Further Advice and Training Can Be Obtained from the Governance Team

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Further advice and training can be obtained from the Governance team:

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REPORT COVER SHEET TEMPLATE[1]

TITLE OF REPORT/PAPER[2]

UPARC is asked to: APPROVE/ENDORSE/RECOMMEND/RESPOND [be explicit here about the question UPARC is being asked to answer][3].

This report has been prepared by: Professor A O Business (Deputy Vice-Chancellor)[4]

This report is sponsored by: Professor A O Business (Deputy Vice-Chancellor)[5]

This report is listed under the Strategic Item: Education and Students[6]

Date of report: 10 September 2016

Paper History: [7]

The following key information should be included in this section of the coversheet:

(a)  What is the background to the paper and where was it initiated?

(b)  Who has been involved in its development/any consultation (this can be individuals, departments, schools, faculties, working groups, committees, students, staff etc)?

(c)  What changes if any have been made is response to that consultation, before submission of the report to UPARC?

Next Steps:

Include a summary of what will happen next. For example, will a senior body (eg Senate or Board of Trustees) be asked to approve a new policy or procedure or changes to an existing policy or procedure? Who will be responsible for overseeing any resultant changes or implementing what UPARC agrees? Who will UPARC’s decision be communicated to?

Timescale for implementation: When will the changes be made?

TITLE OF REPORT/PAPER[8]

The main body of the report should begin here.

Report style tips:

·  If appendices/annexes are required, they should be labelled with the document reference number, for example: UPR/15-16/XXX/Appendix A; UPR/15-16/XXX/Annex 1

·  Pages should be numbered using the page x of y format, centred, Arial font, within the document footer;

·  Acronyms/abbreviations should be typed out in full for their first use (with the abbreviation in parenthesis). The abbreviation/acronym can be used thereafter.

·  Paragraphs should ALWAYS be numbered to aid discussion within the meetings (members can quickly refer to a paragraph number in a meeting if they wish to focus attention on a particular aspect of the report);

·  Level 2 headings = underlined, not bold

·  Level 3 headings = italics, not bold

For more information, please contact the Governance team ()

Page 3 of 3

[1] All papers MUST have a cover sheet – the cover sheet sets out clearly what UPARC is being asked to do. If the paper itself is longer than 5 pages the cover sheet should contain a strong Executive Summary, which you could insert under ‘Paper History’. If UPARC need to take more than one action (eg “to APPROVE the XXX policy and ENDORSE the YYY policy for approval by XXX), that must be explicit. Avoid simply directing UPARC to the body of the report (eg “to APPROVE the recommendations in the report”). Where specific points or questions need to be addressed these must be copied into the coversheet. Reports without an acceptable cover sheet will not be accepted.

[2] Add the title of the report (bold, centred, caps). This should exactly match the item title on the agenda.

[3] Be clear about what UPARC is being asked to do and always put this in capital letters. If you are unsure as to the wording of the coversheet, please contact the Governance team who can advise you. Where there are recommendations contained within the report, you should explicitly set out those recommendations in the cover sheet. This will help to direct discussion appropriately. Reports containing matters solely for information (if any) will not be circulated to members of UPARC, but will be placed on the University’s website behind single sign on and do not required a coversheet. Such reports should be the exception rather than the rule: report authors should consider whether there are alternative and/or more appropriate ways of conveying such information. It is not expected that these reports will be discussed at the meeting: if members of UPARC wish to ask questions regarding these matters, they should contact the report author separately.

[4] Include the name of the report author(s) and their job title.

[5] The sponsor should be a member of UPARC who will present the paper at the meeting. A non-member may in exceptional circumstances sponsor but only with the consent of the Chair.

[6] The thematic headings are: Education and Students, Research and Enterprise, Student Recruitment, Internationalisation, Marketing and Communications, People/ways of working, Digital Campus, Estates, Finance, General and Faculty Academic Matters, Professional Services. Please choose the most appropriate one.

[7] This section of the cover sheet is very important because it tells the reader how the paper came about, who has been consulted and where the paper has already been (i.e. it may have been to several committees before now and they approved it).

[8] The body of the report follows the cover sheet.