Guidelines on the Approval of Disciplines, Programmes and Courses

Location/Mode
Conventional
delivery
Blended delivery
Independent study
Home campus Low risk Medium risk Not permitted
Other campus Medium risk Medium risk Not permitted
Collaborative
Partner
Medium risk Medium risk Not permitted
Approved
Learning Partner
Not permitted Medium risk Not permitted
Other Not permitted Not permitted High risk
1.2.1 Low risk: conventional teaching on the Home Campus poses a low risk to the University and
therefore approval can be by a light touch.
1.2.2 Medium risk: the level of scrutiny needs to be more detailed where a programme is to be
delivered at a different campus or in partnership with another institution, since not only will the
staff at the Home Campus have a less intimate knowledge of the facilities and resources, but
also there will be a greater physical distance between the staff responsible for delivery of the
programme and the staff responsible for managing the delivery. Clearly, as the staff at the other
campus/institution and the staff on the Home Campus become more experienced, so the level of
scrutiny will diminish.
Similarly, when new modes of delivery are introduced, such as blended learning, the level of
scrutiny will be higher initially as School processes are undergoing development and will reduce
as the new mode of delivery becomes “conventional”.
1.2.3 High risk: the highest risk occurs when programmes are designed for independent learners. In
these cases, there should always be a high level of scrutiny, though that too will vary as Schools
become more experienced.
The delivery of programmes in a language other than English (except for languages
programmes) is also high risk for the University and such programmes should be subject to high
levels of scrutiny.
1.2.4 Not permitted: it is explicit in the above table that some forms of delivery are not permitted.
Thus an Approved Learning Partner which is staffed only by Approved Tutors is not permitted to
deliver conventional teaching, but only blended learning where the University staff have
prepared the teaching materials.
The Studies Committees and Schools should note that if a programme is approved for one location or
mode of delivery, it is not automatically approved for all locations or modes of delivery. As part of the
programme proposal, Schools will need to be explicit in modes and locations they are seeking approval
for and the Committees will need to be explicit in what is being approved.
It is intended that the University will not offer independent learning programmes to students studying oncampus,
but this does not preclude independent study on single courses.
2. Standard Process for Approval: Discipline-Level Submissions
Wherever possible, approval should be at the highest and most general level, ie at discipline level. This
is likely to be particularly important for approval of existing programmes that are changing as a result of
RAY. Since RAY applies to all of the University’s taught provision (with the exception of the Edinburgh
Business School) a significant volume of modifications will be made to programmes in the run up to
September 2008.
Appendices 2 (Programme) and 3 (Discipline) provide details of the short-form proposal which can
be submitted for programmes being modified as part of RAY where the modifications are related
primarily to RAY and do not represent a ‘significant change’.
Discipline, Programme and Course Approval <strong>Guidelines</strong> (including Programme Proposals for Restructuring the Academic Year) 8