executive board agenda - soas.ac.uk

EXECUTIVE BOARD

AGENDA

Monday 28th January 2013 (Room 115)

I Minutes To approve: minutes of the meeting held on 21st January 2013 [Attached] II Action Points

[Oral Updates]

III Matters Arising/Matters for Report

[Oral Updates]

IV New Programme Development

To consider: a paper from the Pro-Director (Learning & Teaching) [Appendix A]

V SOAS TRAC Return for 2011-12 for submission to HEFCE

To note: a paper from the Director of Finance & Planning [Appendix B]

Annex A

VI Circulars To note: Circulars received

[Appendix C]

Executive Board Open Minutes 21.1.13_Chair Approved

These minutes are for information only. Any corrections to the minutes will be recorded in the minutes of the subsequent meeting of the committee.

SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Monday 21st January 2013

OPEN MINUTES

Members: Professor Paul Webley (Chair) Mr Graeme Appleby Mr Donald Beaton Professor Matt Craven Professor Graham Furniss Mr Peter Mitchell Professor Anne Pauwels Professor Gurharpal Singh Professor Nirmala Rao

Apologies: Mr Donald Beaton

In attendance: Dr Chris Ince (Secretary)

122. Minutes The Minutes of the last meeting, 14th January 2013 were approved, subject to the correct date of the meeting being recorded.

123. Action Points (i) MIN 118(vii) – Project Aladdin Summer School EB noted that the programme for summer 2013 was best suited to the Faculty of Law & Social Sciences. The Dean of the Faculty would chase up the Heads of Department about any interest in sending a member of staff. The Director would then respond to the organisers.

(ii) MIN 43 – Student Charter EB noted that this item would be delayed until 4 February.

124. Matters Arising/Matters for Report (i) Departmental meetings The Director reported he had attended four departmental staff meetings; Study of Religions, History, Art & Archaeology and Africa & Linguistics. Issues discussed had included the Senate House North Block, staff facilities in the SCR, marketing, admissions targets and the online application process for PGT students. The attendance at some meetings had been low and it was advisable that Deans saw the minutes of such meetings to monitor this.

(ii) UCU meeting The Director reported that he had held an informal meeting with representatives of the local UCU branch. The UCU Green Issues Representative would be meeting with the Director of Estates to follow up on some of the matters discussed.

(iii) Dean of International Programmes at University of London EB noted that the Dean of International Programmes would be retiring in summer 2013. (iv) OFFA/Access Agreements The Director reported that the new Director of OFFA had stressed the importance of outreach work in an institution’s access agreement, rather than a reliance on fee waivers or bursaries. (v) National Scholarship Programme EB noted that the Programme would change from 2014 with a new calculation used to focus resources on those institutions with a higher proportion of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The School’s provisional allocation for 2014 was a slight increase to £291K, which represented 97 scholarships. (vi) NSS Action Plans The Pro-Director, Learning & Teaching reminded members that all departmental plans required sign off by the relevant Dean. 125. Executive Board Duty Rota (Appendix A) EB approved the duty rota for an out-of-hours point of contact. A revised version with contact details would be circulated to EB and key staff contacts once the schedule had been verified with each member. Further guidance would be provided to members on their role in the process and communications. 126. Paperless Executive Board Meetings (Oral Update) EB agreed that the pilot of paperless meetings would not be extended to other committees until further work had taken place on setting up the School’s intranet. This would allow members to access individual papers in their native form as well as a PDF of all papers, thus improving searching of content, its extraction for other uses or circulation to other staff. The pilot had highlighted a small number of issues around committee servicing including the need to indicate on an agenda where hardcopies of papers would be provided, such as A3 printouts. It was important that electronic papers were kept succinct and any annexes were relevant. 127. Executive Board Meetings over the summer (Oral Update) EB agreed that dates for meetings from the end of the summer term until the start of the 2013/14 session would be arranged on a fortnightly basis. 128. Circulars Received (Appendix B) EB noted the recent circulars

EXECUTIVE BOARD: Action Points

Minute Item Action 2012/13 Deadline for report to EB

By

27(iii) DeFiMS Meeting – ULIA

Paper on revised financial model 25/2/13 DB

27(iii) DeFiMS Meeting – ULIA

Paper on student records transfer

25/2/13 DB

43 Student Experience Strategy

Revised Strategy for consideration by EB

4/2/13 AP

83 Research & Enterprise

Consideration of Research Income Improvement Plan

4/2/13 GF

101(i) HEIF 4 Funding New proposals for spending of unallocated funds

4/2/13 GF

102(i) South Asia/India Institute

Proposal for a new Institute 11/2/13 GS/ NR/PW

103 Staff mentoring scheme

Consideration of revised proposals

18/2/13 GF/PM

104 Programme approval

Revised programme approval document to be considered

28/1/13 NR

123(i) Project Aladdin Summer School

Director to respond to organisers 28/1/13 PW

127 EB meetings over summer

Fortnightly meetings to be set up 28/1/13 CI

EXECUTIVE BOARD 28.1.13 APPENDIX A

Programme Development

EB is asked to consider progress with programme proposals.

Executive Summary At its second meeting of the session on the 16th January 2013 the Joint Faculty Programme Panel (JFPP) discussed progress with programme proposals identified from the Faculty Plans as well as those being developed for the North Block. A risk register has been developed identifying whether a programme is on schedule, will only meet schedule if certain actions are accelerated, is delayed, or if the programme is cancelled.

A programme approval timeline was discussed with colleagues from Marketing with a view that this document can be publicised with programme proposers to ensure deadlines are met.

Recommendations

Deans are asked to comment on the register and advise on any further developments.

It is recommended that Deans remind HoDs of the support available to programme proposers – on the website (http://www.soas.ac.uk/add/qualityassurance/), and by the QA Managers (Luke Dillon ld17, Jenni Rhodes jr45). A brief, hard copy synoptic guide is also available and the revised version will be distributed again to Faculty Offices.

Financial Impact

The potential financial impact is £46k in 2013/14 (after mitigating action), £437k in 2014/15 & £380k in 2015/16

significant if there are delays in approving new programmes.

Risks

If a clear programme timeline is not followed the significant risks are:

Failure to meet marketing deadlines Failure to recruit students to new programmes Impact on reputation due to withdrawing programmes/putting on programmes at last minute

Equality implications

None

http://www.soas.ac.uk/add/qualityassurance/


Programme Proposals Highlighted for Development in 2012-13

Introduction

At its second meeting of the session on the 16th January 2013 the Joint Faculty Programme Panel (JFPP) discussed progress with programme proposals identified from the Faculty Plans as well as those being developed for the North Block. A risk register has been developed identifying whether a programme is on schedule, will only meet schedule if certain actions are accelerated, is delayed, or if the programme is cancelled.

Key - risk Programme is on schedule - green Programme will only meet schedule if certain actions are accelerated - amber Programme is likely to be delayed 1 year - red Programme is to be cancelled

Recommendation Deans are asked to comment on the register and advise on any further developments

Arts and Humanities

Programme title

Date due to commence

Programme proposer

Concept Note

FMG (Part 1)

FLTC (Part 2)

JFPP LTQC Comments Risk

MA Global and Creative Cultural Industries

September 2013

Keith Howard (Music)

Marketing stage complete, Part 1 completed.

Scheduled for Feb 2013 FLTC.

Post for convenor has been approved, though ADLT reports recruitment has been delayed by HR. Some issues on provision of facilities pending.

MA Media in the Middle East

September 2013

Dina Matar (Media)

Marketing stage in progress, part one completed on 3 Dec 2012.

Scheduled for Jan 2013 FLTC.

High Priority

MA History of Environment and Globalisation in Asia and Africa

September 2014

Mandy Sadan/ Andrea Janku (History)

Page | 1


MA South Asian History

September 2014

Eleanor Newbigin

Approved on 13 Dec 2011

Part 1 and outline discussed 11 Jan 2012

Discussions with JNU ongoing. Not moving due to JNU.

MA Religion and Global Politics

September 2013

Sian Hawthorne (Religions)

Scheduled for 1st FMG in 2013.

Programme proposer is Convenor on sabbatical. No numbers in Faculty plans

MA Religion and Media

September 2014

Annabelle Sreberny and Almut Hintze

Approved on 19 May 2011

Approved on 22 Nov 2011

Approved subject to amendments on 15 February 2012

Withdrawn for consideration for final approval on 25 April 2012.

Postponed to September 2014-15 due to resourcing issues in the Centre for Media and Film Studies. Development of programme on hold.

MA Religions and the Environment

tbc Peter Flugel (Religions)

Not yet in process, proposer on research leave. Development of this programme will commence in 2013/14. No numbers in Faculty plans

MA Religions and the Persiate World NEW TITLE TO BE CONFIRMED

September 2014

Peter Hartung (Religions)

Not yet in process. No numbers in Faculty plans

BA Politics, Philosophy & Economics

tbc tbc [See comments under LSS] See LSS

Languages and Cultures

Programme Date due to Programme Concept FMG FLTC JFPP LTQC Comments Risk

Page | 2


title commence proposer Note (Part 1) (Part 2)

Certificate in Inter-Mediterranean Studies

Discussed on 5 Oct 2011 and 9 Jan 2012

Ben Daley (CeDEP) has agreed to take over as academic co-ordinator and act as programme proposer for future double MAs with partner institutions. Market research to take place this summer.

CANCELLED

BA Global English (provisional title)

September 2014

Kai Easton/ Amina Yaqin/ Friederike Luepke

Approved 19/1/12

To be presented with all new courses to February 2013 FLTC.

If FLTC approves, to submit to 6 February meeting

If FLTC and JFPP approve, to submit to April meeting

Primary market research currently has been conducted. New courses being developed.

BA Liberal Studies

September 2014

Not yet identified

Angus Lockyer on sabbatical Recently incorporated into the Faculty plan.

BA World Cinemas (provisional title)

September 2014

Isolde Standish

To be presented in Term 2 2013

Term 2/3 2013 Intercollegiate programme with Kings College. Discussions ongoing, core courses on SOAS side approved by FLTC on 22/11/2012.

Kings College has withdrawn interest, new partner being sought.

MA Area Studies

2014 or 2015 (for MA SA Area Studies)

Michael Hutt Term 1 2013. To restructure the curriculum of the existing Area Studies MA programmes. No consensus reached in 2011/12. South Asia Area Studies to pilot course on Politics of Culture as option, with view of having it as core in the future. Discussions about core unit or half unit for all Area Studies MAs to continue in 2012/13 with new AD (Research).

MA Comparative

Not before 2014

Lutz Marten To be submitted in Term 2 2013

Market research to be undertaken.

Page | 3


and Historical Linguistics

MA History with Intensive Japanese

September 2013

Andrew Gerstle

Approved* Approved* Approved 6/6/2012* * Japanese half of the programme approved by LTQC on 6 June 2012.

AG and Monik Charette seeking approval from further MA (subject) convenors and language convenors to extend to other disciplines and languages (consultation with FMGs of A&H and L&SS in December 2012). HoD’s to report on language syllabi by January 2013.

MA Malay Literature

September 2013

Ben Murtagh 19/11/2012 Proposal to go to ADC in January 2013

February 2013? Intercollegiate programme with partner National Institution of Education in Singapore (approval of proposal from NIES still pending). Collaborative provision procedure (approved by ADC) to be referred, to aid development of the proposal. Waiting February 2013 deadline for response from NEIS as to whether to commence. Start date moved to 14/15

MA Palestine Studies

September2014

Dina Matar Dina Matar (Media & Film) not yet ready to develop this proposal.

MA Social and Anthropological Linguistics/ Multilingualism

September 2014

Friederike Luepke

To be submitted in Tem 2 2013

MA Translation Studies

September 2014

Defeng Li New course proposals to be presented in Term 2 2013

Programme amendment: currently rather than a new MA in Interpretation proposal, interpreting to be added as a stream to MA Translation Studies

Page | 4


MRes (subject ) and (Language)

September 2013

Various MA conveners

[Part One for the Linguistics variant has been approved.]

Monik Charette looking into feedback from the MRes Anthropology and Nepali POS for feasibility of further development of a similar programme. HoD’s to report on languages for further application by January 2013.

Law and Social Sciences

Programme title

Date due to commence

Programme proposer

Concept Note

FMG (Part 1)

FLTC (Part 2)

JFPP LTQC Comments Risk

BA International Relations and BA

September 2014

Felix Berenskoetter and Fiona Adamson

Approved 10/12/12

Scheduled for 27/02/13



Part 2, Programme Spec and new course outlines under development. [N. Block proposal] Part 2 should have gone to January FLTC but will go to February meeting. Issue of many new course units needing to be developed and approved. Advertisements for new staff have gone out.

BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE)

September 2015

TBA Scheduled for May 2013

Scheduled for Oct 2013

Scheduled for Nov 2013

Scheduled for Dec 2013

Dependent on resourcing and administrative issues and linked to acquisition of the North Block and teaching research.

MSc International and Comparative Public Policy

September 2014

TBA Scheduled for May 2013




Dependent on posts and resources as well as administrative arrangements, as well as consensus in Faculty about lack of overlap with existing programmes

Page | 5


No developments since the last JFPP meeting. Sept 2014 per faculty plan, although likely to be put back to Sept 2015 as convenor may not be recruited until Sept 2014

BA Development (and Global) Studies

September 2014

? Scheduled for May 2013




No developments since the last JFPP meeting. One year delay likely

BSc Environment, Society and Development

September 2014

? Scheduled for May 2013




No developments since the last JFPP meeting. One year delay likely

MSc Gender, Feminist Economics and Development

September 2015

Naila Kabeer Scheduled for May 2013




No developments since the last JFPP meeting.

MSc Political Ecology of Development

September 2013

Peter Mollinga





Going to Dept meeting 16-01-13

Certificate in Inter-Mediterranean Studies

Discussed on 5 Oct 2011 and 9 Jan 2012

Could go to the Distance Learning Programme Panel for reconsideration

cancelled

BSc International Management

September 2014

Christine Oughton

Scheduled for May 2013




MSc May 2014 Damian Approved Approved Approved Approved Final approval to be given by UoL:

Page | 6


International Business Administration (DL)

Tobin LTAS 07/02/13; Ac Comm 01/03/13; Int Prog Board 13/03/13; VC

MSc Public Financial Management (DL)

May 2014 Laixiang Sun Approved Approved Scheduled for 16/01/13


Final approval to be given by UoL: LTAS 07/02/13; Ac Comm 01/03/13; Int Prog Board 13/03/13; VC

Five existing CeDEP DL MScs

Feb 2014 Laurie Smith Scheduled for 28/01/13




Restructuring of existing programmes into 8 modules plus dissertation/180 credit framework

MSc in multidisciplinary international development by DL

Feb 2015 Laurie Smith Scheduled for 18/03/13


Scheduled for 2013/14


Collaboration with ULIA, LSHTM, IoE, RVC

LLB English Law and Americas Law (4 years)

September 2014

Paul Kohler Scheduled for 18/03/13




ADLT to clarify impact on the Library of non Africa/Asia geographical focus and update next JFPP. No numbers in Faculty plans

LLBs English Law and Chinese Law ; English Law and Islamic Law; English Law and Indian Law

September 2015

Paul Kohler Oct 2013 Term 1 2013/14 Term 1 2013/14

Term 2 2013/14

No numbers in Faculty plans

LLB Senior Status

September 2013

Paul Kohler Scheduled for 28/01/13




Agreement secured to proceed with recruitment. No numbers in Faculty plans

LLM Law (DL) ?

Page | 7


LLM Law and Gender

Gina Heathcote

Approved Scheduled for 16/01/13


No numbers in Faculty plans

MSc Transitional Justice

? No developments since last meeting No numbers in Faculty plans

MSc International Law and International Relations

September 2013

Approved Scheduled for 23/01/13



The proposal was withdrawn at FLTC because the convenor is leaving SOAS. No numbers in Faculty plans

cancelled

MA Gender and Sexuality

September 2014

Ruba Salih Scheduled for 28/01/13




MA Global Diplomacy (DL)

April 2013 Simon Rofe Approved Approved Endorsed Endorsed Final approval to be given by UoL: LTAS 07/02/13; Ac Comm 01/03/13; Int Prog Board 13/03/13; VC

MSc GECP (Blended Learning/DL)

September 2014

Dan Plesch/ Sutha Nadarajah





Could be 2013/14

MSc Global Public Policy (Blended learning)

September 2014





Page | 8


Financial impact In light of the above risk assessment the financial implications for likely cancellations and delays in recruitment are set out in the table below 2013/14 2013/14 2014/15 2014/15 2015/16 2015/16 Faculty/ Dept Programme Assumption Nos Fees Nos Fees Nos Fees fte £ fte £ fte £ A & H CMS MA in Media and Development No longer progressing -3 -26,590 -3 -27,920 -3 -29,315 REL MA Buddhist Studies No longer progressing -3 -26,590 -3 -27,920 -3 -29,315 -6 -53,180 -6 -55,839 -6 -58,631 L & C SAS Joint MA with NIE Singapore One year delay -5 -72,950 -2.5 -38,299 -2.5 -40,214 L & SS

POL MSc Int & Comparative Public Pol-icy One year delay 0 0 -12 -192,906 -8 -135,034

DEV BA Development & Global Studies One year delay 0 0 -10 -90,000 -10 -90,000

DEV Environment Society & Develop-ment One year delay 0 0 -6 -60,320 -7 -55,915

0 0 -28 -343,226 -25 -280,949 Total -11 -126,130 -37 -437,363 -34 -379,793

The only mitigating action so far proposed is for the delay in the appointment of a Professor in Public Policy by one year (from Sept 2013 to Sept 2014) which would give rise to a saving of £80,000 in 2013/14, reducing the financial loss to £46,130 in that year. Dr M Bentham Graeme Appleby Chair of JFPP Director of Finance & Planning 24.1.13

Page | 9

EXECUTIVE BOARD 28.1.13 APPENDIX B

Commentary on the Draft 2011-12 TRAC Return

EB asked to note the draft 2011-12 TRAC Return prior to its submission to HEFCE by 31 January 2013.

Executive Summary

Attached is the draft 2011-12 TRAC (Transparent Approach to Costing) Return due to HEFCE by 31 January 2013. An earlier draft has been discussed by the Costing and Pricing Steering Group, chaired by the Director, and the changes recommended by the Group together with other minor amendments resulting from further work within Finance, are included in the attached draft.

Executive Board is asked to note the draft results. It is possible that further work may take place on the draft following EB’s review and, if significant changes are made, approval by the Chair will be sought.

Recommendations

N/A

Financial Impact

N/A

Risks

N/A

Equality implications

There are no equality implications.


Executive Board

Commentary on the Draft 2011-12 TRAC Return

1. Introduction

Attached is the draft 2011-12 TRAC (Transparent Approach to Costing) Return due to HEFCE by 31 January 2013. An earlier draft has been discussed by the Costing and Pricing Steering Group, chaired by the Director, and the changes recommended by the Group together with other minor amendments resulting from further work within Finance, are included in the attached draft.

Executive Board is asked to note the draft results in (Annex A). It is possible that further work may take place on the draft following EB’s review and, if significant changes are made as a consequence, approval by the Chair will be sought.

The Completed TRAC return will be submitted to Resources and Planning Committee for formal approval at its meeting in March.

2. The Draft 2011-12 TRAC Return.

The return includes the results of the 2011-12 Time Allocation Survey (TAS) adjusted for comments made by the Steering Group at its previous meeting in December 2012. All other adjustments/calculations have been made including those recommended by the Costing and Pricing Steering Group at its meeting on 22 January 2013.

Table 1 Comparison of Current Year TRAC results with those from earlier years Teaching Research Other Total

2011-12

Publicly funded -

regulated provision

£000

Publicly funded -

non-regulated provision

£000

Total publicly funded

£000

Non-publicly funded

£000

All Research

£000 Other £000

All Costs £000

Income 13,638 6,186 19,824 26,050 17,442 5,904 69,220 Expenditure 13,273 6,018 19,291 20,992 24,456 6,698 71,437 Surplus/(Deficit) 365 168 533 5,058 (7,014) (794) (2,217) 2010-11 Surplus/(Deficit) 1,117 (361) 756 4,287 (6,635) (1,349) (2,941) Difference -752 529 -223 771 -379 555 724

Surplus/(Deficit) as % of Costs: 2011-12 2.7% 2.8% 2.8% 24.1% -28.7% -11.9% -3.1% 2010-11 8.8% -5.5% 4.6% 20.7% -28.3% -19.7% -4.2% 2009-10 4.9% -8.9% 0.5% 22.3% -29.1% -20.3% -3.7% 2008-09 0.7% -10.0% -2.3% 19.9% -27.6% -4.6% -4.4% 2007-08 4.0 -5.1 1.3 22.2 -31.3 15.0 -2.3 2006-07 -4.1% 11.1% -0.6% 21.7% -29.9% -8.3% -6.0%


A. Draft TRAC outturn

Table 1 shows the TRAC results by under the TRAC categories of ‘Teaching’, ‘Research’ and ‘Other’. Teaching is subdivided into Publicly funded (Regulated and Unregulated) and Non-Publicly Funded.

It should be noted that, although the starting point for TRAC is the School’s annual financial statement, expenditure in the table also includes the two prescribed TRAC adjustments which increase our overall cost base, namely;

• The Infrastructure adjustment (to ensure the figures reflect a more appropriate level of expenditure on the School’s estates than the amount included in the published financial statements. Achieving a surplus after taking this into account is, according to TRAC literature, a sign of “short-term sustainability”.

• The Return on Financial Investment (RFI) adjustment to indicate the level of financial return the School should make.

The formulae used apply to all universities and are designed to bring SOAS’s cost to a true current cost level, similar to that of a commercial company and an institution should aim to at least break-even after both of these adjustments are taken into account, in order to achieve long-term sustainability.

Table 1 shows:

1. Overall Position: The increase of £702k in the School’s (non TRAC) surplus from £2,259k to £2,961k is reflected in the improved overall TRAC position of a TRAC deficit of £2.9m to a TRAC deficit in 2011-12 of £2.2m. The deficit as a percentage of costs is the best by a reasonable margin since 2008-09.

2. Publicly Funded Teaching: Publicly funded Teaching shows a surplus of 2.8% which is comfortably within the upper limit of 5% level expected by HEFCE.

3. No- Publicly Funded Teaching. The improved performance of Non-publicly funded teaching (distance learning, full fees and overseas students) is caused by a significant increase income of almost £1.2m whereas costs have only reason by just over £200k.

4. Research. The deficit on research is in line with that achieved in previous years. There is further information below in Section B ‘Research Analysis’.

5. Other: The loss on ‘other’ is not as high as in recent years but this may be temporary as it is mainly caused by a one-off boost to income resulting from the receipt of the Matched Funding allocation from HEFCE in 2011-12. The un-earmarked element of the School’s 2011-12 Matched Funding allocation has been allocated to this category. The underlying position of “other” however has been adversely effected by:

a. Reduced income from Catering and Conferences b. Reduced income from Room Bookings caused by the decision of Birkbeck to

significantly reduce its use of SOAS teaching space.

B. Research Analysis

The table below further analyses the Research total from the main 2011-12 TRAC table.


Table 2 Research Analysis

Recurrent research

funding from the funding

councils £000

Institution-own

funded £000

Postgraduate research

£000

Research Councils

£000

Other govt departments

£000

European Community

£000

UK Charities

£000 Industry*

£000

Total Research

£000 Income 6,429 1,085 6,136 1,513 357 259 1,124 539 17,442 TRAC full economic costs

11,130 6,555 1,912 651 534 2,536 1,137 24,455

Surplus/(deficit) 6,429 -10,045 -419 -399 -294 -275 -1,412 -598 -7,013 Surplus/(deficit) as % costs 0.0 -90.3 -6.4 -20.9 -45.2 -51.5 -55.7 -52.6 -28.7 2010-11 0.0 -93.2 -22.1 -15.7 -48.0 -28.4 -49.3 -38.5 -28.1

The Salient points are;

• Institution own funded: This relates to research conducted using the School’s resources. The table follows the format stipulated by HEFCE which does not show “Recurrent research funding from funding councils” (essentially HEFCE QR funding) in the same column as the associated costs. However a significant loss remains [of £3.6m] if this income is used to offset “own funded” research net costs.

• Postgraduate Research; The improvement shown here reflects a rise in income from both home and overseas PGR students plus a temporary increase in income from the HEFCE Matched Funding allocation.

• Research Councils: The deficit on Research Council grants is at the lowest end of the

scale implied from the system of funding. This outturn shows a continuation of the bias of staff towards understating staff time spent on externally funded research. However, as the deficit is over the 20% minimum (if only marginally) it will be regarded as acceptable by HEFCE.

• UK Charities: Charities do not fund overheads to any great extent so a large loss in this area is to be expected.

• Industry: A reasonable aim would be to eliminate the deficit on industry and, other things being equal, the loss here should be less than elsewhere because contracts should be priced to recover full costs. However this is not always possible. Also, importantly, this category is partly a ‘catchall’ which may include overseas charities and ‘other’ research funders which are likely to depress the financial position.

3. Full Economic Costs Charge out rates 2010-11

The data obtained from the TRAC calculations is used in the calculation of the School’s full economic cost fEC) charge out rates. Two rates are calculated- one general rate which is known as the ‘Indirect rate’ and one that is intended to recover the cost of infrastructure known as the ‘Estates’ rate. The chart below compares the rates obtained from our 2011-12 TRAC calculation with the rates from the past two years plus our benchmark rate (as at 2010-11).


Chart 1

Taken together the School’s indirect rate and the School’s Estates rate [£51.0k] is close to benchmark of £47.5k per full time staff member, especially if inflation is added to the latter to bring it to 2011-12 price levels. However, it is notable that the split between Estates and Indirect is does not follow the split of the benchmark rate. The relatively high Estates rate is influenced by, amongst other things, the nature of the School’s estates and recent increase in the insurable value of buildings which feed into the infrastructure adjustment which, in turn, feeds into the Estates rate. Although work has been done to double check the calculations of these rates since the Review of the Costing and Pricing Steering Group at its last meeting the Finance department will take the opportunity to review this further between now and the deadline for submission of the TRAC Return to HEFCE.

4. Conclusion

EB is asked to note the results shown in the Draft TRAC return attached in Annex A prior to its submission to HEFCE.

Finance Department

January 2013

£38,557 £41,795

£38,991 £40,148

£12,475 £10,098 £8,330 £7,430

2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 Benchmark 10-11

Indirect and Estate fEC rates compared to Benchmark

Indirect Estates non-laboratory

Annual TRAC return reporting for AY 2011-12

IN CONFIDENCETo be returned no later than 31st January 2013. Earlier submissions welcome.

This worksheet has passed all validation checksInstitutional results

TRAC Peer Group: CData collected for use by the Funding Councils

Actual Operating Surplus £000 As a % ofexpenditure

Total income* (per audited financial statements for 2011-12) 69,220Total expenditure* (per audited financial statements for 2011-12) 66,096Operating surplus/(deficit) per audited financial statements 3,124 4.7%Target Operating SurplusInfrastructure adjustment 1,987 3.0%Return for financing and investment adjustment 3,354 5.1%Target surplus for sustainable operations (infrastructure adjustment + RFI adjustment) 5,341 8.1%

Sustainability gap (difference between target surplus for sustainable operations and operating surplus/(deficit)) 2,217 3.4%Full economic cost (total expenditure + target surplus for sustainable operations) 71,437 108.1%

No

Statement of Requirements:

Analysis of TRAC results

(A) TRAC income and full economic costs by activity


Research Other TotalPublicly funded -

regulated provision

£000

Publicly funded - non

regulated provision

£000


£000

Non-publicly funded

£000 £000 £000 £000

Income 13,638 6,186 19,824 26,050 17,442 5,904 69,220TRAC full economic costs 13,273 6,018 19,291 20,992 24,456 6,698 71,437

102.7% 102.8% 102.8% 124.1% 71.3% 88.1% 96.9%

Note: Income allocation guidance is contained in Annex 16 of the TRAC guidance and can be found here: http://www.jcpsg.ac.uk/guidance/annexes.htm

(B) Teaching and Research income by source



Teaching £000

Total Research

(NPFR+PFR) £000

Public sources 11,481 10,993Non-public sources 8,343 6,449Total income 19,824 17,442

Note: Total Research covers both NPFR and PFR

1. Exceptional items (as defined by FRS 3 - i.e. those items appearing after the operating surplus/(deficit)) should not be included in the total income or

APPENDIX B, Annex A

Institution: School of Oriental and African StudiesCode: H-0146UKPRN: 10007780

p p j pp p Statement of Requirements (version 4.1 September 2011) in respect of joint ventures, minority interests and endowments.Notes:

UKPRN: 10007780

2. Please ensure that the net RFI adjustment on expenditure is calculated in accordance with the guidance provided at section B.2.6 of the Statement

Is your institution eligible for and applying dispensation from 1 April 2013? Please select Yes/No from the drop-down box( g y g g (five years) is used to assess whether £500,000 has been reached or not. More information on dispensation can be found in section A.4 of the

http://www.jcpsg.ac.uk/guidance/require/ )


Teaching

Recovery of full economic costs

Institution: School of Oriental and African StudiesCode: H-0146

(C) Research income and full economic costs by research sponsor type Annex A (Cont'd)

TRAC Peer Group: CData collected for use by the Funding Councils and RCUK

Recurrentresearch

funding from the funding

councils £000

Institution-own funded

£000

Postgraduate research

£000

Research Councils

£000

Other govt departments

£000

European Union*

£000

UK-based Charities

£000Industry**

£000

Total Research

£000Income 6,429 1,085 6,136 1,513 357 259 1,124 539 17,442TRAC full economic costs 11,130 6,556 1,912 651 534 2,536 1,137 24,456

9.7% 93.6% 79.1% 54.8% 48.5% 44.3% 47.4% 71.3%

Is your allocation of academic staff time to research sponsor types robust? Please select Yes/No from the drop-down box. No

Declaration by head of institution

requirements as set out in the Statement of Requirements (version 4.1 September 2011). (http://www.jcpsg.ac.uk/guidance/require/ )

To be returned no later than 31st January 2013

Name of Board committee which confirmed compliance with the TRAC requirements. g p

(Please enter in the format of dd/mm/yyyy)


Recovery of full economic costs (income as a % of full economic costs)

(Whilst it is not a TRAC requirement for 2011-12 to hold robust data at this level [see Section B.4 of the Statement of Requirements version 4.1 September 2011], some institutions do have robust data at this level already. A lack of robustness may arise whilst you are amending your processes in readiness for the compliance deadline of 2013-14, because the sampling process was not designed for robustness at that level, or proxies are being used to allocate costs between research sponsor types, or for other reasons.)

* European Union covers EU government bodies including the Commission. This is the same as that defined under 3(e) in Table 6b of the HESA Finance StatisticsReturn.** Industry should include all other organisations such as UK industry, commerce and public corporations, EU non-government organisations (i.e. EU-based charities, EU industry and EU other), Overseas charities, Overseas industry and Other sources.

For further details of definitions please see B.1.5 and B.7.2a of the Statement of Requirements (version 4.1 September 2011).

I confirm that the costs, income and charge-out rate information reported in the attached return have been prepared in accordance with the TRAC

I confirm that a full self-assessment of compliance against each point listed in the Statement of Requirements (version 4.1 September 2011) has been carried out in the last three years. I also confirm that a Board Committee has specifically reviewed the results of the tests for reasonableness and has either confirmed compliance or has drawn up an action plan for any areas where the institution is not fully compliant. I confirm that the Board Committee has lay membership as per Update 6 (paragraph 2.13).

Signed: (Head of institution)Name: Professor Paul Webley

Resources and Planning Committee 15/3/13

If the Board Committee is meeting after the date of this return, please also state in the box below who provided the confirmation for this return, and the date (e.g. Name of person/committee who provided confirmation for this return.

(Please enter in the format of dd/mm/yyyy)

Executive Board 28/1/13

Title: Director and PrincipalDate: 28/1/13

g py p y gThe funding councils no longer require a paper copy.

Circulars Received 18-24 Jan 13

Type (UUK, UCEA etc)

Date Received Title/Subject Attachments Can obtain in another format?

Location Suggested Action SOAS action required

Who by Deadline

HEFCE 02/2013 17/1/13 Non-mainstream allocations to support very high-cost STEM subjects: Recalculation of allocations using most recent

\\Gem3_admin\shared\Admin\DIROFF\Committees\Executive Board\Circulars - Directorate\Electronic

For information n/a

HEFCE 03/2013 22/1/13 New Year 2014 honours list http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2013/cl032013/

Respond as indicated in the letter 10/4/13

QAA Update CL 01/13 15/1/13 Listed Bodies Order 2013 http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/CircularLetters/Pages/CL-01-13.aspx

For information n/a

UCEA update 13 008

22/1/13 Statutory consultation on new LGPS regulations implementing scheme reforms in England and Wales from 2014

\\Gem3_admin\shared\Admin\DIROFF\Committees\Executive Board\Circulars - Directorate\Electronic Circulars\UCEA Updates\2013 008

For information n/a

Circulars with upcoming deadlines

QAA Update CL 20/12 26/11/12 Consulting on the draft content of a further Chapter of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Chapter B9: Complaints and appeals on academic matters.

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/CircularLetters/Pages/CL-20-12.aspx


HEFCE Circular Letter 29/2012

15/11/12 Revolving Green Fund: Invitation to apply for a third phase of funding

\\Gem3_admin\shared\Admin\DIROFF\Committees\Executive Board\Circulars - Directorate\Electronic Circulars\HEFCE Circulars\2012 029


HEFCE 2013 01 15/1/13 Widening participation strategic statements: changes for 2013-14 and longer-term plans for integration with OFFA access agreements

\\Gem3_admin\shared\Admin\DIROFF\Committees\Executive Board\Circulars - Directorate\Electronic Circulars\HEFCE Circulars

Review Interim WPSS, confirming to HEFCE by 8/4/13

8/4/13

EXECUTIVE BOARD 28.1.13APPENDIX C

executive board agenda - soas.ac.uk

Documents