Welcome to the guidance pages for approving new or revising existing units and programmes.
In 2010/11 changes to the approval process were approved by Education Committee. As a result, the definitions of major and minor changes have been revised and the Faculty Education Directors will have increased input in to determining the level of approval required for a proposal and defining who must authorise a proposal.
The Online Approval Tool will take you through the approval process and will ask you the relevant questions depending on the type of proposal. The notes below are intended to explain how the tool calculates the proposal type and provides guidance for specific groups or individuals involved in the approval process.
Please click on the one of the following links for further information:
If you have a question relating to approval that is not listed on our FAQ page please email approval-help@bristol.ac.uk or your faculty liaison contact in the Education Support Unit.
There are a number of resources available to help with writing unit and programme specifications, including how to formulate aims and learning outcomes. Please see our Quality Assurance Information page for further information or get in touch with your faculty liaison contact for advice.
Due to the changes to the approval process we advise that you contact your Faculty Education Director at an early stage to discuss your proposal.
New units: The existing process for approving new units has not changed. New optional units are approved at School and then Faculty level whereas new mandatory units normally require central approval from Programme Approval Group and Education Committee. Creation of any new units will always require you to update the structure of a programme(s) to add the new unit in accordingly.
Changes to units: It is still possible to make some changes to your units for future academic years without requiring formal approval. The fields that can be updated are: teaching block, unit director, description, pre/co-requisites, open unit status and the key reading and references.
If you edit any of the fields outside of those listed above, this will be considered to be a change that requires approval. The level of approval required for units however is always linked to the programme(s) that the unit is taught on. If the unit is optional then final approval is required from the Faculty. If the unit is mandatory then any changes will normally require approval at Programme Approval Group and Education Committee.
For further information on creating new units and formulating unit aims and learning outcomes, please see the Quality Assurance Information page.
New programmes: The existing process for approving new programmes has not changed and approval is required from the School, Faculty, Programme Approval Group, Education Committee, Senate and Council. Approval for advertising and recruiting to your programme is given at Education Committee, however you must ensure that any offers made clearly stipulate the programme is still subject to final approval.
For further information on creating new programmes, including formulating programme aims and learning outcomes, please see the Quality Assurance Information page.
Changes to programmes: There are some changes that you can make to your programmes for future academic years without requiring formal approval. The fields that can be updated are: the Programme Director, Additional Information and the Source for Further Information.
If you just change a programmes' optional units then this is normally considered a ‘minor’ change and approval is required by the School and Faculty.*
A change to a programme is normally considered ‘major’ if you make any other change to your programme not listed above. This primarily includes changes to:
* Please note that for Joint Honours programmes, changes must be approved by all Schools and Faculties involved. The Online Approval Tool will automatically direct proposals to the relevant School and Faculty committees.
The following documents detail the approval information required, and questions you will be asked, for each different type of proposal. Please ensure that you have gathered all of this information to enter into the Online Approval Tool, as you will not be able to submit your proposal until all of the information has been completed:
The information required for a new unit or a new programme can be found in the following specification templates:
For new programmes, you will also need to upload a financial plan which should be submitted on the following template:
Consultation with students should be undertaken for all new programmes and major changes to programmes. Please ensure that you allow enough time to carry out your student consultation. We advise that you start this process early on in developing your proposal in order to accommodate student feedback.
Student consultation can be done in a number of different ways, e.g. via email, Blackboard consultation, Student-Staff Liaison Committee or focus groups. The method used may depend on the type of programme, the location of the students or timing of the proposed change. We recommend that wherever possible focus groups are used as this gives students a better opportunity to engage and is likely to allow more representative feedback.
For major changes to your programme we recommend that you consult with students across all years of a programme even if the changes don't affect them as, for example, final year students are likely to have a better understanding of the implications of changes to the first year of a programme.
For new programmes we recommend that you consult students on related/similar programmes to ask if they would have been interested in applying for the proposed programmes or have any comments on the content, for example. If you were changing your programme title you could ask your current students if they would have applied for the new title.
For the purposes of approval, please use the Student Consultation template to upload into the Online Approval Tool.
External comments are requested for all new programmes and major changes to programmes. We request that two sets of external comments are sought, one of whom may be your external examiner.
Please download the External Referee template and ask your external referees to complete. The two completed forms can be uploaded into the Online Approval Tool in the ‘References’ section.
If your external referee has asked any questions or raised any concerns, please respond directly to the comments, return to your external and include any further comments from them on the form. If the proposal has been modified in response to the externals’ comments, please indicate this on the form.
Any changes which affect the Ordinances and Regulations, such as a programme title change, will be managed through the Online Approval Tool.
As part of the changes to the approval process, Faculty Education Directors are empowered to review proposals and subsequently make changes to the approval workflow. FED's are able to log in to the Online Approval Tool to read, review and authorise proposals and will also have the ability to change the status of a proposal from minor to major or vice versa.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact your faculty liaison contact.
Authorisation in the approval tool is the online equivalent of obtaining the signatories for a proposal. The authorisations requested in the tool are exactly the same as those that were asked for on the old paper forms.
If you are required to ‘authorise’ a proposal an email will automatically be sent when a proposal is submitted with a link to the Online Approval Tool where you can login and read the proposal. You are asked authorise the relevant sections of approval information for your area, for example, the Faculty Financial Controllers are requested to check any financial plans submitted for new programmes and any financial implications for major changes to programmes. You are also able to comment on the proposal and this information will go to the relevant committees.
Please see the guidance notes on how to authorise a proposal on the Online Approval Tool Home Page.