MSc/PG Cert Applied Statistics

Student-staff exchange meeting

10th November 2017

MSC/PG APPLIED STATISTICS STUDENT STAFF EXCHANGE MEETING
13TH NOVEMBER 2017
ROOM 745 MALET STREET 6PM

Chair: Dr Anthony Brooms [Programme Director]
Student representatives: Chris Nias (Year 1) Miles Hinchliffe
& Tanya Reeves (Year 2)

Minutes: Beverley Downton

  1. Staff changes:
    Rosalba Radice is on leave until the beginning of March. Swati Chandna has been recently appointed to the post vacated by Isabella Gollini. Chandna was formerly a research associate at UCL.
    Anthony Brooms is on research leave in the spring term.

We are in process of recruiting a sessional lecturer to deliver Statistical Analysis in the spring term.

  1. Year 2 modules
    Exam rubric will change for 2017-18:
    For papers under the purview of the MAS/MASFM sub-board, candidates will be required to answer 2 out of 3 questions in 1hr 40 minutes (plus 15 mins reading time): this change makes these papers more commensurate, pro-rata, with the year 1 papers. The Mathematical and Numerical Methods paper is under the purview of the MSc Mathematical Finance programme and the rubric will remain as answer 2 questions from each of 2 sections in 3 hours (plus 15 minutes reading time).
    The Mathematical Methods of Operational Research module will be renamed Linear and Nonlinear Optimization. The hope is that the name change will help to not discourage students who are not OR specialists to take the module and to make the syllabus content more obvious from the title.
    If Stochastic Models and Forecasting does not run in 2018/19, then the module Stochastic Systems: Theory, Methods and Applications will run in its stead.
  1. Prof Sarah Hart, current Head of Department, will be the acting programme director in the spring term. It is also anticipated that Rosalba Radice will be the new programme director when she returns from leave.
  2. Year 1 feedback:
    Following feedback from the students and peer observation, the Programme Director has decided to take over the lecturing on Statistical Analysis for the next 4 and a half weeks.
    ACTION: Chair to update Moodle with module overview and details of the structure of the examinations where the information is currently not available.
  3. Year 2 feedback
    Statistical Learning: the rep commented on the good approach and style.
    Computational Statistics and MMOR: during the previous academic year, the coursework was handed out quite late, for both modules. For MMOR this ran into revision time and the marked coursework was not returned until after the exam and model solutions were not available.
    Chair commented that it is usual for model solutions to be available 2 weeks after the submission date.
    ACTION: Chair to send a reminder regarding staff obligations to students regarding coursework and model solutions.
    Year 2 rep commented that SAS courses were good this year.

Panopto videos are not great quality, can’t always read what is written on the whiteboard and the images are grainy.

ACTION: Year 1 rep to email Chair with any feedback on lecture room issues.