs would ameliorate the problems faced by the library as a result of financial cutbacks.

17. 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6

Student Services Annual Report 2002-3 The Student Disability Officer was introduced to the members. The Student Services Department had prepared an annual report which was discussed (Appendix B) and the following points raised: - The Student Services Departments help students with personal/academic-related

problems as well as providing services to academics e.g. staff inductions, training for Personal Tutors/Teaching Assistants/Admissions Tutors.

- The key functions are to provide student counselling, support for students with

disabilities, support for student welfare and a careers service. - SOAS Counselling Service last year saw twice the national average of students

compared with other universities. The reasons for this high percentage were not known. - The Student Disability Officer reported that all students who declare themselves as

disabled in their application form will be contacted (128 students declared, but not all had contacted the Disability Officer).

- The Learning and Teaching Unit has increased support for dyslexic students. - Student Services has applied for more funds from HEFCE in order to buy equipment to

17.7 17.8 17.9 17.10

loan to students with disabilities. - Students now faced significant problems in renewing their visas (applications, costs,

long delays etc.), which increased the workload of Student Services staff. - It was felt that the Student Services would benefit from a base at Russell Square near the

bulk of the students. The Student Disability Officer reported difficulties in trying to book a room to meet a student at the Russell Square campus. The Chair recommended that the Student Services Department contact Peter Robb as Chair of Space Committee to request allocation of a Student Services room at Russell Square.

- Under the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act Student Services would

be seeking to provide more detailed and standardised statistical monitoring data in future years.

- The Committee expressed its gratitude for an extremely useful report and the Chair

asked members to report back to their departments on the key issues raised. It was suggested that an executive summary would be a useful addition, since this could be readily circulated to departments and committees. It would be helpful if statistics on sub-groupings of students using Student Services (by gender, ethnicity etc.) were related to percentages of such students at SOAS.

18. 18.1 18.2

Half-unit courses It was AGREED that UG students, especially in year 1, should be strongly discouraged from taking more than four courses (full or half units) each term, though the Committee recognised that in some cases timetabling of courses and half-courses made an unevenly distributed programme of study inevitable. The Deputy Registrar pointed out that PG students are not normally permitted to take more than three courses simultaneously per term since this might leave some part-time students with no taught programme in a given term.

19.

Year One Curriculum The Chair had asked Chairs of Departments to identify how UG skills (academic writing, seminar presentations, use of library and journals etc.) are delivered to their first year students. Replies were considered from the Departments of Art and Archaeology, Music, Study of Religions (Appendix C) and History Department (Tabled Paper 1, Appendix R, attached). The Anthropology Department had made an initial response referring to recent curriculum changes and Dr Raman agreed to submit a report explaining how undergraduate skills are delivered. The responses would be considered at the next Faculty Board.

20.

Penalties for late submission of MA coursework After discussion it was AGREED that the request from Music Department for a faculty-wide or School-wide policy to deduct marks for late coursework at Masters level (Appendix D) would not be taken forward due to lack of support from a clear majority of members. The policy remained that if a department wished to adopt a policy of penalising late submission, they could do so but would need to publish this in literature distributed to all students at the beginning of the academic year (in handbooks, reading lists etc.).

21. 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.8

Proposal for new Media Studies programmes Three new Media Studies programme proposals, each with a new core course, were considered in detail and recommended for APPROVAL subject to the amendments listed below (Appendix E, F and G). The list did not include any amendments to previously circulated papers reflected in the revised papers introduced by Dr Hobart at the meeting. These papers are attached as ‘Memorandum’ (Tabled Paper 2, Appendix S, attached), ‘MA in Critical Media and Cultural Studies’ (Tabled Paper 3, Appendix T, attached) and PG Taught Course Proposal for ‘Theoretical and Contemporary Issues in Media and Cultural Studies’ (Tabled Paper 4, Appendix U, attached). The tabled papers proposed a change to the title of one programme from ‘Comparative Media Studies’ to ‘Critical Media and Cultural Studies’, by agreement with the Anthropology Department. The Committee AGREED that the three programmes were well-designed and did not overlap with existing provision in Anthropology of Media and that sufficient courses were already available to the new programmes to enable them to run with or without approval of further courses from SOAS or elsewhere. Availability of courses at Birkbeck would be subject to an Institution-level agreement on fees and credit transfer. The Committee NOTED that cautious Library approval had been granted for each new programme and that significant additional resources recouped from Faculty income would be required to enable Library purchasing if the programmes were to expand as predicted. The Committee NOTED that comments had been requested but not yet received from IT dept. The Programme is hosted by the Arts & Humanities Faculty while the core courses are hosted pro tem by Anthropology. Amendments required: In all documents.

1. Replace residual references to ‘Comparative Media Studies’ with correct titles of new programmes as appropriate.

2. Wherever course titles are listed, provide (a) the correct course title (b) the course code and (c) the value (full, 45 credits or half, 22.5 credits course).

3. For all courses listed as available, provide written (email) confirmation to the Secretary of FLTC from the relevant course convenor that the course is available within the programme. The confirmation must state any special conditions of entry for Media Studies students (e.g. prerequisite knowledge or skills in Music, or quotas).

4. Specify that the Dissertation must be supervised by a member of SOAS staff.

‘Programme Outcomes’ to replace ‘Course Outcomes’ throughout in the three Programme proposals. Signatures (or email approval) of HoD to be obtained for all course proposals Memorandum (Tabled Paper 2, Appendix S) Para 4 line 1 ‘Culture Studies’ > ‘Cultural Studies’ MA in Critical Media and Cultural Studies (Tabled Paper 3, Appendix T) p.3 (structure of degree, 2nd section). Rubric to read ‘Courses may total no more than ONE full course from any of lists 3-7 below.’ Theoretical and Contemporary Issues in Media and Cultural Studies (Tabled Paper 4, Appendix U) Section 4. Delete text (superseded course ‘Theoretical Issues in Media and Cultural Studies’ to be deleted)

21.9 21.10 21.11 21.12 21.13 21.14 21.15 21.16

MA in Cinemas of Asia and Africa Rationale for the degree: a brief academic rationale should be provided for proposed inclusion of Birkbeck courses (subject to agreement) in an MA of this title. Structure of the MA (table) Above 3 ‘Optional Courses’. Add rubric ‘Students may take up to one full course or equivalent from the following lists. At 4. Insert ‘Subject to approval, Courses from Birkbeck…’ Cinema and Nation: Critical Approaches Reading list: provide list of relevant e-resources to support this course. MA Global Media and Postnational Communication Structure of the MA (table). 2nd section. Clarify the intention and wording of the rubric (i.e. whether it refers to courses or to full or half-courses and in which of lists 2 and 3). Delete the first two courses in list 2 (withdrawn/not available in this programme). List 10. Consider adding relevant units from Study of Religions. Theoretical and Contemporary Issues in Global Media and Postnational Communication Amend title to: Global Media and Postnational Communication: Theoretical and Contemporary Issues for ease of abbreviation. 3b. Delete text (course not available)

22. Proposal for new programme: MA Gender Studies 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5

The MA in Gender Studies programme and its new core course were recommended for APPROVAL (Appendix H) subject to the following amendments. MA in Gender Studies Structure of the MA (table) Rubric at top of section 2 to read: ‘Any TWO courses drawn from lists 2 and 3 below. Only one language course may be taken from list 3 and only one full course or equivalent from list 4.’ The dissertation must be supervised by a member of SOAS staff. Appendix A. Delete the courses ‘Theoretical Issues in Media and Cultural Studies’ and ‘Gender and Religions Research Seminar Project’ from Appendix A of this proposal (withdrawn/not available in this programme) Gender Theory and the Study of Asia and Africa Section 3a. Delete ‘yes’ against ‘available as a major’ 11 Objectives and learning outcomes Rephrase 2 as ‘… between a variety of contemporary theory and the cross-cultural study of gender.’

22.6 22.7

The Programme is hosted jointly by the Arts & Humanities Faculty and Languages and Cultures Faculty while the core course is hosted by the Department of the Study of Religions. Full booklist has not printed properly – authors O-Z missing. Signature (or email approval) of HoD of Study of Religions to be obtained for the core course proposal.

23. 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5

Proposal for new PG courses The following new PG courses were discussed: Avestan 1 – APPROVED (Appendix I). It was NOTED that the existing PG code for Avestan Language would be used and the UG version of this course deleted. Extended Essay in Japanese Religions (0.5)– approved on the basis that the following changes be made (Appendix J):

- change title of course to ‘Individual Research Project in Japanese Religions’ - delete the course ‘Directed Readings in Japanese Religions’ which this course

supersedes.

Transnational Communities and Diasporic Media: Networking, Connectivity, Identity – approved on the basis that the following changes be made (Appendix K):

- section 3b: change title to ‘Critical Media and Cultural Studies’ - Confirmation to be received of whether this is an Autumn or Spring half-course

and of the deadline for coursework - Signature/email approval of HoD required Section 14b: the Faculty Librarian reported that the journals suggested are not available in SOAS Library.

Studies in Global Media and Postnational Communication – this course proposal was withdrawn (Appendix L). The Transnational News Environment – approved on the basis that the following changes be made (Appendix M):

- section 3b: change title to ‘Critical Media and Cultural Studies’ - Confirmation to be received of whether this is an Autumn or Spring half-course

and of the deadline for coursework - Signature/email approval of HoD required Section 14b: the Faculty Librarian reported that the journals suggested are not available in SOAS library.

24. Proposal for new UG courses

Essay on New Iranian Cinema (Appendix N) This course (half-unit) is APPROVED for one year only from Autumn 2003. Section 15. Clarification of the coursework submission deadline, in light of the relationship between this course and PG full course Iranian Cinema will be sought by the

Chair.

25.

Proposal for programme amendment Anthropology of Urban Space, Place and Architecture (PG) – this amendment was approved on the basis that the following change be made (Appendix O):

- the form should be titled ‘Programme Amendment Form’, not ‘PG Course Amendment Form’ and the amendment is to the Programme ‘MA Anthropology of Media’, not to the course.

26.

Proposal for course unit amendment Topical Lectures and Seminars in Buddhist Studies (PG) – this amendment to the coursework submission deadline was approved (Appendix P).

27. Deletion of courses

It was NOTED that the courses identified for deletion in Appendix Q were now deleted.

28. Any Other Business There was no other business.

MS/BB 14/11/03

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

FACULTY LEARNING & TEACHING COMMITTEE

Tuesday 11th November 2003

Action points

Minute item no.

Action Action by Complete by Result

72.0 Secretary to chase missing programme reviews.

MS ASAP

3.3 (2003/4)

Liaise with Faculty Administrator to establish which Teaching Assistant is to attend future meetings

MS ASAP

16.2 Contact the Faculty Dean/Pro-Director expressing concern that the Library is now unable to support any further new course proposals requiring purchase of books or journals.

BB ASAP

19.0 To produce a report explaining how undergraduate skills are delivered (Year One Curriculum)

PRaman Before next LTC

MS/BB 14/11/03