(......Continued)
In addition to Advisory Professors, we
appoint visiting scholars to provide leadership for
staff and programme development. This year, Mark Almond,
a visiting scholar from the United Kingdom, planted
the seeds for a new interest in drama in English language
teaching. The culmination of his stay was the production
of Harold Pinter's 1959 drama A Night Out. The performance,
by 20 undergraduate theatrical first-timers, was highly
commended and Department of English staff continue to
develop this area.
Analysing feedback
for quality improvement
In the reporting year considerable effort has been invested
in developing tools for reviewing our effectiveness.
The gathering of evaluation data from students, graduates
and employers and the appraisal of staff performance
has become more focusedand systematic.
Standardised procedures are now in place
for the collection of student feedback on teaching and
learning quality and effectiveness. Apart from questionnaire
surveys on current students, we undertake formative
evaluation conducted via focus groups, staff-student
consultative meetings and in personal tutorials.
A Coordinating Group on Institutional Research
on Graduates has been set up in response to the recommendations
of the TLQPR report. This group undertakes regular exit
surveys, graduate surveys and employer surveys to help
us improve our programmes. Survey results in 2002-03
indicated a high degree of satisfaction from our graduates
in terms of their professional preparation and similarly
positive results from their employers.
In line with our growing maturity, we have
thoroughly overhauled our performance review mechanism
and developed a new Academic Staff Performance Appraisal
Scheme. The newscheme will be an integral part of the
Institute's appointmentrelated decision-making processes.
All regular academic staff will be subject to performance
appraisal under the new scheme which will generally
operate on a three-year cycle.
Providing quality
at all levels
Quality assurance is paramount in maintaining and improving
our teaching standards, so we have created a robust
framework for ensuring that we fulfil our teaching and
learning responsibilities with the utmost regard for
quality.
Our efforts were recognised when, in the
reporting year, our quality assurance framework received
commendation from experts in this area. The Panel of
the TLQPR expressed confidence in the quality of our
programmes and in the processes by which those programmes
are monitored, reviewed and improved. Significantly,
the Panel reported to the University Grants Committee
that the Institute was ready to take the next step in
its development - a review of the institution to determine
whether it is ready to move to self-accrediting status.
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