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Teaching and Learning and Academic Development UCD International: New funding for strategic engagement with China |
Dear Colleagues
The second semester has drawn to a close, and most of our teaching activity for the current session is complete, so I would like to thank all staff of the University for their commitment and hard work during the year; from the perspective of the student, this has been a very successful session. The University faces major challenges in the coming year if it is to maintain the quality and nature of its academic offerings while eliminating a deficit and absorbing major cuts in core funding. The Bursar, Gerry O’Brien, and I are reflecting on how best to ensure that the cuts that have been agreed can be made strategically and sensitively, while at the same time increasing the university income, particularly through expansion of graduate taught programmes and the recruitment of international students. We feel that the only way to achieve this is through regular and direct dialogue with College Principals and Heads of School, and we will be making arrangements to begin and sustain these discussions. We have, over the last year, brought the Education Strategy 2009-13 to completion, and have begun a process of Programme Planning, developing plans for each of our undergraduate and graduate programme areas for the coming years. The key objective is to realise the full benefits of UCD Horizons and modularisation at undergraduate and graduate level, and to enhance the education of all our students. The point has been well made that such plans are unlikely to be realised unless there is close alignment between academic and financial planning. While this will not be easy, we are committed in the coming year, to addressing this issue in dialogue with College Principals, Deans and Heads of School. The current process whereby Schools are developing financial and staff plans is a good basis for planning. We will work through the summer to establish a process (i) to extend these plans over several years and (ii) align them with academic plans. I look forward to working with you on these issues over the coming year; in the meantime I hope that the summer period offers academic colleagues the opportunity to devote time to research, and before we prepare for the next session, offers all of us time for some well-earned rest.
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Minister launches Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) The alliance of eight Higher Education Institutions across the wider Dublin region, funded by the HEA’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), was officially launched by the Minister for Education and Science and the Chairman of the Higher Education Authority, on 13 May. Information on the Alliance and its activities is available at www.drhea.ie. UCD is an active participant in the Alliance, and is prioritising investment in:
New website on the Strategic Innovation Fund at UCD
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Teaching & Learning and Academic Development This bulletin provides an update on a number of projects undertaken by Professor Bairbre Redmond, Deputy Registrar (Teaching and Learning), in conjunction with the College Vice-Principals for Teaching and Learning Fellowships in Teaching and Academic Development
The first training session with the new Fellows has taken place and two new thematic areas of focus for the fellowships have been identified: teaching for transitions and general electives. The fellows have formed two teams and are drawing up their work and research plans in these areas. The first set of Fellows 2007-09 have set a very high benchmark for innovative, high-quality teaching and learning and in their capacity as teaching scholars. For more information, visit www.ucd.ie/fellows College Teaching Awards The winners of the College Teaching Awards 2008-09 are as follows:
Congratulations to all. The Awards will be presented in the next semester. Module Innovation Support Grants General Elective Modules The deadline for applications is 26 June 2009 at 5.00pm. Teaching & Learning issue: Plagiarism |
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UCD International: New funding for strategic engagement with China UCD’s strategic engagement with China has been further enhanced by a major grant from the European Commission. A consortium of nine leading European Universities, including UCD, Lund University, the Free University of Berlin and University College London has been awarded €5.2 million under the External Cooperation Window programme to support strategic activities relating to staff and student mobility with ten of China’s top-ranked universities. The Chinese universities include a number of UCD’s existing strategic partners, such as Peking University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Wuhan University. The programme will be coordinated by the recently-established European Universities Centre in Beijing, of which UCD is a founding member. UCD is represented on the Board of the European Universities Centre by the Director of International Affairs. |
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Admissions The trend in UCD February CAO application figures has continued in our 1 May closing date. First preferences in May 2009 are up by 7.2% over the equivalent figures in 2008. Online graduate applications activity has continued to increase. Over the period January to May, the unit has processed 71% more applications than in the same period in 2008 (7,837 compared to 4,570). Documents scanned have increased by 48%. Over the same period, a series of enhancements to the Online Applications process, aimed at improving the experience of staff assessing applications, have been completed and this information has been circulated to relevant staff. This will be followed in late autumn by an overhaul of the application screens in order to improve the experience for applicants. Furthermore, the pilot project whereby staff in the Admissions team were given delegated authority from Graduate Boards to take admissions decisions on applications received, using an agreed set of entrance criteria, has been very successful and allowed applicants to receive a quick decision on their applications. This initiative is part of a wider re-engineering of our applications/admissions procedures at both undergraduate and graduate level. Assessment The Semester 2 examination session was a great success. There were 15,783 students accommodated with a total of 66,280 sittings. There were five clashes over the entire examination timetable. The Revised Grade Approvals Process was successfully implemented in Semester 2. Provisional results were published to students on 5 June with final results published on 18 June. The main benefit of publishing provisional results will be felt with the issue of Semester 1 results from the next academic year onwards, when students will get their results during the first few days of Semester 2 rather than having to wait until the third week, as was the situation up to this point. Changes to results from provisional to final status would be exceptional, and getting provisional results in Week 1 of Semester 2 allows students to consider their choices, change or substitute modules, etc. right at the beginning of the semester. Programme Approvals The new programme approvals methodology, which will place much more emphasis than hitherto on how a new programme fits into the plans, strategy and resourcing position of the School, Programme, College and University will be rolled out for the 09/10 academic year. All the necessary procedures and documentation are currently being prepared. Gradebook Enhancements A Steering Group and Consultation Group continue to oversee enhancements to Gradebook. The early work looks very promising and the enhancements are expected to make the grade recording process a good deal easier and more convenient for academic staff. Policy Review Framework Under the recently approved Policy Review Framework, our Extenuating Circumstances policy is currently being reviewed; a Steering Group chaired by the Dean of Social Science, Professor Suzanne Quinn has been established to guide deliberations. Subject Changes The subject changes agreed by the Academic Council now need to be reflected in the administrative systems of the university. For instance, over 2,000 modules need to be matched to a different subject than at present. The Schools affected have been requested by UCD Registry to begin the matching process and come to conclusions by September 2009 to allow the necessary system changes in October/November 09, ahead of curriculum and programme structures decisions being made in early 2010 for the 2010/11 academic year. Student Recruitment A major re-design of the undergraduate prospectus for 2010 entry is taking place. There is a move away from reflecting degree courses by College to a major emphasis on our fourteen main undergraduate programmes and the subjects therein. The development work is being steered by the Prospectus Oversight Group, which is chaired by the Dean of Science, Professor Mark Rogers. |
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The UCD Quality Office co-ordinated quality review site visits of the following units: UCD School of Languages and Literatures, 20-23 April 2009 The Review Groups are currently finalising the Review Group Reports, which will be submitted to the Governing Authority for acceptance, prior to publication on the UCD Quality Office website. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
