The Teaching and Learning Committee is a university-wide advisory and consultative committee, established by Academic Board. It deals with matters pertaining to the strategic planning, policy directions, quality, standard and integrity for teaching and learning in coursework programs as well as the development of the university’s teaching and learning culture and profile.

2019 meeting dates

Monday 11 February
Tuesday 12 March
Monday 6 May
Monday 24 June
Monday 12 August
Monday 23 September
Monday 28 October

Time: 10am to 12pm, except Monday 23 September, which is 2pm to 4pm
Location: room 60, level 21, building 1 (CB01.21.60), except Tuesday 12 March, which is Dean’s Boardroom, level 7, building 7 (CB07.07.006).

Committee contact

Elbreg Zwaan
Senior Governance Support Officer
Tel: 02 9514 9811
Email: Elbreg.Zwaan@uts.edu.au

Composition and membership

On the recommendation of the chair, the committee has the power to approve the co-option of members on the basis of their skills and faculty representation.

Terms of reference

The committee provides academic oversight for teaching and learning at UTS. The committee has responsibility for considering the following matters and making recommendations to Academic Board or the applicable decision-making authority, as specified in the UTS Rules, Delegations and policies:

1. teaching and learning policies and guidelines, including developing, benchmarking, monitoring and reviewing teaching and learning policies and their effectiveness and monitoring the operation of the university’s teaching and learning governance instruments;
2. teaching and learning strategy, including making recommendations on strategic priorities for teaching and learning; and monitoring and reporting on the achievement of strategic objectives against agreed targets;
3. teaching and learning quality and performance, including:
   1. providing advice on the development of the university’s teaching and learning culture, communication and profile;
   2. enhancing and improving student experience, and encouraging excellence in teaching and learning through innovation and improvement, taking into account national and international benchmarks, use of emerging technologies and new approaches to teaching and learning;
   3. developing, overseeing, monitoring and reviewing the qualitative and quantitative measures of evaluating performance and quality assurance in teaching and learning, and recommending actions to improve teaching and learning performance and quality;
4. teaching and learning integrity, including promoting, preserving and upholding academic integrity by providing advice on the supporting UTS governance instruments;
5. academic staff development, including monitoring and reviewing academic staff development initiatives and their effectiveness;
6. teaching and learning risk management, assessing and monitoring risks to the teaching and learning activities, and reporting on these risks; and
7. for UTS courses, subjects or student cohorts, any:
   1. issues concerning performing unsatisfactorily based on the Course and Subject Performance Reports prepared by the Planning and Quality Unit (PQU) and University Academic Programs Office;
   2. actions proposed by faculties to improve courses and subjects performing unsatisfactorily, and actions by faculties or support units to improve academic support for particular student cohorts;
   3. commendations on strongly performing courses and subjects;
   4. best practice and/or unsatisfactory course or subject performance issues that may warrant consideration across more than one faculty;
   5. relevant external articulation arrangements that may be impacted by, or impact upon, course and subject performance;
   6. recommendations on proposed changes to metrics, weightings and targets to be used by the PQU in the preparation of performance reports to support the university’s strategies for learning and teaching; and
   7. other reports and analysis to be commissioned or considered to complement performance reports prepared by PQU.

Membership term

The length of committee membership terms will be two years for staff and one year for students, consistent with the term of membership for elected members of Academic Board, including for co-opted members.

Number of meetings

Minimum of six scheduled meetings per year.

Quorum

The quorum shall be one-half of the current members of the committee, if one-half is not a whole number, the next higher whole number shall be used.

Vacant positions on the committee do not count toward the total membership of which one-half is required to reach a quorum.