• The Panel found the level 2 study "CSC246 Scientific Methods for Computer Science" to be an examplary module that establishes and initial basis in the preparation of graduates to become Chartered Scientists.

• The devolution of QA responsibility from the University to the Faculty facilitated the opportunity to contextualise the QA activities and as a result have a positive impact on the student experience
• The ELPHIN Project and associated use of the ELPHIN activities for example in the enterprise modules to produce case material for students base on the software and system development and implementation tasks undertaken in the ELPHIN Project. Academic staff were able to show that they practiced what they preached. The outcomes from the Project are a very valuable resource for students.

• Giving students sight of their exam scripts with access to staff for feedback is good practice, and to be commended. This could easily be mimicked at other sites.

• The peer (student) mentoring scheme was commended by the Panel. The Department was justly proud of this initiative which had also been warmly received by the students.

• The very considerable strength of the underpinning theoretical material throughout the programme
• The Continuous Assessment Tracking System (CATE) which allows students to see all their assessments and marks on-line; and the Student-on-line Evaluation System (SOLE) which automates course evaluation, and which, together with some novel incentive mechanisms, results in a high response rate for such questionnaires.
• Peer tutoring arrangements under which final year students assist with practical classes for more junior (1st year only?) students. In particular the arrangements that the Department makes for training and monitoriing th performance of the tutors.
• The University research Opportunities Programme (UROP) which allows students to gain paid experience of working with research groups during vacations.
• The Student Placements fair, which is held in the autumn after the final year students have undertaken their placement. This allows students in earlier years to learn about the particular placements experience at different employers as well as giving the department the opportunity to liase with the placement supervisors, with potential knock-on for building research and enterprise links.

This is the first institution that the panel had visited where the final year undergraduate project was a 60 credit project in the final semester.

This has a number of advantages:

-       the project is a true capstone of all that has been learned

-       the students can concentrate completely on the project during that semester

-       supervisors and subjects for projects can easily be assigned well before the start of the project.

Several members of the panel felt that this was an arrangement they would feed back to their own institutions for consideration, and so it seemed worthy of wider dissemination.

The panel identified good practice in the way the School managed the multiple campus delivery of modules and programmes – particularly in the ways in which colleagues were encouraged to participate and be active members of module and programme teams.

There were two areas of best practice identified, both related to the student experience:

1.    The student support is a detailed, student led process which provides a structured, democratic process to resolve issues within the programmes. Students are assigned a seminar group (of around 16 students) with which they remain for their whole course. Each group has a rep, and there are also two year reps which are nominated from all of the group reps. A student forum, comprising all reps, meets at least once a term, but can convene far more frequently depending on matters arising. Each forum is chaired by the students with the attendance of the programme leader, associate dean (students) and head of student services for the University. The reps also have the right to call any other member of staff into the meeting if they wish.

      While we have seen similar structures at other visits, the student centred nature of the forum, and the positivity from the student body about this representation, is more unusual. We felt it best practice due to the rapid response to student issues with their courses, and the manner in which the staff embrace the student led approach.

2.    The student placement document is guided by the BCS code of good practice and students are expected to reflect upon and evaluate their placement experience based upon the code. It is also the student’s responsibility to explore the code of good practice rather than it being given to them. We feel this is an excellent way of promoting the importance of the BCS in the profession and getting the students to relate their own experiences to professional practice across the industry.

The use of Sharepoint as a collaboration tool to support group projects was noteworthy as it gives exposure to an industry standard tool in a realistic environment.  Its use by academic staff to monitor group progress and dynamics was also innovative.