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MEMOTo: Assistant/ Deputy Faculty Officers, Quality Directors, Academic Standards and Partnership, Katie Piatt (Information Services), Stuart Elliott (Marketing and Communications Office), Solveig Grover (Marketing and Communications Office)
From: Tracy Goslar and Karyn Mcnair
Date: 15 March 2013
Subject: Guidelines for publishing programme specifications on staffcentral from 2013-14
Attached
(i) Programme specification template (2010)
(ii) KIS course list
(iii) Sample programme specification (KPS BA(Hons) Education 2012.pdf)
1. Background
1.1 Following implementation of the Key Information Set (KIS) in 2011-12, it became necessary for Academic Standards and Partnership to publish the programme specifications for all KIS courses on staffcentral to ensure they were available on the appropriate course page on the University’s external-facing website.
1.2 In the past, faculties have been responsible for maintaining and publishing up to date and accurate programme specifications for each course on offer at the University. The central publication of KIS course programme specifications for 2012-13 was always intended as exceptional and it is envisaged that Faculty Offices will once again take full responsibility for making programme specifications publicly available through staffcentral.
2. Programme specification publication for 2013 entry (and KIS 2014)
2.1 This memo outlines amendments to the process for publishing programme specifications. It covers:
i. Guidelines on template versions, styles and content which should be used for all KIS course programme specifications .
ii. Publication: amendments to the process to ensure KIS course programme specifications appear on the external-facing course finder page of each KIS course.
2.2 Guidance on the use of template versions, styles and content applies to all KIS course programme specifications. For the sake of consistency, it would be preferable if non-KIS course programme specifications received the same attention to style and content. The use of award titles in all programme specifications should conform with the table at 3.2 below and all programme specifications should be published as PDF documents. KIS course programme specifications should be published in the latest version of the template (2010).
2.3 The courses listed in the ‘KIS course list 2012-13’ spreadsheet reflect those courses which required a KIS in 2012-13 as well as courses approved by ADC from Jul 2012 to Feb 2013. New courses approved subsequent to this will be circulated in due course however if you wish, you can add them to the end of the list when it is completed and returned (further details on this are at 4.3 below).
2.4 All programme specifications for 2013-14 should be published on staffcentral by 31 August 2013 at the latest.
3. Style and content for KIS course programme specifications
3.1 For the sake of stylistic consistency and to ensure that the information offered to potential applicants is accurate, KIS course programme specifications should be reviewed annually to ensure:
i. That all are using the latest version of the template (2010)[1];
ii. That the style is internally consistent and conforms to the University’s house style;
iii. That standard explanatory sentences are included in the appropriate fields.
House style
3.2 All programme specifications should be edited and reviewed for consistency and sense. This includes running a spell and grammar check for the document, ensuring the grammar is correct, the font is consistent throughout and that the use of titles conforms to the University’s house style[2]. Points to note include:
Ø The spell-check in Word should be set to English (UK) as default;
Ø The preferred font is NeueHelvetica although Arial may be used as a substitute. Headers/ leading text is generally presented in 12pt with body text in 10pt;
Ø Ampersands (&) should only be used where they are the correct form of the proper noun (e.g. Brighton & Hove)
Ø The initial letter of a proper name receives a capital letter but the general category is presented in lower case (e.g. ‘School of Business’ or ‘the School’ but ‘schools in the University’).
Ø Where an award includes Honours, this should be indicated. Titles should be transcribed as follows. Note the use of capital letters and the absence of spaces.
Bachelor of Arts with Honours / BA(Hons)Bachelor of Engineering with Honours / BEng(Hons)
Bachelor of Laws / LLB(Hons)
Bachelor of Science with Honours / BSc(Hons)
Certificate in Higher Education / CertHE
Diploma in Higher Education / DipHE
Foundation Degree Arts / FdA
Foundation Degree Engineering / FdEng
Foundation Degree Science / FdSc
Graduate Diploma / GradDip
Graduate Certificate / GradCert
Master of Architecture / MArch
Master of Chemistry / MChem
Master of Computing / MComp
Master of Fine Art / MFA
Master of Design / MDes
Master of Engineering / MEng
Master of Pharmacy / MPharm
Professional Graduate Certificate in Education / ProfGCE
Standard explanatory sentences
3.3 There are three additional sentences which should be included in the programme specifications for all KIS courses (highlighted yellow in the attached sample PS). Courses which include a threshold or pass/fail assessment component should include an additional fourth sentence.
3.4 In the text field ADMISSIONS/ ENTRY REQUIREMENTS, include the following sentence:
Applicable for 2013 entry. Check the University’s website for 2014 entry requirements.
3.5 The first sentence in the text field under LEARNING AND TEACHING/ LEARNING AND TEACHING METHODS, should read:
The information included in this section complements that found in the Key Information Set (KIS), with the programme specification providing further information about the learning and teaching methods used on the course.
3.6 The first sentence in the text field under ASSESSMENT/ ASSESSMENT METHODS, should read:
The information included in this section complements that found in the Key Information Set (KIS), with the programme specification providing further information about how the course is assessed.
3.7 If the course includes threshold or pass/fail assessment components, the sentence at 2.6 above should be followed by the following statement:
The course contains some compulsory assessments not included in the breakdown provided on the KIS because they cannot be directly linked to credit. For example a pass/fail skills test included in one of the modules or as a course requirement. Full details of assessments within a module can be found on the University’s VLE, student central.
4. Publication
4.1 Faculty Academic Boards will remain responsible for approving programme specifications annually and should have in place appropriate arrangements to ensure the accuracy and currency of programme specifications.
4.2 Staffcentral remains the primary medium through which programme specifications are published for access by all audiences. It is a requirement that a programme specification is published for each course. Programme specifications should be organised by school or faculty at publication. Faculty Offices are responsible for publishing programme specifications on behalf of Faculty Academic Boards. Faculty Offices may delegate this responsibility but the Faculty Academic Board must satisfy itself that appropriate arrangements are in place.
4.3 In order for the course finder to display the correct programme specification alongside each KIS course widget, it must be able to link to the location in staffcentral where the corresponding document is published. To facilitate this process, there are two amendments to the publication process:
i. The filename for all KIS course programme specifications should be designated KPS. Non-KIS course programme specifications will continue to be designated PS.
ii. The URL for each published programme specification should be captured in the attached spreadsheet (‘KIS course list 2012-13’[3]) and returned to Registry (Academic Standards and Partnership) by 31 August. The URL for each published programme specification is unique and indicates where in staffcentral the document can be found. This will be uploaded into the course finder system allowing it to locate the appropriate document.
4.4 If there has been no change to a programme specification during the year, the programme specification should be reviewed to ensure all dates are accurate within the document and the standard sentences appear and it should be re-published with the new date. The formula for naming programme specifications in this instance is as follows (a space appears between each field):
PS / Award / Title / Year of publicationPS / MA / Criminology / 2013
KPS / BA(Hons) / Geography / 2013
4.5 Where there has been a change to a course, there are two possible courses of action.
i. If the changes apply to both new and existing cohorts (and this has been agreed with students), then the old programme specification should be removed from staffcentral, and replaced with the new document, named using the formula at 4.4 above.
ii. If the changes apply only to new students, and the older course continues to apply to existing students, it is necessary to publish multiple variants of the same programme specification. The formula for naming multiple programme specifications on staffcentral is as follows. Note that the only version of the programme specification which continues to carry the ‘KPS’ is the ones that applies to the KIS course.
PS / Award / Title / Version no. / Hyphen / Cohort PS applies toKPS / BA(Hons) / Education / 2013
PS / BA(Hons) / Education / 2013a / - / 2010-11
PS / BA(Hons) / Education / 2013b / - / 2011-12
PS / BA(Hons) / Education / 2013c / - / 2012-13
e.g. “KPS BA(Hons) Education 2013.PDF” (as in the attached sample).
4.6 In the example above, version number ‘2013’ applies to the cohort which is to enter in September 2013 and will be displayed on the course finder page from September 2013 to August 2014 alongside the KIS widget.
4.7 If you need to amend and republish a programme specification, the document should be checked out, amended and then republished by overwriting the original version. This ensures that the URL remains the same, allowing course finder to continue to display the programme specification correctly.
4.8 All KIS course programme specifications should be published as PDF documents. It is preferable that non-KIS course programme specifications are also published as PDF documents for the sake of consistency.
4.9 Programme specifications are open and public documents. They should be published on staffcentral in such a way that they can be accessed by students, staff and external audiences.
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[1] The version available on staffcentral includes fields which are restricted to ensure award information reflects GEAR and the CAF. Contact me if you need an unrestricted version for editing ease.
[2] http://staffcentral.brighton.ac.uk/marcomm/publishguide/editorial.shtm
[3] The spreadsheet includes courses which required a KIS in 2012-13 as well as course titles approved by ADC during 2012-13 which will require a KIS in 2013-14. The URL for each published programme specification should be pasted into column C (highlighted yellow) next to the corresponding course title. Course titles approved from Mar 2013 should be added to the bottom of the list with the corresponding URL. Any missing entries will be collected in a recirculated list in the Summer.