Minutes of the East Durham College Curriculum Quality & Standards Committee held on 11th November 2021

Present:

S. Duncan, V. McFarquhar (Chair), D. Butler, and J. MacIntyre

In Attendance:

C. Tomlinson – Vice Principal

J. Owen (Assistant Principal)

C Parnell (Director Maths and English and HE)

D Ridley (Clerk to the Corporation)

In Attendance for SED Validation Only:

C. English (Director of Professional Programmes and HE)

318 Apologies for Absence

Apologies were received from M. Etherington, E Oughton and R Harrison

Clerk advised that should the Committee not be quorate, documents may require formal approval from non-attending committee members via email.

319 Conflicts of Interest

There were no conflicts of interest.

320 Terms of Reference

Draft new terms of reference had been previously reviewed by the Chair and had been approved by Full Board in October. There were no further comments.

The Committee noted the revised Terms of Reference.

321 Minutes of meeting of 10th June 2021

AGREED

That the Committee approves the minutes of the meeting held on 10th June 2021 as a true record and that they be signed by the Chair.

322 Matters Arising

The Clerk requested clarification from committee around confidentiality of reports and requested consideration be given to including more report detail in main body of minutes for public viewing and reasons for confidentiality being clearly stated.

The Chair of Governors commented that if a report was confidential, then the discussion around that report is confidential. The principal advised caution around including too much detail in reports.  

Confidentiality status of reports to be decided between author and Principal and then agreed with Clerk.

323 Quality Improvement Plan 2020-21

The Vice Principal presented the progress report on the Quality Improvement Plan to the Committee, which was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

The Committee noted the report and progress made against the Quality Improvement Plan's aims, and endorsed the actions and outcomes

324 Draft Ofsted Report

This item was deemed confidential until publication by Ofsted.

325 Draft Quality Improvement Plan 2021-2022

The Draft Quality Improvement Plan 2021/22 was presented to the Committee, which was deemed confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

The Committee recommended the Draft Quality Improvement Plan 2021-22 to the Board for approval.

326 Self-Evaluation Document (SED)

The Vice Principal Curriculum and Performance informed the Committee that CP would be taking over as Director of HE for the next academic year and CE would be moving to enrichment.

The Assistant Principal advised that the format of the SED had been amended and was now based on core practices and how they are reported to the Office for Students (OFS) whilst remaining in line with the regulatory framework for higher education.

The SED was presented to members of the Curriculum Quality and Standards Committee by the Director of Professional Programmes and HE who joined the meeting for this item only.

The College has a small HE cohort and the action plan reflected NSS outcomes and the expected growth in numbers. The NSS outcomes document was circulated to those present.

The Principal made a recommendation relating to NSS and Action Plan, to review areas which were under-performing and had been judged as amber and / or declining, for two consecutive years.  These were to be compared against learner consultations across the years and different and more detailed actions were required.  It was agreed that the Action Plan would be reviewed and amended.

The Assistant Principal clarified the position relating to Teesside University, although numbers may look low, this is the number of learners who attend college, rather than those who are registered with the university, which is higher.

The Committee noted and recommended to Full Board for approval.

327 Committee Recommendations and Conclusion

The Committee noted and recommended the QIP 2020/21, Draft QIP 2021/22 and the SED to the Board for approval.

Last modified: 12/01/2024