Programme and Module Approval Updates

1 July 2021

Updates to Programme and Module Approval and Amendment for 2021-22.

Section 2: Programme Approval

From 2020/21, programme initiators for all PGT programme proposals were strongly recommended to attend a programme development workshop delivered by the UCL Arena Centre.
From 2021/22 is has been agreed that programme initiators for all taught programmes, not just PGT, must contact the UCL Arena Centre to discuss their programme proposal, in accordance with the programme approval timelines provided in Annex 7.1.1 of the Academic Manual.
A likely outcome of this initial discussion will be a strong recommendation to attend a programme development workshop through the UCL Arena Centre. This workshop, developed with input from CAM and Careers, will support programme initiators in the preparation of programme approval documentation.

From 2020/21, all PGT programmes approved are subject to a Probationary review following Final approval.
From 2021/22, it has been agreed that all taught programmes approved, will be subject to a Probationary review following Final approval.
This means that all new taught programmes will be reviewed after the first two years that the programme runs. If the programme is not on course to meet targets after two admission cycles, the programme team should consider action that might need to be taken in respect of programme design or marketing. After three admission cycles, Planning will review the programme against the business plan to ensure that it is viable as demonstrated in the business plan. Probationary Review can be found in Annex 7.2.11 of the Academic Manual.

Additional points of clarification, rather than changes to policy:

From September 2021, the Programme Amendment Form must be completed on Portico and can be accessed via the Programmes’ task within the Curricular Management menu. This is part of a wider, ongoing project and more information will be available in due course.
The process for suspending a route of study is now articulated, rather than assumed as part of the process for suspending a programme of study.
The process for amending a programme’s Progression and Award rules has now been defined as a moderate programme amendment.

All module amendments for the forthcoming academic year (2022-23) must be submitted to the Student Lifecycle Team by 30^th November 2021, via the Programme and Module Hub on the Student Records and Faculty MS Team, rather than the Student Lifecyle inbox (as previously).

Additional point of clarification, rather than a change to policy:

The process for withdrawing a route of study is now articulated, rather than assumed as part of the process for withdrawing a programme of study.