University Timetabling Policy This policy covers the scheduling of all undergraduate and postgraduate teaching activities and is intended for use by all University staff.

This Policy document is published on the University Policy and Regulations webpage.

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Introduction The Registry’s Central Timetabling Unit (hereafter the CTU) is responsible for the production and publication of the annual teaching timetable. In producing the teaching timetable, the CTU considers and attempts to balance the needs and requirements of students, academic staff and Corporate Services to produce an effective and efficient timetable that best utilises the University’s available teaching space whilst maintaining a high quality student experience. The University Timetabling Policy is overseen by the University Timetabling Working Group (hereafter TTWG) chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), and will ensure the Timetabling Policy is applied fully, consistently and fairly across the University. In developing a teaching timetable, the University aims to recognise and act on the needs and interests of a range of stakeholders in the University in offering its extensive academic portfolio, across a number of campuses. The University’s teaching timetable is prepared using a timetabling software system (CMIS) drawing module information and course structures from the University’s Student Record System (SITS). The data required to create timetables is gathered, collated and agreed by Faculties in conjunction with the CTU.

1. Purpose and Scope The purpose of the Timetabling Policy is to provide an efficient and effective management framework for the delivery of teaching and room bookings. The policy covers the scheduling (timetabling and rooming) of all undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral level, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and non-credit bearing teaching activities delivered on University campus. (It does not cover any scheduled activities on distance learning programmes or the use of non-University space for teaching activities.) It also provides a framework and governance structure for the management of University rooms that contribute to a student timetable, are used for non-teaching events such as meetings and external income activity such as conferences. This document sets out the University’s policy and guiding principles for all staff and students, in respect of:  the preparation and timely production of the University’s teaching timetable;  accommodating the diverse needs of our students;  the distribution to students and staff of a timetable designed to guarantee a set of expectations established by and thereafter periodically reviewed and agreed by the TTWG;  the provision of facilities to support teaching and the curriculum;  ensuring efficient use of University teaching accommodation;  the booking of teaching rooms for non-teaching events. 2|Page

2. Guiding Principles 3.1 Institutional The timetable will support the strategic objectives of the University to a) deliver a personalised timetable to students and b) incorporate requirements and initiatives relating to teaching and learning spaces as outlined in the Estates and Teaching and Learning Strategies for the ‘Support and develop increasingly responsive learning systems, learning resources, spaces and environments in order to optimise all students’ active engagement in all learning modes’. The timetable will use the full working day and working week (refer to 4.2.2 and 4.3.2) to accommodate all requirements and to make the best possible use of the accommodation available. Space utilisation will be monitored, using data collected from a number of sources including Space/Room Audit activity, against Key Performance Indicator (KPI) No. 11, which is considered annually by the Board of Governors and informs the University’s Estate Management Record (EMR) and annual return to HESA.

3.2

Student experience

The timetable will support the delivery of the highest quality learning and teaching to students. The timetable will ensure students are taught in the most appropriate teaching accommodation. When considering changes to the timetable, the interests of students are of primary importance. Wherever practicable, the following principles will also operate. 

Students do not attend more than 4 continuous hours of teaching without a break.

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Whilst the University attempts to accommodate student choice, the timetable may not allow for every student to attend their preferred optional module choices.

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As far as possible the same room will be scheduled for the same group at the same time. However, due to varied teaching patterns and modes of study groups may need to be accommodated in different venues for particular sessions.

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Students studying on a full-time basis are expected to be available at any time during the teaching week. Students studying on a standard course on a part-time basis (e.g. a Master’s programme taken over more than one year) are normally expected to select modules in accordance with their availability. 3|Page

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Wednesday afternoons (1pm – 6pm) will be designated for extracurricular or co-curricular student activities, including sporting fixtures for full-time undergraduate students. Teaching sessions should only be scheduled during this time where there is module choice or where undergraduate core modules offer other iterations for students during the week. Approval for any full-time undergraduate modules to be delivered on Wednesday afternoon is required from the Academic Registrar.

3.3 Staff The timetable is led by the need to provide a high quality learning and teaching experience for students, and this takes precedence over individual staff preferences or historic precedent. In the construction of the timetable, unless approved through the appropriate procedure and CTU are notified in advance, it is assumed that all full-time academic staff are available to teach at any time during the standard teaching period and individual requests for particular days and / or times must be approved by the Faculty Executive. As the University is multi-campus, as necessary, staff are expected to teach at any appointed location as long as adequate travel time has been allowed. The timetable is constructed on the basis of accurate and up-to-date data provided and confirmed by Faculty staff with the knowledge of the approved course modular structure and based on actual student numbers where known and predicted student numbers for new modules. The timetable is developed on an annual basis and weekly teaching activity requirements, time slots and specialist rooming requests to facilitate the proposed teaching activities must be checked by academic and administrative staff in the Faculty and confirmed within the published timeline and deadlines outlined in the ‘Creating the Timetable’ process.

3.4 Communication Deadlines for key activities involved in the preparation and production of the timetable are approved annually by the TTWG. CTU, on behalf of TTWG, are responsible for issuing detailed guidance to Faculties each year, setting out the process for constructing the teaching timetable including deadlines for the various processes involved. The facility for cancelling and/or amending allocated rooms may take place within the timeline outlined in the process for constructing the University timetable. Any late timetabling requests may not be included in the initial room allocation. The published timetable information must be clear and understandable for use by students and staff and released as outlined in the process for constructing the University timetable.

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Changes to the timetable after publication will be by exception only and all requests will require approval by the appropriate Associate Dean or named nominee, followed by further approval by the Academic Registrar or nominee. Processes for requesting changes to the published timetabled can be found on the CTU webpages. http://www.wlv.ac.uk/about-us/internaldepartments/central-timetabling/timetabling-201516/

3.5 Accommodation All teaching accommodation, whether centrally-bookable or Faculty managed specialist space, is defined as University space that will ultimately form a part of a student’s individual timetable. For this reason, information on all University accommodation that will contribute to a students’ timetable is to be held on the University’s central Timetabling database. The TTWG manages the list of University teaching rooms and will oversee an annual review of the teaching room stock, to include condition of room and equipment, in consultation the Learning and Teaching Spaces Advisory Group (LATSAG) using general feedback from staff and data drawn from the results of the Annual Space Audits and ITS Equipment Review. Outcomes of this review will form the basis of a proposed annual scheme of work and updates to teaching rooms. Requests to repurpose or remove rooms from the official list of University teaching rooms must be made to the TTWG and Director of Facilities for consideration and consultation taking into account room utilisation and availability of alternative accommodation. CTU to maintain an up-to-date catalogue of University rooms to include room details, equipment specification and images of all space available for teaching and publishes details for all staff through their webpages. http://www.wlv.ac.uk/about-us/internal-departments/central-timetabling/ All teaching rooms will be subject to teaching space audits to ensure efficient use of space and the most appropriate allocation of activities to rooms. Rooms should be left clean and tidy and all furniture should be returned to its standard configuration if moved during the booked session and all boards are to be left clean. Any issues should be reported to [email protected] as soon as possible. Problems with IT equipment in the room are to be reported directly to IT Services using the contact number located on each AV desk and maintenance/caretaking issues to be reported to the Facilities Helpdesk. Staff are asked to commence the session on the time allotted and finish 10 minutes before the end time (hour or half hour) to allow for changeover of the room.

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3. Process and Procedure 4.1

Constructing the teaching timetable

Processes for constructing the University timetable for the start of a new academic year (September/October delivery) begins in January / February of that year, using existing modules and courses and the early identification of any new courses and modules that will be validated for delivery in the next academic year. The annual process for constructing the University timetable will be presented to the January meeting of TTWG and approved for publishing on the CTU webpages and dissemination to all staff by the end of January. The annual process for constructing the University timetable will include:  A full process flow diagram of requirements clearly identifying the different stages  Outline of responsibilities and allocated roles and actions  Deadlines  Lines of communication  Publication details

4.2 Academic Calendar 4.2.1 Teaching Year The University operates a 52 week year, with weeks numbered consecutively from 1 to 52. Academic Board approves the University’s academic calendar. The academic calendar outlines teaching weeks, exam periods and non-teaching periods around which the teaching timetable is constructed. 4.2.2 Teaching Week The University’s standard teaching week is Monday to Thursday from 9am to 9pm, and on Friday from 9am to 6pm with the exception of Wednesday afternoons (1pm – 6pm) as noted in paragraph 3.2.

4.3

Timetable structure

Information and data that informs the processes for constructing the University timetable is held on the CMIS software managed by CTU. This data is drawn from the University’s Student Management System (SITS) to ensure that course and module structures submitted for timetabling and rooming purposes reflect that of the validated and approved provision and the information provided to students in course and module guides. Specific constraints may lead to a need to prioritise some students and courses ahead of others such as:  Disabled students for who appropriate facilities my not be available in all rooms (to be identified through consultation with SEC);  Part-time / block release courses with teaching identified for a specific day; 6|Page

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Placement students who can only be taught on specific days or specific periods; Part-time lecturers, and in some cases Visiting lecturers, with restricted availability.

4.3.1 Teaching Events The delivery of a module may be made up of a number of teaching events which are defined as lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops, laboratory sessions, practical sessions or other structured teaching activity. Each Module Leader will request the format of the module to be delivered that will reflect what has been specified in the Module Specification, to include:       

the University weeks in which the module will run; the number of teaching events per week; how students will be managed during these events (e.g.as a whole cohort or split into groups). If groups are required then an outline of the number of groups and how students will be allocated to groups; the format and duration of each of the teaching events; the named teaching staff who will deliver each event; any specific equipment required within a room to facilitate teaching; any specific requirements of staff or students that demand access to certain facilities.

4.3.2 Teaching Slots (The duration of teaching events) All teaching events will be scheduled in blocks of one or two hours. Faculties may request any number or combination of these blocks for a module but should take into account the minimum and maximum face to face contact hours required per module. The following applies:  A teaching day will commence at 9am and finish by 9pm – Monday to Thursday and 9am and finish by 6pm on Friday.  One hour blocks will start at any time in the teaching day up to and including 8pm.  Two hour blocks will start at any time up to and including 7pm.  Schedules should allow staff and students to have at least one hour’s break between 11am and 2pm.  Teaching may only be scheduled on weekends where a there is a clear demand from stakeholders with prior agreement of the CTU, Estates and Facilities and IT Services.  When proposing to teach outside of the normal teaching week, e.g. any weekend activities, and in order to ensure all services are available, Estates and Facilities must be informed and these requests may be subject to additional charges.  Lectures, seminars and tutorials relating to the same module will normally take place within the same week. Where this is not possible, e.g. tutorial sessions linked to Friday lectures, there will not normally be a gap of more than three working days between the lecture and the subsequent seminars, tutorials or other associated teaching events.

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4.3.3 Teaching Spaces There are two categories of teaching space: Common Learning Space and Specialist Teaching Rooms. Common Learning Space Common Learning Space includes lecture theatres, PC laboratories and other teaching rooms that are managed by the CTU. Such rooms are principally used for teaching events, but may be booked for non-teaching events, such as meetings, research seminars, and commercial activities. Specialist Rooms Specialist Rooms are defined as teaching rooms which cannot be used for general teaching because there is specialist equipment in the room and/or controlled environment.

4. Non-Teaching Events Common Learning Space can be used for a wide range of internal and external non-teaching events, such as meetings, CPD sessions, student recruitment events and ad hoc activities such as research conferences and seminars. The Conferencing Department is responsible for commercial bookings and liaises, as appropriate, with the CTU, Estates and Facilities and other stakeholders about the availability and use of teaching space and related services for commercial bookings. Where staff are requesting room bookings for activities that involve external delegates or where a fee of any kind will be charged, the request should be made directly to the Conferencing Department. The booking of University conference rooms at Telford Campus and the Science Park are also available for both internal and external events and made through the conferencing department. Conflicts of interest may occasionally arise where Common Learning Space is required simultaneously for various events. In such cases, the following priorities will be allocated: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Teaching events Academic Administration related activities (Examinations, Graduation, Welcome Week, Exam Boards etc) Student induction sessions Income-generating events Internal non-teaching events to include Open Days External non-teaching events

If furniture needs to be rearranged for an event, then the person(s) making the booking should make appropriate arrangements with Estates and Facilities for this to happen at the start of the event or, where room availability allows, prior to the start of the event. As a courtesy to later bookings, all furniture should be returned to the standard configuration for 8|Page

the room by the end of the event or immediately after the event if room availability allows. All non-teaching events must adhere to the University’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech (http://www.wlv.ac.uk/PDF/ind_freespeech_regs.pdf)

5. Timetabling Working Group The role and responsibilities of the TTWG is:      

A working group of the University Student Experience Committee (USEC) and provides regular updates which in turn informs Academic Board. Liaises with relevant stakeholders to ensure that all timetabling communications are disseminated to all relevant stakeholders Assist in formation and approval of all relevant documentation concerning central scheduling. To review and confirm the categorisation of teaching space annually. To review reports and outcomes from the University’s Space Utilisation audits. To manage the list of University teaching rooms in consultation with the Learning and Teaching Spaces Advisory Group (LATSAG), Facilities, Faculties and Corporate Services.

VERSION APPROVED

1 January 2016

DATE

REVIEW DATE

OWNER APPROVED

Academic Registrar Academic Board

BY

September 2018

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