The University of Western Australia



The University of Western Australia

8 August 2012

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF STUDIES BACHELOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HONS)

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s Nominee as Chair (Winthrop Professor Krishna Sen)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) (Professor Robyn Owens)

Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) (Winthrop Professor Jane Long)

Dean, Graduate Research School (Winthrop Professor Alan Dench)

Appointee of the SDVC and the Chair of Academic Board (Winthrop Professor Ian McArthur)

Appointee of the SDVC and the Chair of Academic Board (vacant)

Appointee of the SDVC and the Chair of Academic Board (Associate Professor Fiona Pixley)

Appointee of the SDVC and the Chair of Academic Board (Professor Trish Todd)

Appointee of the SDVC and the Chair of Academic Board (Winthrop Professor Philippa Maddern)

Registrar or Nominee (Dr Sato Juniper)

Guild President (Mr Matthew Mckenzie)

Dr Kabilan Krishnasamy, Executive Officer

Ms Kaye Macpherson-Smith, Executive Officer

STANDING INVITEE

Mr Jon Stubbs, Director, Student Services

Associate Professor Jenna Mead, Academic Coordinator for Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons)

BY INVITATION

Mr Wayne Betts, Associate Director, Student Services, Admissions Centre, for item 6.

IN-ATTENDANCE

Senior Academic Reviewer (Winthrop Professor Ian Reid)

BOARD OF STUDIES BACHELOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HONS) MEETING –

TUESDAY, 14TH AUGUST 2012

AGENDA

This is to confirm that the next meeting of the Board of Studies for the Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) (BOS BPhil (Hons)) will be held on Tuesday, 14th August 2012, 1.00 – 2.30pm, in Meeting Room W1.

Part 1 of the agenda is to be dealt with en bloc by motion of the Chair. Part 2 of the agenda has items for decision to be dealt with en bloc by motion of the Chair. Part 3 items are for discussion and decision. A member may request the transfer of an item from Parts 1 and/or 2 to Part 3.

Kaye Macpherson-Smith

Executive Officer

__________________________________________________________________________

WELCOME

The Chair will welcome members to the meeting of the Board of Studies for the Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) degree course. The Chair will also welcome Mr Jon Stubbs as a standing invitee for this and future meetings and Mr Wayne Betts for item 6 discussion.

APOLOGIES

The Chair will record any apologies. Members are reminded that apologies should be forwarded to the Executive Officer prior to the meeting.

DECLARATIONS OF POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT OR PERCEIVED CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The Chair will invite members to declare potential for conflict or perceived conflicts of interest, if applicable, with regard to items on the agenda.

1. MINUTES – Ref: F27161

Confirmation of the minutes of the Board of Studies for the Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) meeting held on 24th May 2012.

PART 1 – ITEM(S) FOR COMMUNICATION TO BE DEALT WITH EN BLOC

2. BUSINESS IN PROGRESS SINCE PREVIOUS MEETING

|ITEM/BUSINESS IN PROGRESS |ACTION |RESPONSIBLE |STATUS |

|2.1 Review BPhil (Hons) |Admissions Sub-committee to reconvene and |BPhil Admissions |Completed – refer |

|admissions process |undertake a |Sub-committee/ BOS BPhil |item 6 - Attach D |

| |review of the BPhil entry |Committee | |

| |requirements and selection | | |

| |process, and address relevant | | |

| |issues. | | |

|2.2 Report from the Academic |(i) Provide BPhil (Hons) Academic |Academic Coordinator BPhil |Next meeting - refer |

|Co-ordinator BPhil |Coordinator report to committee | |item 8 –Attach G |

| | |Academic Coordinator BPhil / | |

| |(ii) Provide BPhil SURF feedback to BOS |CATL |Due Jun/ Aug meeting |

| |BPhil. | | |

|2.3 University Policy on |(i) A discussion paper will be |Prof. Ian Reid |In progress - due Sep meeting|

|Undergraduate Degree Course |written to address the issue of how | | |

|Rules for the |to operationalise Rule 13 of the | | |

|BPhil (Hons) |University Policy. | | |

| |(ii) BOS BPhil Committee to |BOS BPhil Committee | |

| |consider the discussion paper and | | |

| |make recommendation to the BCS | | |

| |and Academic Council. | | |

3. NEW COURSES 2012: MAJOR COMBINATIONS ANALYSIS – REF: F28106

Members will note that some combinations of two majors within the new undergraduate degree course structure may potentially exceed the minimum 24 units required. In order to gain a complete picture of when this may occur and which major combinations may be affected, a draft analysis is attached (Attachment A) for information.

[Executive Officer’s note: Advice has been received that the New Courses 2012: Major Combinations Analysis paper is currently being revised to incorporate recently approved majors.]

4. COMMITTEES WORKING PARTY – REF: F44038

The Committees Working Party has been established by the Registrar (July 2012) to consider a range of issues associated with further improving the efficiency and effectiveness of committees within the University’s decision making processes. The work of this committee will be undertaken within the context of the 2005 review - “Working Smarter Through Committees”. The full report and recommendations from the earlier review, which focussed on the efficiency and effectiveness of committees, are on the Academic Policy Services (APS) website at:



The Terms of Reference of the Committees Working Party are attached (Attachment B) for members’ information, indicating two phases to the review over a twelve month period.

In the interim, Academic Policy Services is reviewing over the next few weeks the format of current University agendas to improve device-friendly access and use during meetings, whilst accommodating present use of paper agendas in meetings. Committee Executive Officers will be kept up to date as this investigation and any short-term improvements are achieved.

For information.

5. BOARDS OF STUDIES AND ADMINSTRATION OF NEW UNDERGRADUATE COURSES – REF: F28106

By way of background, during the course of 2011, the Frameworks and Definitions Working Party conducted extensive consultations with faculty representatives to gather information and opinion about the most appropriate form that administrative changes should take for the New Courses. Further to this consultation, a consensus had emerged on the new arrangements for the administration of New Courses as approved by R89/11 by the Academic Council.

In accordance with the approved governance arrangements for New Courses the University’s five Boards of Studies will be responsible for a number of aspects relating to the administration of New Courses.

Attached (Attachment C) for noting is a paper recently approved by the Board of Coursework Studies which describes the ways in which some of the administrative responsibilities will be discharged by the Boards of Studies.

PART 2 – ITEM(S) FOR DECISION TO BE DEALT WITH EN BLOC

There are no Part 2 items for decision.

PART 3 – ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION AND DECISION

6. REVIEW OF BACHELOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HONOURS) SELECTION PROCESSES – REF: F37849

At its meeting of April 2011, Academic Council resolved (by R37/12) to approve the recommendation from the Board of Coursework Studies that selection to the Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) in 2012 be based on the ATAR score in conjunction with the agreed sub-quotas, and that a review of the admission and selection process for the next cohort be undertaken (Attachment D).

In light of the above, the BOS BPhil (Hons) commissioned a review of the selection process and entry requirements for the Bachelor of Philosophy (Hons) to be undertaken by the BPhil (Hons) Admissions Sub-Committee. The attached report entitled Review of Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) Selection Processes is provided for members’ consideration (Attachment E).

The report outlines the development of the BPhil (Hons) Selection Policy, the 2012 admissions exercise and review process, addresses already identified issues, and makes the following recommendations:

1. Results from the International Student Admissions Test (ISAT) should be used to rank international student applicants whose academic results meet the BPhil (Hons) academic threshold (equivalent to ATAR of at least 98.00), effective for 2014 admissions.

2. If quota considerations demand differentiation between domestic applicants with the same ATAR at the margin of selection, the selection committee should take into consideration applicants’ Tertiary Entrance Aggregates (or notional equivalents where applicable). (Effective for 2013 admissions exercise onwards.)

3. Where a domestic applicant presents with a non-WACE qualification for which an equivalent ATAR is assigned, a notional TEA value will also be assigned for BPhil (Hons) ranking purposes, corresponding to the lowest TEA represented by the applicant’s ATAR.

4. The number of additional equity places offered for the BPhil (Hons) in 2013 should be increased to seven. Notionally, there should be three places set aside for indigenous students, two places for regional and remote students and two places for low SES students, with any unfilled places in any sub-quota reallocated at the discretion of the Selection Committee.

5. The eligibility criterion for consideration within the regional and sub-quota should be completion of Year 12 at a secondary school situated in an area classified as regional (Levels M3 to M6) or remote (Levels M7, M8) under the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA).

6. Applicants within the regional and remote sub-quota should be ranked on a notional ATAR, adjusted according to the geographical isolation of the applicant’s school (using existing UWay methodology).

7. Entry to the BPhil (Hons) should be limited to Group 1 (school-leaving) applicants and UWA students who have completed 48 credit points.

8. Apart from where indicated otherwise, ranking for entry to the BPhil (Hons) for Group 1 (school-leaving) applicants should continue to be based only on Year 12 academic results (ATAR/TEA or equivalent).

9. A decision on whether or not to explore the introduction of supplementary entry criteria and processes for the BPhil (Hons) should be delayed until Semester One, 2013, so that evidence from both the 2012 and 2013 intakes can be taken into account.

These recommendations were endorsed by the University’s Admissions Committee at its 19 June 2012 meeting. A copy of the Extract of Minutes from that meeting is provided as Attachment F. Mr Wayne Betts, Associate Director, Student Services, Admissions Centre will attend the meeting to respond to members’ questions.

7. ASSESSMENT ITEMS AND WEIGHTING – REF: F34091

Attached (Attachment G) for members’ consideration is a discussion paper titled Assessment Items and Weighting which addresses issues raised by both Faculties and Boards of Studies regarding the way in which details relating to assessment weightings are captured in unit proposals.

For feedback to Academic Policy Services.

8. REPORT FROM THE BACHELOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HONS) ACADEMIC COORDINATOR – REF: F28852

A copy of the BPhil (Hons) Academic Coordinator’s report is provided for members’ information and discussion of relevant key issues (Attachment H). Appendix 2 to this report contains confidential student information and will be tabled for members’ information only.

[Executive Officer’s notes:

i) Appendix 2 to the BPhil (Hons) Academic Coordinator’s Report is for members’ information only and will not be recorded in the University’s Record Management System.

ii) A copy of the ‘askUWA BPhil (Hons), July 2012’ report was provided to authenticate the student progress interview process as undertaken by the Academic Coordinator. Due to the confidential nature of these student records the Director, Student Services has advised this information is not to be included in the BOS BPhil (Hons) meeting or Record Management System.]

9. NEXT MEETING

The next BOS BPhil (Hons) meeting is scheduled to be held on Tues, 11 September,

1 – 2.30pm, in Meeting Room W1.

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