BFSS Faculty Engagement with the ITLR

1. What (if anything) happened next? BFSS Faculty Engagement with the ITLR by Andrew Reeve

2. Recommendations to Faculty Four areas were identified in which recommendations had been made directly to the Faculty: • joint degrees • personal tutoring & personal development • internationalisation • employability.

3. If in doubt, create a working party The Board resolved that a Working Party executive committee would consider all four areas. Apart from the executive committee, the Working Party would comprise colleagues from across the Faculty and wider University with interest and expertise in the areas mentioned so the composition would differ by area.

4. Joint Degrees: the NSS • (To Academic Departments): That joint degree conveners request and carefully analyse NSS results for joint degrees to identify and address any areas of concern, noting that the data was available upon request from the Teaching Quality team; • (To Teaching Quality): That the existing list of joint degrees be updated; • (To Space Management & Timetabling): That joint degrees be given priority for timetabling purposes; • (To the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences): That the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences consider its role in raising awareness of the Good Practice Guide on Joint Degrees.

5. Joint Degrees: clarity and consistency • (To SSLCs for joint degrees): That Joint Degree SSLCs be invited to consider the issue of communication, deadlines and assessments and indicate their preferences; • (To the Examinations Office): That exam board grids be standardised, noting that my.economics generated exam grids, which could be amended, recognising the desirability of exam grids’ format being driven by the needs of boards of examiners. • University version of ‘my.department’ be transferred to ‘my.course’ from the students’ perspective to cater for joint degrees.

6. Joint Degrees (3): optionality • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments consider way of making optionality viable on joint courses, noting that departments were empowered to amend existing and approve new modules; • (To Space Management & Timetabling): That Space Management & Timetabling bring joint degrees to the forefront of their considerations when restructuring the University’s central timetable.

7. Personal tutoring and personal development • (To the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences): That the Faculty promote the role of Personal Tutor and facilitate sharing good practice across the Faculty; • (To the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences): That the Faculty establish a Faculty Senior Tutor Forum to meet on a termly basis, starting in Spring Term 2013; • (To ITS): That ITS work very closely with the University Senior Tutor (and selected departmental senior tutors) in devising an IT system that would support personal tutors.

8. Personal tutoring and personal development • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments provide support to personal tutors, including encouragement to attend training sessions and consult supporting documents available from the University Senior Tutor’s website; • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments assign experienced personal tutors as mentors to new members of staff; • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments consider introduction of templates for personal tutors’ discussions with students, noting that these should steer the personal tutor to ask questions about personal development.

9. Personal tutoring and personal development • Noted the development of new roles: Dean of Students (Law); Director of Student Experience and Progression (PAIS). • Agreed that the role of personal tutors was not currently properly recognised and that work should be undertaken in departments to change the image and recognise time spent by members of staff: consideration in workload models, especially for DSPs. • academic departments to consider ways of bringing students’ attention to the skills they acquired as part of their academic course.

10. Internationalisation • (To the University): That funding be secured to develop an online/blended tool to encourage students to engage with the issue of studying/working/living in a multicultural environment, noting its crucial importance for Warwick graduates as citizens, but also as job market entrants; • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments engage students returning from any type of study abroad in promoting such opportunities, but also in integrating Home and International students; • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments consider including a session on multiculturalism and diversity of cohorts in their induction sessions.

11. Internationalisation • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments consider ways of making their degrees more relevant to international students, e.g. by investigating requirements of professional bodies in main recruitment areas; • (To the University): That the benefits of a module for first year students to get engaged with the internationalisation agenda be recognised; • (To PG Admissions): That PG Admissions work closely with academic departments and recognise departmental expertise and knowledge of subject specific achievements of academic departments at overseas institutions as a useful tool to complement the sometimes blunt league tables of overseas institutions prepared by the International Office. • (To CAL and the University) that the creation of Faculty-focused ‘hubs’ for in-sessional training be pursued, as well as any other measures to decrease the number of students waiting for in-sessional support.

12. Employability Employers ask job applicants for four things: a good 2:1 or 1st; work experience (i.e. showing that the candidate is accustomed to work environment/industry); extra-curricular activities (showing commitment); being able to present oneself and one’s skills.

13. ‘Employability’ Self- awareness Of their own career motivations, skills, strengths, and definition of success, offering unique personal evidence for the above, drawn from their: •             Academic study •             Extra-curricular activities •             Work experience Awareness of the needs of employers: •Generally, through awareness of transferable skills all employers seek •Specifically, if applying for a particular vacancy, through having researched the organisationto understand its needs, environment and culture, and the requirements of the role The ability to reflect on/ analyse their own and employers’ needs in order to: •Describe and contextualise their transferable skills •Build a compelling case for fulfilling the requirements of the vacancy  •Match the  demands of the role with their own career vision •Articulate their unique attributes at interview

14. Employability (To the Faculty Board) to  consider introducing a number of non-teaching days in the first week of Autumn Term to be rolled out across the Faculty, in order for students to have chance to engage with employability and personal development agendas, but also presentations from other departments, e.g. Library, etc.

15. Employability • (To the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences): That a space be provided for SCS to use for advertising of  their services and events within the Faculty premises; • (To SCS): That SCS actively use the Faculty Cowling Room for Careers drop-in sessions; • (To Academic Departments): That academic departments consider setting up an employability contact in each Department.