This Report presents the findings of an assessment in
November 1994 of the quality of education in computer
science provided by the University of Nottingham.
The University of Nottingham has its origins in the
University College of Nottingham, established in 1881, and
received its Royal Charter In 1948. The University occupies
an attractive 330-acre parkland campus on the south-western
edge of the city. Its academic structure is based on
departments, grouped into seven faculties. The student
population is currently 12,600, of whom 2,850 are
postgraduates. There are about 800 academic staff. The
Department of Computer Science is one of seven departments
within the Faculty of Science.
The following courses were the focus of the assessment:
Single Honours :
BSc Computer Science
Joint Honours:
BSc Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and
Psychology
BSc Computer Science and Management Studies
BSc Mathematics and Computer Science.
The single honours BSc is the major component of the
Department's provision. All the BSc courses are three-year
programmes, but a few students spend their third year
working in industry before returning for the final year.
The University has recently adopted a modular structure for
all its degree courses and has organised the academic year
into two 15-week semesters. The BSc students normally take
six modules per semester. The Department also offers some
of its modules to students following the MA or MSc
conversion courses in Information Technology: these courses
are managed by the University's ICL Institute of
Information Technology and are offered on a one year
full-time or two year part-time basis to graduates in
non-computing subjects. There are currently 174 full-time
equivalent (FTE) students on the BSc programmes and 50 FTE
students on the masters courses.
Aims and Objectives
The University's primary aim is `to sustain and improve the
high quality of its provision as one of the leading
research universities in the United Kingdom'. The
Department of Computer Science supports this through the
aims and objectives of its courses, which include: the
recruitment of high-quality staff and students; the
provision of courses to enhance the students' knowledge
base of computer science; working in partnership with
others; and the continued exploitation of new teaching
technology. These aims are broadly achieved. The Department
has pioneered the development of the CEILIDH system, an
on-line course management system with a built-in facility
for assessing students' programs. This has now been adopted
by a large number of other universities.
Undergraduate students are required to obtain 120 credits
in each year, and most modules contribute 10 credit points.
Students combine compulsory core courses with a selection
of options which largely reflect staff research interests.
Very few students take options offered by other
departments. The curricula and syllabuses are appropriate
and up to date and provide a sound base of computing
knowledge. Positive features include the development of
group project work and the use of oral presentations which
help to meet course aims.
The MA and MSc courses share modules with the undergraduate
courses. This utilisation of the same module at different
levels needs careful consideration, as the students'
backgrounds show wide variations in prior learning:
well-qualified students may not find the courses
sufficiently challenging to realise their full potential.
The Department has held off-site strategy meetings to
review overall aims in relation to teaching and other
matters. These meetings have been very useful for the
Department's development, and their continuation at regular
intervals, with formal input to other departmental
committees, will be beneficial. In order to sustain and
promote the Department's reputation for producing
employable graduates, an input to the curricula from
industry could be encouraged, perhaps by establishing an
industrial curriculum advisory group.
Student Learning Experience
There is a general recognition that good teaching is an
essential part of providing a good education, although this
has not been formalised or defined in any specific way.
High-quality teaching is regarded as leading to student
achievement and satisfaction. Although instances of very
high-quality teaching were observed, there does not appear
to be a formal departmental mechanism for identifying,
developing and disseminating best practice.
Of the classes observed, around 20 per cent were judged to
be excellent; all the rest were satisfactory, with many
good features and strengths, and there were no
unsatisfactory classes. Teaching is generally well planned
and documented, with printed lecture notes widely
available. Many lectures follow these notes closely and
some students regard the notes as a complete substitute for
textbooks; some notes are even available on-line. Although
staff use a variety of teaching methods and styles, the
pace of presentation on some of the courses observed
appeared to be slow, given that detailed notes were
provided. Students were forthcoming in small groups, but
appeared rather passive in lectures. Ways of promoting more
active student participation in formal teaching and
learning situations should be explored.
The best classes were characterised by careful selection of
material, evident subject expertise of staff, well-prepared
visual aids, enthusiastic delivery, and sympathetic
awareness of and response to students' comprehension
difficulties. Small-group work, such as individual project
tutorials and group project briefings, was often the
context for successful teaching and learning. In contrast,
features observed in the less good classes included slow
pace, less than stimulating delivery and less effective
visual aids and organisation.
Assessment procedures are clear and cover written
examinations, coursework and individual and group projects.
The CEILIDH system is used to manage the introductory
programming and to automate assessment; students benefit
from completing more coursework with more efficient
feedback, and clearly appreciate this speedy response. The
Department's courses are accredited by the British Computer
Society.
The Department occupies the top five floors of a tower
block, where most classes take place; the largest classes
use a nearby lecture theatre. Accommodation is generally of
high quality. All lecture rooms are equipped with boards,
overhead projectors and screens and some have facilities
for PC projection and/or video playback. However, rooms in
the tower block are uncomfortably warm if the windows are
closed and noisy if they are open.
Many modules provide such comprehensive notes that students
feel able to study their subject without recourse to the
library. Most modules have book lists identifying
background reading and others have stronger
recommendations. It is library policy to hold all required
texts. In general, these are provided in quantities that
reflect recommendation and/or student demand. The library
is open for a creditable 71.5 hours per week in term time.
The University has a networked campus, extending to the
halls of residence. There are over 300 generally
accessible, networked PCs in clusters across the campus,
some of which remain open at all times during the week. At
the heart of the Department's computing service are several
SUN SPARC servers providing a UNIX time-sharing service.
Four laboratories provide 100 networked 386/486 PCs and
X-terminals, and there are a few VT-terminals. The computer
science modules make extensive use of UNIX time-sharing
systems and rely almost exclusively on departmentally
provided facilities. As a consequence, computer science
students make only limited use of the centrally provided
facilities and generally use such PCs only as terminals.
The assessors suggest that the Department might wish to
review its computing strategy in consultation with the
University's Computer Centre, in order to take full
advantage of the growing clusters of well-specified PCs
that are accessible to the students.
Student support starts with induction courses and contact
with the personal tutor, who advises on module selection.
Weekly personal tutorials during the first year provide
coherence across modules, and module-specific tutorials and
problem classes are also provided. The guide books for each
year of study are commendable: they provide information on
module aims and syllabuses, credit value and modes of
assessment. The Department liaises well with the
University's Careers Advisory Service, which offers a
comprehensive range of careers facilities and advice. A
full spectrum of health, welfare and counselling services
is provided. Within the University as a whole, support for
disabled students is very good, although the location of
the Department in a tower block poses problems for
wheelchair-bound students.
There are 14 members of academic staff : three professors,
two readers, two senior lecturers and seven lecturers. Two
of the staff are joint appointments, one with the
Department of Mathematics and the other with the ICL
Institute of Information Technology. Use is also made of
postgraduate students to assist with teaching. Staff are
well qualified in a range of computer science topics,
almost all having PhDs. Many have worked in industry and
are active in external organisations, and this experience
finds its way into teaching and research. Staff are
committed and enthusiastic, and students find them
extremely approachable. Assistance is also provided by
several technical and other support staff.
The Department follows the University's policy on staff
appraisal. Staff have been active contributors to the
University's Teaching and Staff Development Scheme, as well
as users of their courses, and there is encouragement to
attend external meetings and conferences. Teaching is
claimed to be important in the promotion procedure:
evidence of excellence in teaching is required for
promotion to senior lecturer.
Research is organised through groups. New staff are
encouraged to join a group, while developing their own
interests, and individual objectives for improving research
performance have been devised. There is evidence that
research has an impact on teaching and much of the research
is directly relevant to industry.
Overall responsibility for academic management rests with
the Head of Department, but specific duties are distributed
broadly. Each module has a lecturer in charge and
designated staff are responsible for the single honours and
the three joint honours courses. These course leaders,
together with the three year tutors, make up the Course
Structure Committee, which oversees all course-related
matters, reporting to the Academic Staff Committee, which
is another forum for the discussion and development of
academic issues.
Departmental quality assurance relies heavily on informal
procedures, largely as a result of its relatively small
size and the close contact between staff members and
between staff and students. Module questionnaires provide
student feedback. The Department is to be commended for its
open discussion of questionnaire results at staff meetings
and may wish to consider sharing this information with
students to assist course development and quality
enhancement. The Department is experimenting with peer
observation and review of modules; this could provide
another useful element of quality assurance. External
examiners' reports are made available to all teaching staff
and issues arising may be considered at a staff meeting.
There is no current university requirement for departmental
annual reviews and the Department does not engage in a
formal annual review of its courses. The assessors
recommend that consideration be given to formalising the
review process so that the Department monitors and
evaluates the state of health of its courses more
comprehensively.
The University has a system of triennial faculty audits,
which the Department experienced in 1992. In the current
session, the University has introduced a redesigned
committee structure to deal with teaching and learning
quality issues. The assessors support the move to more
formalisation of quality assurance procedures. In view of
the Department's wishes to increase substantially both
student intake and staff size over the next few years,
formal structures need to be established now in order to
cope with the challenges that expansion may bring. The
interactions between the various new committees, and
between them and the departments and faculty boards, are
complex and it is not yet possible to judge the
effectiveness of the whole quality management system in the
University. As these centralised procedures develop, some
streamlining may be required.
Student Achievement
Applications to the BSc Computer Science degree continue to
increase, reflecting the strong overall position of the
University in terms of recruitment. The average GCE A-Level
points score for entrants has been over 24 for some years,
substantially above the national figure, and the majority
of entrants are traditional GCE A-Level students. Students
with suitable BTEC HND qualifications are accepted, but
cannot enter directly into the second year because of the
specific prerequisites of modules. Around 8 per cent of the
intake are mature students. Female applicants number less
than 10 per cent, but this low proportion is a common
national problem. The two masters courses recruit students
with not less than a Lower Second class degree.
Examination scripts indicate general student competence.
The proportions of First and Upper Second class degrees
compare favourably with that of other institutions, and
external examiners' reports are complimentary. Very few
students achieve sufficient mastery of a foreign language
to enable them to spend a period abroad under the ERASMUS
scheme, in contrast to the abilities of overseas students
who come to Nottingham.
Employers expressed general satisfaction with the
Department's graduates. Similarly, former students were
complimentary about their educational experience in the
Department and reported that their academic training had
proved relevant to their subsequent employment. Forty major
employers in the area have Nottingham computer science
graduates on their technical staff. Surveys by the
University's careers service show that 50 per cent of
computing students enter permanent employment within six
months of graduation and 12 per cent go on to higher degree
courses; very few are unemployed.
Students were highly supportive of the Department and the
University. They commented on the effective nature of
tutorials and on the high quality of the University's
general facilities, and confirmed that their responses to
questionnaires elicited action by the Department. They
appreciated the existence of a Staff-Student Consultative
Committee as a mechanism for student feedback, but attached
considerable importance to the informal feedback process
which is founded on the very good rapport between staff and
students. The friendliness, approachability and competence
of the teaching staff were stressed. The extremely good
relations between staff and students provide the foundation
of a good learning environment for the students and are a
particularly notable feature of the provision.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The University claims to provide an excellent education in
computer science. The assessors come to the overall
conclusion, based upon the assessment visit and an analysis
of the self-assessment, together with the statistical
indicators, that the quality of education in computer
science at the University of Nottingham is satisfactory.
The positive features identified by the assessors include:
The fulfilment of the Department's aims to recruit
high-calibre students, to provide courses which enhance
the students' knowledge base and to exploit the
potential offered by new technology.
The creation of a friendly and supportive environment,
which is conducive to learning.
Well-qualified teaching staff, with expertise embracing
a wide range of computer science topics, ably assisted
by qualified support staff.
Evidence of a commitment to high-quality teaching, well
supported by academic and pastoral care. Some 20 per
cent of classes observed were graded excellent.
The pioneering development of the CEILIDH system for
managing students' programming coursework.
Clear evidence of a high level of student satisfaction.
The University of Nottingham can build upon these positive
qualities by considering the following recommendations:
Ways to promote more active student participation in a
number of formal teaching and learning situations
should be explored.
The assessors were concerned about the structure of the
masters courses and their considerable reliance on
existing undergraduate modules, and recommend that this
strategy be reviewed.
There appears to be no mechanism for identifying,
developing and disseminating best teaching practice.
The Department should consider establishing mechanisms
to address these issues.
Ways of including contributions from industry and
employers in curriculum development should be looked
at.
The proposed expansion of student intake and the
corresponding staff increase will require additional
structures to ensure the Department's continued
effective operation.
Departmental quality assurance processes appear to be
largely informal and lack the rigour to guarantee
speedy and effective responsiveness. It is recommended
that a more formal approach to quality assurance be
adopted.