Timetabling and Room Booking Policy 2010/2011
These documents are definitive!
Last updated by Dr Kate Davies, Deputy Registrar (Academic), January 2010.
1. Principles that underpin the Timetabling and Room Booking Policy
- The primary commitment is to support the delivery of the student learning experience at the highest levels of quality within the University's resource constraints.
- To ensure that students are taught in the most appropriate learning accommodation.
- To optimise the effective management and use of the University's learning space.
- To deliver personalised timetables both for staff and students.
- To provide user friendly and timely timetable and room booking information to students and staff via the web.
- To provide a unified approach to timetabling and room booking across the University using one system, Syllabus Plus.
- To support all staff who in different roles contribute to the creation and production of the University's teaching timetable.
2. Bookable Teaching Space
- Bookable Teaching Space refers to the list of rooms identified within the Room Management System which are primarily used for teaching activities but may also be used for internal and external meetings. In addition it includes the two main meeting rooms in Main House, and a meeting room in the library at Newton Park which are used for ad hoc bookings. The current list of rooms is given in Appendix 1.
- Bookable Teaching Space includes rooms on the Newton Park and Culverhay campuses, together with a small number of rooms at Sion Hill and Corsham Court. It does not include rooms on any other of the University’s sites.
- Requests for room bookings at Sion Hill (for rooms not included in the list of bookable teaching space), The Circus and Dartmouth Avenue should be directed to the School Administrator, Bath School of Art and Design.
- The Room Management System is the University’s space database and all room numbers, area and capacities should be sourced from this definitive database.
- All bookable teaching space is recorded in Syllabus Plus, so that the University’s room frequency and occupancy figures are as accurate as possible.
3. Teaching Times and Staff Availability
- The core teaching day for undergraduate programmes is from 9am to 7pm, Monday to Thursday and 9am to 6pm on Friday. Some Postgraduate programmes may be timetabled up until 9pm, Monday to Thursday.
- Teaching slots should commence on the hour and should finish by 10 minutes to the hour so that students and staff have sufficient time to move between teaching locations. Rooms should also be returned to their original configuration ready for the next occupants.
- Every effort will be made to minimize the number of classes scheduled on Wednesday afternoons.
- Efforts will be made to accommodate staff preferences for timetabling, but this is dependant on other considerations, including the availability of rooms, the availability of students on the degree programme(s) taking the module and the requirement to avoid module clashes, which take priority.
4. Timetable Construction
- As much of the timetable as possible should be rolled over from the previous year. However, teaching activities will be reviewed each year to allow necessary changes to be accommodated. This will allow the University to retain sufficient flexibility to allow it to enhance the portfolio of modules/programmes offered, and to accommodate changes in teaching space and staffing resources.
- Standard delivery patterns should be used wherever possible (i.e. same day/time each week or alternate weeks).
- Rooms should only be timetabled for the exact time, day and weeks required.
- Teaching takes precedence over one-off bookings during teaching weeks (excepting University events as agreed). Year-long teaching takes precedence over shorter periods of teaching (i.e.1-2 weeks only)
- During scheduled examination dates Examinations will have priority usage.
- All teaching activities that students are required to take as part of their programme, including one-off requests, must be recorded in Syllabus Plus. This is so that students get their timetable from a single source. This will also enable the University to quantify all teaching activities so that frequency and occupancy rates are accurate.
- Full-time undergraduate students should normally be available to attend University on all five days of the working week, between 9 am and 7 pm Monday to Thursday, and 9am and 6pm on Friday. The University will endeavour to ensure that students are not expected to attend more than three consecutive hours of teaching without a break.
- Access to rooms for staff and students with a disability is a priority and their requirements must be identified as early in the data creation processes as possible. Every effort will be made to respond positively to their requirements.
- In allocating rooms the following criteria will be considered:
- the match of class size to room size - larger cohorts will be given priority over smaller;
- the duration of activity - longer duration events will have priority over shorter;
- activities that follow a regular pattern will be given priority over those without a regular pattern;
- the specialist facilities (if any) required for the activities matching to those available in the room;
- the match of students and staff with a disability to appropriate available learning space.
5. Staff Responsibilities
- All Academic and administrative staff have an individual responsibility
to:
- follow the annual timetabling process and submit timetabling requests and other timetable information in the format and at the times and dates requested by the Timetabling Coordinator and Deputy Registrar (Academic). Key dates in the timetabling process for the construction of the 2010/11 academic timetable are given in Appendix 2.
- check thoroughly the timetables sent out by the Timetabling Coordinator. Inaccuracies must be reported immediately to the Timetabling Coordinator or Deputy Registrar (Academic).
- adhere to the latest version of the published timetable.
- report immediately to the Timetabling Coordinator when rooms they have booked are no longer needed. Persistent non-use of space will be reported to Heads of Schools.
- Staff must not use rooms they perceive to be free of teaching without first requesting use of the room from the Timetabling Coordinator. Rooms may be empty for a number of reasons, and may well be timetabled for use in future weeks.
6. Requests for Timetable Changes
- Requests for changes to the timetable after the agreed date for publication
must be kept to a minimum. Changes arising from unforeseen circumstances after that
date must be approved by the Head of School and the Deputy Registrar (Academic). Valid reasons for late changes include:
- new and late staff appointments/withdrawals;
- health, safety and emergency issues;
- modules with insufficient numbers or unforeseen expansions;
- reasonable adjustments to cope with student's special needs.
- Student Administration Services is responsible for communicating late changes to students. The web will always reflect the most up-to-date version of the student timetable.
- Provided reasonable notice is given, the Timetabling Coordinator reserves the right to move a class to a different location. The reason for the change will be communicated to the affected Department.
7. Ad hoc Room Bookings
- Rooms not required for teaching may be booked by University staff and students for ad hoc purposes.
- Ad hoc bookings should not be used for teaching activities as the activities will not be reflected in the online timetable, nor appear in our usage statistics. Ad hoc bookings should not be made as ‘cover’ i.e. for the just in case scenario. Similarly rooms should not be block booked or booked for more hours than is necessary. All block ad hoc booking requests will be referred to the Deputy Registrar (Academic) by the Timetabling Coordinator, for her approval.
- Ad hoc bookings taking place in term time will be scheduled after the timetable has been published.
- All requirements for teaching activities in the evenings or at weekends should be dealt with at the same time and in the same manner as other teaching activities.
- University staff and student requirements for evening and weekend bookings and out of term bookings should be directed to the Timetabling Coordinator
- All requirements for evening and weekend bookings not directly related to University students, staff or activities should be directed to the Timetabling Coordinator in the first instance.
- The University’s requirements for rooms and facilities take priority over any external persons wanting to use the rooms.
- The use of the University’s rooms and facilities by external bodies must be compatible with the University’s mission statement.
- All room bookings must adhere to the University’s Policy on Freedom of Speech.
Appendix 1 - Bookable Teaching Space
| Campus: | Room Code: | Room Description: | Seating Capacity: | Area m2: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corsham Court | CC.CC.101 | Conference Room | 40 | |
| CC.CC.102 | Meeting Room | 12 | ||
| CC.CC.103 | Meeting Room | 10 | ||
| CC.CC.104 | Writing Studio | 20 | ||
| CC.CC.107 | Chinese Room | 20 | ||
| CC.GH.101 | Seminar Room | 30 | ||
| Chapel Arts Centre | CHAPEL ARTS | Performing Arts Studio | 30 | |
| Culverhay | CV.HB.101 | Seminar room:Music | 20 | 113 |
| CV.HB.102 | Seminar room:English | 30 | 105 | |
| CV.HB.103 | Seminar room:MFL | 20 | 80 | |
| CV.HB.104 | Seminar room:RE/History | 30 | 107 | |
| CV.HB.105 | ICT room | 26 | 98 | |
| CV.HB.G01 | Seminar room:Maths | 30 | 106 | |
| Newton Park | NP.LY.G03 | Meeting Room | 10 | 64 |
| NP.AN.G01 | Dance studio | 30 | 150 | |
| NP.AN.G15 | Drama studio | 30 | 66 | |
| NP.CE.101 | Seminar room | 25 | 39 | |
| NP.CE.201 | Seminar room | 25 | 40 | |
| NP.CE.G01 | Seminar room | 20 | 40 | |
| NP.CN.101 | ICT room | 19 | 39 | |
| NP.CN.108 | Seminar room | 35 | 68 | |
| NP.CN.114a | ICT room | 18 | 43 | |
| NP.CN.G06 | Laboratory - physics | 25 | 80 | |
| NP.CN.G14 | ICT room | 20 | 47 | |
| NP.CP.101 | ICT room | 30 | 87 | |
| NP.CP.103 | ICT room | 30 | 87 | |
| NP.CP.G11 | FDCM Studio | 15 | 87 | |
| NP.CP.G12 | Seminar room | 30 | 87 | |
| NP.DY.106 | Seminar room | 25 | 28 | |
| NP.DY.G07 | Seminar room | 25 | 27 | |
| NP.DY.G10 | Seminar room | 25 | 30 | |
| NP.MH.111 | Seminar room | 40 | 37 | |
| NP.MH.G14 | Seminar room | 15 | 33 | |
| NP.MH.G15 | Board Room | 40 | 81 | |
| NP.MT.101 | Piano Room | 5 | 12 | |
| NP.MT.G01 | Auditorium | 200 | 148 | |
| NP.MT.G02 | Small teaching room | 5 | 17 | |
| NP.MT.G22 | Small Seminar room | 10 | 32 | |
| NP.MT.G30 | Gallery | 20 | 183 | |
| NP.NA.G01 | Seminar room | 45 | 104 | |
| NP.NE.101 | Seminar room | 140 | 140 | |
| NP.NE.105 | Seminar room | 30 | 58 | |
| NP.NE.111 | Seminar room | 30 | 58 | |
| NP.NE.203 | Seminar room | 30 | 50 | |
| NP.NE.209 | Seminar room | 30 | 51 | |
| NP.NE.G02 | Seminar room | 80 | 98 | |
| NP.NE.G08 | Seminar room | 30 | 81 | |
| NP.NE.G13 | Seminar room | 30 | 71 | |
| NP.SN.G01 | Lecture theatre | 72 | 83 | |
| NP.SN.G08 | Seminar room | 30 | 59 | |
| NP.SN.G10 | Seminar room | 30 | 52 | |
| NP.SN.G11a | Seminar room | 30 | 48 | |
| NP.SN.G11b | Seminar room | 30 | 48 | |
| NP.SN.G14 | ICT Room | 32 | 105 | |
| NP.SN.G15 | ICT Room | 16 | 91 | |
| NP.ST.103 | Seminar room | 45 | 64 | |
| NP.ST.106 | Seminar room | 45 | 70 | |
| NP.ST.109 | Seminar room | 20 | 64 | |
| NP.ST.G17 | Seminar room | 30 | 64 | |
| NP.TE.105 | Laboratory - ecology and physiology | 20 | 86 | |
| NP.TE.G04 | Laboratory - biology | 25 | 86 | |
| NP.TN.101 | Seminar room | 40 | 105 | |
| NP.TN.115 | Music Tech Studio | 16 | 105 | |
| NP.TN.115 | Music tech | 16 | 105 | |
| NP.TN.116 | Music Tech Studio | 17 | 105 | |
| NP.TN.116 | Music tech | 16 | 105 | |
| NP.TN.G17 | Seminar room | 40 | 105 | |
| NP.UT.112 | Studio | 25 | 95 | |
| NP.UT.113 | Studio | 25 | 104 | |
| NP.UT.G01 | Auditorium | 170 | 235 | |
| NP.UT.G06 | Studio | 25 | 74 | |
| NP.UT.G07 | Entrance/Break-out space | 15 | 109 | |
| NP.WE.G01 | Laboratory - chemistry | 25 | 89 | |
| NP.WE.G02 | Laboratory - microbiology | 25 | 87 | |
| Sion Hill | SH.MB.L23 | Lecture theatre | 200 | 138 |
Appendix 2 - Key Dates for the Construction of the 2010/2011 Academic Timetable
| Deadlines: | Action: |
|---|---|
| February 12 | Role forward 'cleaned' version of 2009/2010 timetable and create new database for 2010/2011 |
| March 19 | Confirmation of 2010/2011 subject/programme timetables by academic staff |
| April 1 | First draft of timetable published - staff to review |
| April 19 | Guides to Year 2 and 3 Modules 2010/2011 made available to students (online) |
| April 30 | Student Portal opens to allow current students to select modules |
| May 14 | Student Portal closes |
| June 1 | Transfer student module selection data to Syllabus Plus |
| June 30 | Allocate students to modules |
| July 1 | Second draft of timetable published - staff to review |
| July 31 | Individual Timetables available online for returning students |
| August 31 | Make final changes to the timetable |
| September 1 | Publish final timetable |
| September 29 | Year 1 students select modules |
| October 1 | Individual Timetables available online for new students |