Guidance for Student Representatives 2017-2018
Guidance for Student Representatives involved in Programme Approval
If you have any questions or queries about the process or a programme proposal, please contact the Central Quality Office at
What is Programme Approval?
All new programme proposals and significant programme amendments are required to go through the Approval of a New Programme / Award procedure before they can run.
The process has three main stages, an academic planning process, a stage one meeting involving internal staff and a stage two meeting involving a student representative and external advisors from an academic and industrial setting.
Why do we do this?
The process is designed to allow the University to ensure that the programme proposal is both relevant to its strategy and vision and is of a high quality. It is also a requirement of the University as set out by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).
The establishment of high quality provision is initially dependent on effective programme design that fits with the University's educational context, meets the needs of prospective students and potential employers, accords with the University's quality and standards framework, and recognizes external factors such as Professional Body requirements and QAA Subject Benchmarks.
Why are students involved?
The University places a significant value on input provided by students and continues to look for ways to enhance the involvement of students in the programme approval process.
The student representative role on the Approval Panel is to provide a student focused view on the programme proposal, in particular concerning the student experience and quality issues that relate to this such as the provision of an inclusive environment for student engagement and an environment which anticipates the varied needs of learners and aims to ensure that all students have equal access to educational opportunities.
Student Representatives will not be expected to critically scrutinize the programme content, a subject specialist external to the university will undertake this role.
1Approval Panel Membership
The Approval Panel is made up from staff and students from both within and external to the University and includes:
- Chair: a senior member of staff from a University faculty (not involved in the area)
- a member of Partner College management
- the relevant Faculty Partnerships Manager (or Associate Dean – International (Plymouth Global) for international programmes)
- appropriate subject representation from the Cognate Subject Faculty
- two External Advisers, one academic and one industrial/professional
- Central Quality Office representative
- Student Representative
The external members of a Panel will be carefully selected from nominations made to the University by the College to ensure a sufficient spread of subject expertise and independence of discussion at the approval event.
2Documentation for Approval Events
In advance of the Approval Event, student members of the Panel will receive:
- a programme for the event
- a copy of all documentation related to the programme under consideration, which as a minimum includes:
- the Approval Document
- Programme Specification
- Operational Specification
- Programme Details: Modules and Resources
- The relevant procedure paper and supporting guidance notes
3Involvement of Student Representatives at the Approval Event
Members of Approval Panels will be identified at as early a stage as possible in the approval process. Student Representatives will receive copies of the reports of earlier meetings where these have taken place, including the Stage One Approval Event and the resulting action plan (where provided).
Following scrutiny of documentation (listed above) prepared by the proposing Programme Team, an agenda will be drawn up at the start of the Stage Two Approval Event in consultation with the full Approval Panel based on the standard Aide Memoire for an Approval Panel Agenda.
The Panel will consider all aspects of the proposal and its relationship to the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, in particular using student expertise to ensure an environment which anticipates the varied needs of learners and which aims to ensure that all students have equal access to educational opportunities. An important part of the agenda for foundation degree approvals will be the extent to which the programme meets the defining characteristics of foundation degrees, particularly in respect of student engagement with the employment context of the programme. The Panel willassess the general focus and balance of material as well as the details of individual modules and their assessment.
Whilst it is recognised that it is not possible entirely to divorce programme content from issues of structure, the emphasis of this final stage Approval Event should be, through a debate between peers, on the relevance, currency and enhancement of the proposal and ensuring that academic standards, as set out in the Aide Memoire, are met.
Any resource issues relating to the Approval should have been resolved as part of the planning process. Whilst it may be appropriate for a Panel to comment on the quality of the educational experience in terms of the way in which the Collegeis allocating available resources, if the Panel identifies any perceived need for additional resources from the evidence available to them, this must be referred to members of the Senior Management Team on the day.
4General Information – University of Plymouth Degrees
The University’s portfolio includes but is not limited to the following undergraduate awards, most commonly offered by Academic Partnershipspartner colleges:
Certificate of Professional DevelopmentCPD
Certificate of Higher Education CertHE
Diploma of Higher EducationDipHE
Higher National Certificate (Centre Devised)HNC
Higher National Diploma (Centre Devised)HND
Foundation Degree in ArtsFdA
Foundation Degree in ScienceFdSc
Academic study is organised into modules, specified in terms of credits. The University’s standard module size is 20 credits; and a final stage project module worth up to 40 credits is also within the standard module designation. Modules of 10 credits (normally delivered within one term/semester) must be justified within the approval documentation and discussed and agreed at the approval event.
The university and some partner colleges operate on a semester structure. A 20 credit module will normally be delivered across the academic year.
Under University of Plymouth Academic Regulations the standard study programme for an award consists of a number of Stages, each of which is worth 120 credits. A Stage is equivalent to one academic year for a full time student.
An HNC programme normallycomprises at least 120creditsand is normally completed over two years of part-time study but is deemed to be a one-stage programme.
A module also has a level which is indicated by the first digit of the module code. The level of a module is determined by the standard of work required to achieve the objectives of the module. Typically, Foundation degrees are made up of Level 4 and Level 5 modules, offered respectively at Stage One and Stage Two.
An award is granted if a student enrols on and successfully completes a study programme over a number of stages, gaining the specified number of credits at each defined level: The credit weightings of the awards listed above are as follows:
CPD 60 credits at levels 4 and/or 5
CertHE / 120 credits at Level 4 or aboveDipHE / 240 credits, of which at least 120 are at Level 5 or above
HNC / 120 credits at Level 4
HND / 240 credits of which at least 120 are at Level 5 and 90 credits are essential core modules
FdA or
FdSc / 240 credits of which at least 120 are at Level 5
The awards of the University correspond to the Framework for Higher
Education Qualifications (FHEQ), which describe the skills and knowledge students should have for a particular qualification. For example, Foundation degrees are Level 5 qualifications. More information about the
FHEQ is available on the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) website at:
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