RAVENSBOURNE COLLEGE OF DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Minutes of a meeting of the Management Committee held on 17th March 2008

Present: Robin Baker (Chairman)

Genevieve Cowcher
Doreen DeBellotte
Rachel Green
John O’Boyle
Steve Bowman
Barbara Howell
Peter Pilgrim

With: Diane Evans

Renate Divers (part)
Jill Hogan (part)

Apologies: Janthia Taylor

08.056 MINUTES OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE HELD ON 3rd MARCH 2008

Received: Minutes of the Management Committee held on 3rd March 2008

(For approval)

Noted: The minutes were approved as an accurate record of the meeting. It was
agreed that all minutes relating to staffing issues, the Enterprise and Innovation
Centre and the Admissions Report are to be treated as ‘reserved’ and should
not be circulated outside the Committee. This policy will be reviewed in two
month’s time.

Approved: Minutes of the Management Committee 3rd March 2008

08.057 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES AND ACTION LIST

(i) The EIC/HEIF Budgets

Received: The EIC/HEIF Budgets (MC/08/042)

Noted: This item was postponed until 28th April 2008.

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

Minutes of the Management Committee
17th March 2008

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 (07.759) International Strategy

Verbal: It was agreed that the Director of Information Services would bring a draft
Framework for International Recruitment to the next meeting of the
Management Committee. The Head of the Faculty of Design undertook to
provide him with a list of preferred courses to market. Input on target numbers
for international recruitment will be given by the Director of Finance. It was
agreed that the International Marketing Manager and anyone else travelling
overseas should be given a marketing brief.

08.058 RESERVED ITEM

08.061 RESERVED ITEM

08.062 SESSIONAL APPOINTMENT BUSINESS PROCESS

Received: Sessional Appointment Business Process (MC/08/047)

(For approval)

Noted: The Committee received a proposal to streamline the business process behind
the appointment of sessional staff by reducing the need for individual contracts.
A list of sessionals will be given to the timetabling facility which will then log the
details and automatically issue corresponding timesheets. It was noted that the
introduction of unit schemes of work is vital to the success of this approach and
will have advantages in the course budgeting process also. More detailed
proposals on timetabling and budget processes will be brought to the
Management Committee in due course. It is anticipated an approach to e-
recruitment will be pursued therefore reducing the need for staff to be engaged
on the telephone. It is anticipated that greater efficiency in time planning of
sessional staff will be achieved. The question of duplication and separation of
duties was raised and it was agreed that the person requesting the staff must
authorise the spending for HR and payroll to action. It is envisaged that greater
use will be made of JIRA and the document management system. It was
agreed that the College needs to be aware of non-teaching activities undertaken
by sessional staff and review the rates of pay for activities such as marking.

It was suggested that a view should be taken on the amount of sessional

teaching a student should experience. It was noted that the nature of the
contract given should be optimised in terms of the HESA return and subject
leaders and heads of faculty will be given advice on this. It is anticipated this
proposal will provide greater integration between timetabling and contracts and
enhance management information relating to sessional appointments.

In discussion, it was confirmed that Heads of Faculty will agree the amount of
teaching required for a unit scheme of work. A request for additional sessional
hours must be referred to the head of faculty. A question was raised whether
subject leaders will be able to revise down hours. It was agreed that a great
deal of work will be required to align budgets with unit schemes of work, but this
should be put on the schedule of work for the MIS Department.

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

Minutes of the Management Committee
17th March 2008

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 Accepted: Sessional Appointment Business Process (MC/08/047)

08.063 TECHNICAL TEACHING REVIEW

Received: Technical Teaching Review (MC/08/048)

(For discussion)

Noted: Research in this area has indicated that a major component of teaching is
currently not optimised. This is exacerbated by the fragmentation of technical
and e-learning staff across the College. It is proposed that technical teaching is
taken out of the curriculum and offered as a form of PPD or ‘enhancement
training’ to both students who would receive ‘credits’, as well as industry
professionals. This area would be co-ordinated centrally and be strategically
managed by a Technology Training Manager who would line manage all
technical staff. It is proposed that the new department works to a service level
agreement and develops a commercial portfolio of technology training courses.
It is intended that building up in house expertise will reduce the College’s
reliance on sessional staff and therefore prove more cost effective. Possibilities
for managing this function include the LRC, Resources, the EIC and ICT.

In discussion, a concern was raised relating to taking specialised programmes

of teaching out of the faculty and removing responsibility for key parts of a
student’s degree from the faculty structure. The example of the creative use of
specialised programmes in fashion design and manufacture was cited. It was
noted that problems experienced with centralised PPD and Contextual Studies
need to be addressed in advance of further moves towards centralisation. It
was agreed that this would be discussed separately outside of the meeting.

It was stressed that access to technical expertise must be available to

interested parties, outside course related work, in order to fulfil the requirements
of LDA funding for the new building. Once in Greenwich courses will be
required to work within a new spatial and organisational structure. It is
anticipated that the timetabling of technical teaching over the course of an 18
hour day will lead to a more efficient use of resources. The concern of
‘compartmentalization’ rather than centralisation was raised. It was noted that
technical teaching must be seen as a central resource rather than another
department and that the technical service to courses must not suffer as a result
of this reorganisation. A further meeting outside Management Committee was
requested in order to discuss this issue further. It was agreed that the Director
of Finance would submit a more detailed business model of how this area could
look, to a meeting of the Management Committee in one month’s time. The
Director of Finance and the Deputy Director Strategic Development, Innovation
and Post Graduate Studies were thanked for their work on this paper.

Accepted: Technical Teaching Review (MC/08/048)

08.064 COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY UPDATE

Received: Communications Strategy Update (MC/08/049)

(For information)

Noted: The Head of Marketing and Communications outlined the achievements of the
Marketing Department against the strategic objectives outlined in the

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

Minutes of the Management Committee
17th March 2008

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 Communications Strategy of 2007. This includes the production of the Vision
Document, the staff conference, intranet developments, site visits, student
communications and newsletters. In response to a question on the proposed
Bulletin, it was confirmed that following consultation with the Management
Committee key developments will be summarised where appropriate. This will
need high level sign off for reasons of confidentiality. The Committee noted the
plans for the Thomas Tallis School Project and requested that care be taken
with any graphics or text on the hordings. A discussion took place relating to the
Countdown Event. It was suggested that all key academics should be invited.
The Head of Marketing and Communications undertook to email a full guest list
to all members of the Management Committee.

Accepted: Communications Strategy Update (MC/08/049)

08.065 DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT

Received: Draft Environmental Statement (MC/08/050)

(For information)

Noted: The Committee noted the statement and it was suggested that it could be more
‘aspirational’ in tone and contextualise the issue against the move to
Greenwich. The Director of Resources undertook to review this further.

Accepted: Draft Environmental Statement (MC/08/050)

08.066 RESERVED ITEM

08.067 ANY OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business.

08.068 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Management Committee will be held on Monday 31st March 2008 at 9.30 am in
the Boardroom.

Diane Evans
Minute Taker

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

Minutes of the Management Committee
17th March 2008

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