Teaching, learning and assessment are reviewed regularly by the Department, the University and by outside assessors including external examiners, the QAA and the IoP. Any suggestions for improvement and any problems identified in the course of any review are analysed and the appropriate changes or innovations implemented.

Student Opinion

The Department monitors student opinion through

Questionnaires

Students are asked to complete questionnaires for each module. A summary of the responses for each module is kept on file and made available to the SSLC and the staff. The Head of Department, or another academic appointed by him/her, discusses any issues arising from the questionnaire responses with the appropriate members of staff.

The Staff Student Liaison Committee (SSLC)

The SSLC meets twice a term to discuss any issue relating to teaching. There are four staff members (the convenor, the Director of Studies, the Director of Student Experience and the Head of Department) and student representatives from all degree programmes and all years. The minutes of the meetings are sent to the Staff Meeting. We aim to publish a response (on the SSLC website) to issues raised at each SSLC meeting within a week of the meeting. The SSLC also compiles an annual report which is considered by the Science Undergraduate Studies Committee and other University bodies.

Informal Contacts

Staff often receive comments (usually in tutorials or in the laboratory) on the lecture and laboratory modules taken by students. These are passed on to the people concerned where appropriate.

External Examiners

There are three External Examiners, who are appointed by the University for a period of (usually) four years.

Each external examiner

• Submits a written report to the Vice-Chancellor once a year. This can deal with any aspect of the teaching, but normally concentrates on issues relating to student achievement, examination and assessment procedures, the curriculum and on how standards at Warwick compare with those at other UK universities. Their reports are also considered by the University's Board of Undergraduate Studies, the Head of Department and the Staff Meeting.
• Comments on the proposed questions on the second, third and fourth year physics examination papers. The comments would be considered by the appropriate examination secretary and examiner and the questions amended to take account of the external examiners' comments.
• Attends the final year examiners' meeting, where he/she advises on decisions.
• Reports verbally at the end of the examiners' meeting on any concerns they may have about the department's teaching.

Institute of Physics

The Department's degrees are accredited by the IoP. Whenever accreditation is due for renewal, the Department prepares a submission requesting renewal and, under current procedures, is visited by a panel of the IoP. The panel can make accreditation conditional on changes being made to the teaching.

University Teaching and Learning Review

The University reviews the Department's teaching and assessment periodically (the last review was in 2011). After receiving and analysing the Department's Self-Assessment, External Examiners' Reports and statistical data, the review panel meets separately with academic staff and students. It subsequently writes a report and makes recommendations. The report and recommendations are then considered by the appropriate University committees.

The Department reviews its programmes of study annually according to standard University procedures. The Director of Studies prepares a report on the teaching which is then considered by the Staff at a Staff Meeting. The report looks at how well the year's teaching has met its stated objectives. It also looks for any systematic problems or trends which may be apparent from student feedback, examination marks, scaling of examination marks, module registrations, comments from the external examiners and issues which have arisen during the year.

The Department also monitors the views of its staff informally and through the system of annual review, and seeks the views of external members and visiting teaching staff. There is also a regular programme of peer review where members of staff attend each others lectures and subsequently discuss the effectiveness of the lecture, and consider possible improvements.

Changes

Suggestions for improvement and problems identified in the course of any review will be analysed by the Teaching Committee and/or the appropriate staff (minor changes can be implemented by direct action of the DoS). Science Undegraduate Studies Committee (SUGS) has to be notified of any changes to the Course Regulations (this would be the case for setting up new modules, new programmes of study, or major changes to existing modules and assessment procedures).

If a proposal for change is approved, the new module/procedure will be described in the appropriate course handbook. Where the change is in part or wholly a response to student feedback, an announcement of the change will usually be made at the SSLC.