Code of Practice Concerning Enrolment of UEL Staff onto Professional Doctorates

Manual of General Regulations

1. Purpose of Paper

1.1 The purpose of this paper is to set down appropriate guidelines for those circumstances where UEL staff are involved In the delivery of a Professional Doctorate and are, at the same time, enrolled as students on the same course.

1.2 The guidance notes are intended to ensure that there is a transparent system in place which:

protects the academic standard of the programmes;
demonstrates that there is a robust system for ensuring that all students are assessed in a fair and equal manner.

2. Background

2.1 A number of Professional Doctorates have now been validated by UEL. During the validation process it has become clear that, in a number of cases, the schools which are developing the programmes wish to enrol their own staff on them. This has led to a situation in which staff can be simultaneously both lecturer and student on the same programme thus leading to the potential for role conflict.

2.2In most cases validation panels have been aware of this situation but have not sought to prevent schools from offering their own staff the opportunity to study for a professional doctorate. The reasons for this are as follows.

The professional doctorate is a new qualification and thus it is difficult to establish a staff base with the right blend of qualifications and experience to support the programme.
Many staff have the right professional experience to contribute towards the delivery of the programme, but do not have a PhD precisely because the focus of their activity has been practical and professional in nature rather than research oriented. For this group the professional doctorate is the ideal qualification.
While the professional doctorate is not unique to UEL there are very few other institutions which offer a comparable programme which UEL staff could take.

2.3 Given this context, validation panels have not dissented when schools have indicated their intention to enrol their own staff as students on programmes and have, instead, sought to establish safeguards to protect the integrity of academic standards and the assessment process.

2.4 Nevertheless, it is possible that our decision to let our own staff act as both the tutor and student on the same programmes could be open to misunderstandings and criticism on three grounds.

How can the University be sure that staff who have not yet demonstrated their competence at a certain level through achievement of comparable qualifications are able to deliver the programme to the right standards?
How can staff preserve their objectivity in assessing other students on the programme if they are also students on the same programme?
How do other UEL staff preserve their objectivity when assessing peers from within their own school?

2.5 Given the potential for misunderstanding the University has adopted a code of practice which should be adopted by all professional doctorate programmes and which should supersede any individual arrangements previously agreed by validation panels. A University-wide code of practice will ensure that a consistent approach is being adopted in all cases and will also demonstrate our commitment to the maintenance of appropriate standards.

3. Code of Practice

A member of staff who is enrolled on a professional doctorate may also contribute towards the delivery and assessment of that programme, but only up to a level equivalent to the first stage (masters level).
UEL staff who are both tutors and students may act as supervisors for that component of the course beyond Masters level (generally Part B) but their role should be restricted to one related to pastoral care and the provision of advice and guidance about how to undertake a substantial piece of individual work. They should not be involved in the assessment of other students at this level. In all cases there should be a second supervisor whose primary role should be to focus on evaluating the standard of work produced by students and providing feedback on that.
In those cases where UEL staff are assessed as students at least one of their supervisors must be external to the school responsible for delivery of the programme.
During assessment board meetings UEL staff enrolled on the programme must leave the room when their own performance is being discussed.
UEL staff should only be able to enrol as students on professional doctorates in their own school for the first five years (i.e. as a short-term measure, and given the innovative nature of the programme). After that period any other staff who wish to take a similar programme should seek to find a comparable qualification at an alternative educational establishment.
At no stage should the number of UEL tutors enrolled as students exceed the number of other students enrolled on the programme.
The professional doctorate regulations requiring the professional practice element of the programme to be examined by two external examiners must be strictly observed.

4. Conclusion

4.1 The code of practice identified in section 3 above is intended to demonstrate how UEL ensures that academic standards and fairness of assessment practice are protected during the first few years while professional doctorates become established.