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issue 78

23 June 2011

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'Truth: lies open to all'

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Every fortnight during term-time.

All editorial correspondence to: subtext-editors [at] lancaster.ac.uk.

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CONTENTS: editorial, writers needed, news in brief, Senate report, 'No confidence' pressure increases, letters

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EDITORIAL

As we enter the final week of term, let's look back and review the happenings of 2010-11. First, a tally of departments and services gained and lost. On the gains side, the university plans a massive expansion of Engineering (see below), acquired the Work Foundation, and expanded abroad (with plans for a new campus in China with Guangdong Foreign Studies University and expansion into engineering degrees at Goenka World Institute in India). On the loss side, in 2010 the now traditional summer cull claimed the Student Learning Development Centre and the nurse unit. More redundancies, this time in LICA, the Department of European Languages and Cultures, and the Facilities Division are threatened this year.

Key personnel have also been coming and going. Most notably, the V.C. is off to Wollongong.  Most entertainingly, Anthony Marsella left his post as Head of Marketing and External Linkages, and now writes lurid historical novels (more below). His replacement, Katrina Payne, has so far been less controversial. Chris Thrush also left his post as Director of Human Resources and has yet to be replaced.

Most of the action, however, has occurred on the national scene. Though the pace of change has been so rapid that the battles of Michaelmas term now seem like ancient history, the big story this year must be student protests at fees increases and changes to Higher Education. Students at Lancaster played an active role, and locally protests were peaceful and the level of debate high (including, for example, the student-organised University in Crisis lecture series). Despite the protests, in February, Lancaster, and just about every other university, announced its intention to charge fees of £9000. The long term implications of such charges are hard to predict. Quite probably, the widening access agenda will suffer. Maybe, subjects that are perceived to be less 'vocational' will fall in popularity. Certainly, student expectations will rise.

Pensions have been the other big concern. Industrial action earlier this year saw a hardening of university-union relations, with strikers being docked a larger proportion of wages than in previous strikes (those now being asked to staff Saturday open days may wish to remember that they apparently only get paid for weekdays). Industrial unrest looks set to continue into 2011-12.

While the future for Higher Education in the UK is uncertain and worrying, Lancaster is better placed than many other institutions. Current high rankings in league tables mean that if student numbers reduce in response to fees Lancaster will be one of the last rather than one of the first to suffer. For many this will be insufficient comfort, but the miserable can at least note that the Graduate Bar Real Ale and Cider Festival is coming up soon.

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WRITERS NEEDED

A reminder that if you'd like to write occasional pieces for subtext, contributed articles are gratefully received. Alternatively, if you'd like to write a lot, the editorial collective would also welcome expressions of interest from potential new members.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Engineering expansion

Twelve new engineering posts are currently being advertised. The posts include professorships in chemical and mechanical engineering and lectureships/ senior lectureships across a range of areas (chemical, control, manufacturing, materials, mechanical, mechatronic, electrical and electronic engineering). This is by far the biggest recruitment of academic staff Engineering has enjoyed since it was first set up in 1968-1972. 

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Summer Reading

Those subtext subscribers who have followed the career of Anthony Marsella, late of this parish, will be informed and probably amused if they follow the link at the end of this piece.  The synopsis of the story found there probably says everything that needs to be said. If you then scroll down to near the end of the page and click on 'More about the author', there is a nice little biography and photograph. What is notable, though probably not surprising, is that there is no mention of specific recent employment, nor the circumstances of leaving it. The temptation to hack into the page and add more details should, of course, be strenuously resisted. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052YQOTU       

And if you liked that you'll probably like this too: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=104808662947196

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Graduate Bar Real Ale and Cider Festival

Graduate College will be holding its tenth annual Real Ale and Cider festival over four days from Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th June.  This will be held in the college bar and courtyard in Alexandra Park.  The event has become something of a social highlight for many in the university.  The event is appreciated not only for the wide range of ales and ciders on offer, but also because it is such a convivial social occasion, attended by undergraduates, graduates and staff from across the university community.  Friday evening is usually particularly well attended.  Live music and food will also be on offer.

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The staff party

This was held in the early evening of 14th June, in and outside the LICA building. After a short address from the VC, staff prizes were presented by PVC Amanda Chetwynd. An accompanying booklet explained who was getting prizes and why. The general air was that of a school prize-giving, and none the worse for that. There was discreet musical entertainment and by way of refreshments there were soft drinks, mainly fruit-based, and a hog roast (with some gesture towards a vegetarian alternative). There were rumours, which turned out to be unfounded, of alcoholic refreshments. This deficit (as it seemed to some) was overcome by party-goers who became impatient with the slow movement of the queue for food and adjourned to County Bar. On their return the queue had shrunk gratifyingly and extra helpings of hog were available.

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Not so Green

The Guardian of 7 June reported that Lancaster is 78th out of 138 in their University People and Planet Green League, based on 13 different criteria. Now, we don't know about you, but we'd picked up the impression from LUText that we were doing pretty well in the Green stakes. Apparently not.

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SENATE REPORT

Senate met on 4 May and learned that the contents of the forthcoming White Paper on higher education are still the subject of rumour, but that it is likely to be light on research and postgraduates, and heavy on the regulatory framework and student number control. The VC's presentation on this was, he confessed, 'all a bit Delphic', but Senators would be briefed on important developments during the summer.

Fiona Aiken reported on progress in finding a replacement for Professor Wellings. The search committee had used the headhunters' report to inform the person and post specifications. The aim is to hold interviews in the last week of July.

Senate noted a timely report on the receipt of gifts and donations. The university has an ethical gifts policy which is implemented mainly by staff in the Alumni and Development Office. Two potentially dodgy donors have been turned down. Fiona Aiken noted that it wasn't much of an issue for Lancaster since we aren't overwhelmed with gift offers anyway.

There was a serious and responsible discussion of a report from a working group chaired by Peter Rowe making initial proposals for a procedure for the revocation of university awards. With a few suggested amendments the paper was approved. It served among other things as a reminder of how important it is to have a good lawyer on hand to advise on such matters.

There was also a paper from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor on the establishment of a new University in Guangdong Province to be known, all being well, as the Guangwai-Lancaster University. This paper went into more detail and provided more thoughtful arguments than previous statements on this proposal, and it generated some correspondingly thoughtful discussion before being approved. Senators were reassured to hear that similar initiatives by Nottingham and Liverpool were working well.

Further, less contentious matters included an amendment to the Manual of Academic Regulations and Procedures to require postgraduate research theses to be deposited  electronically as well as on paper, and a proposal that Professor Sue Cox be re-appointed as Dean of the Management School for a further five years.

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'NO CONFIDENCE' PRESSURE INCREASES

A group of students and staff at Lancaster University have organised an online petition that staff and student members of the University can sign in order to express no confidence in the coalition's higher education policies. The petition, organised by the Lancaster University Campaign for Higher Education (LUCHE), is at http://www.petitiononline.com/LUCHE/petition.html.

Lancaster's own petition is part of a wave of 'no confidence' initiatives in HE institutions across England, which started on 7 June when academics and students' union representatives debated a motion of no confidence at Oxford Congregation. At the conclusion of the debate, 283 people voted in favour of a motion instructing the university's council to 'communicate to government that the University of Oxford has no confidence in the policies of the minister for higher education', and only five voted against. The text of speeches by members of the campaign is available here: http://www.noconfidence.org.uk/the-campaign/the-oxford-campaign, and a recording of the whole debate here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4200149/Congregation_June_2011.mp3. 

Since their victory, the Oxford Campaign for Higher Education (OUCHE) have been encouraging other institutions to put forward their own motions of no confidence.  In response, petitions have been organised at Warwick, Goldsmiths, Bristol, and now Lancaster.  Bradford University's UCU passed a unanimous motion of no confidence; and now over 130 Cambridge academics have submitted a 'Grace' to Cambridge University's sovereign body, The Regent House, calling for a similar vote of no confidence.

LUCHE is suggesting that university members also sign a national petition that has been organised by the Campaign for the Public University to complement the proliferating local votes of no confidence (http://www.noconfidence.org.uk/).

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LETTERS

Dear subtext,

I was fascinated to read Sam Clark's article in subtext issue 77 suggesting reasons why we should be sceptical about the results provided by end-of-module evaluations. However I feel compelled to offer the other side of the debate in the interests of balance. There is just as much evidence that end of module evaluations can lead to improved educational outcomes when used in certain ways.

An influential study by Marsh (1987) found that course evaluations were generally reliable and correlate favourably with the quality of teaching and learning. There is also compelling evidence that when student feedback is augmented with the advice and guidance of a third party, for example another academic, it can lead to genuine improvements in the quality of instruction (Cohen, 1980; Marsh and Roche, 1993; Ballantyne et al, 2000). It would be a shame not to capitalise on the potential being signposted by these studies.

The key is the selection of the specific form of evaluation. It is very easy to take issue with the tool being used to gather student feedback, preventing meaningful discussions about how best to use these data (Gregory et al, 1995). In order to prevent this, we all need to better understand the psychometric properties of the evaluative tools at our disposal. Equally we have to ensure that the tools we use actually have sound psychometric properties. Is there actually a relationship between high scores on these surveys and desirable learning experiences and has this been evidenced? It would be too simplistic to generalise about course/module evaluations per se. They are probably here for the long term - the challenge is to ensure that the time we spend critiquing and analysing them is well spent.

References:

Ballantyne, R., Borthwick, J. and Packer, J. (2000) 'Beyond student evaluations of teaching: identifying and addressing academic staff development needs', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 25, 221-236.

Cohen, P. (1980) 'Effectiveness of student-rating feedback for improving college instruction: A meta-analysis of findings', Research in Higher Education, 13, 321-341.

Gregory, R., Harland, G., and Thorley, L. (1995) 'Using a student experience questionnaire for improving teaching and learning', in Gibbs, G. (Ed.) Improving student learning through assessment and evaluation. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff Development.

Marsh, H. W. (1987) 'Students' evaluations of university teaching: Research findings, methodological issues, and directions for future research', International Journal of Educational Research, 11, 253-388.

Marsh, H., and Roche, L. (1993) 'The use of students' evaluations and an individually structured intervention to enhance university teaching effectiveness', American Educational Research Journal, 30, 217-251.

Adam Child, Assistant Registrar

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Dear subtext,

Your correspondent is unduly sniffy about wildlife to be seen from the Woodland Trail ('some sheep in the distance'). Earlier this week I saw a vixen and her cub enjoying the early morning sunshine together - something I've never managed to see anywhere else.

You just have to be up betimes!

John Foster, Research Fellow in Philosophy, Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion

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The editorial collective of subtext currently consists (in alphabetical order) of: Rachel Cooper (PPR), George Green, Gavin Hyman, David Smith, Bronislaw Szerszynski and Martin Widden.

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