Department Teaching Committees (DTCs)

 

Departmental Teaching Committees (DTCs) oversee teaching and learning issues within the Department. The purpose of this guidance is to support members of the School – both students and staff – in managing DTCs that enable effective and appropriate student participation in decision-making in educational matters. This guidance follows the School’s general principles for the management of committees as set out in the Committee Guidance Notes and highlights the relevant minimum standards from the Academic Code. Departments can determine their own local practice for the operation of DTCs where this does not conflict with the standards set out in the Academic Code.

 

Membership

All Departmental Teaching Committees must include the following membership:

a) Head of Department or the person charged with overseeing teaching within the Department, e.g. a Deputy HoD for Teaching (Chair)

b) One undergraduate student representative (Elected)

c) One postgraduate student representative (Elected)

d) One PhD student representative if PhD students fall under the Department’s Teaching Committee (Elected)

[Matters relating to PhD students are in square brackets to allow Departments to decide whether PhD students and programmes are overseen by their Research or Teaching Committee]

Other student representatives may also be invited where appropriate and Departments are encouraged to include a range of faculty as members and departmental professional services staff. As the size of Departmental Teaching Committees varies across Departments it is for the Chair to decide the quorum but normally at least one of the student representatives must be present for the meeting to be quorate.

Terms of reference

a) To consider issues and developments relating to all taught [and PhD] programmes in the Department, and to make recommendations to the Department where appropriate.

b) To oversee the implementation of good practice and quality assurance throughout the Department within the frameworks for quality assurance agreed within the School and to which the School is subject.

c) To consider all new course and programme proposals, and modifications to and withdrawals/suspension of all current courses and programmes prior to submission to further Departmental and School quality assurance processes.

d) To oversee teaching, academic advice, supervisory and assessment arrangements for all students and for all degree programmes in the Department.

e) To review periodically all programmes and courses [including /excluding the PhD programme] in line with the School’s recommendations and formal review processes, and to take the lead in implementing changes.

f) To oversee programme admissions in conjunction with other Departmental committees where these are established and with the School’s central Admissions service.

g) To consider proposals to institute, amend, revise or terminate academic partnerships or other arrangements with other institutions or organisations with whom the Department works in delivering teaching programmes prior to submission to further Departmental and School approval processes. Arrangements with the School’s institutional partners should be reviewed by the DTC and discussed by the Head of Department with the Pro Director Education.

h) To consider all feedback received from students taking courses and programmes run by the Department, including from the Department’s Student Staff Liaison Committee and from student surveys (e.g. Departmental feedback mechanisms, the School’s teaching surveys and the National Student Survey), and to make recommendations to the Department as appropriate. A separate report of this section of the meeting agenda to be considered by the Department and shared with the TEFSG Cluster Coordinator.

i) To liaise with Departmental Teaching Committees in other Departments in the School with which the Department runs joint degree programmes on all matters relating to the operation of the joint programme(s) including quality assurance and responding to student feedback.

j) To liaise with Departmental Teaching Committees in other Departments in the School where their programmes include compulsory courses provided by that Department.

k) To consider teaching and learning developments within the School and outside the School in comparable areas in relevant peer institutions and to make recommendations to the Department as appropriate.

l) To contribute to and act upon School initiatives relating to the enhancement of teaching and student experience within the School.

m) To oversee and support scholarships and prizes.

n) Departmental Teaching Committees will meet at least once in each term.

Useful information

DTCs remain responsible for most decisions relating to the modification of existing courses and programmes when made in accordance with current guidance and in time to meet deadlines for the publication of information to current and future students.

When in doubt, departments are encouraged to contact TQARO via ard.capis@lse.ac.uk at an early stage to confirm the appropriate mechanism to consider and approve changes.

Important: Three requirements for departments to remember:

  • With regards to programme withdrawals, departments are asked to report the intention to withdraw a programme of study via Annual Monitoring (AM) in the first instance, for subsequent consideration of the resource implications by the APRC. 
  • To ensure timely submission of DTC minutes to TQARO at the end of each term. Without receipt of your DTC minutes, we cannot action decisions and update course and programme information when required
  • DTCs are also required to add a table of decisions (click here for an example) as an appendix to their minutes to specifically highlight decisions taken that require action by TQARO, such as major updates to programme regulations or core course provision impacting prospectus or Calendar information.

You can see the existing guidance in sections 13.3-13.6 in the quality assurance handbook – see extract here).

 The full Quality Assurance Handbook can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last reviewed October 2018