Title: CONFIDENTIAL
Author: USER1
Last saved by: Matthew Russell
Company: University of Cambridge

GENERAL BOARD OF THE FACULTIES

COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT FOR THE NATURAL SCIENCES TRIPOS

Unconfirmed minutes of a meeting of the Committee of Management for the Natural Sciences Tripos that was held at 3:30 pm on Tuesday 12 March 2002 in the Syndicate Room at the Old Schools.

Present:  Dr J Keeler (Chairman), Mr Z Chang, Dr J Forrester, Professor J Gray, Dr T Harris, Dr B Shachar-Hill, Dr J Waldram, Dr DI Wilson, Dr N Woodcock, and Dr M Russell (Secretary).

Apologies: Mr T Mach, Dr J Miller, Dr J Riley, Dr P Rubery and Dr MG Worster.

Dr R Hunt attended the meeting, representing the Faculty Board of Mathematics.

82.	MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE

The Committee welcomed Dr Alan Findlay (Churchill College), representing the Senior Tutors’ Committee, and noted he was due to serve on the Committee until 1 October 2005.

83.	MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2002 were approved.

84.	MATTERS ARISING

i.	Part IA Elementary Mathematics for Biologists (minute 51)

At the meeting on 23 October 2001, the Committee agreed that they should monitor the management of the EMB course, through receiving copies of minutes of the management committee for that course.  

The Committee now received the minutes of meetings of that management committee for 5 July 2001 and 25 July 2001 (CM.120).  Dr Hunt, who serves as an observer on the management committee, reported that a third meeting had taken place, not on 22 November 2001 but in February 2002.  The last meeting approved a syllabus for the course for next year and discussed the student feedback for the course and measures to be taken to address any concerns.  Dr Hunt also reported that there was now a full complement of lecturers and Examiners for the course, although there were difficulties in recruitment due to a perception that teaching credit for the course is not recognised fully in the biological Departments.  The management committee also now has one student member.

The Committee noted the inherent difficulties in the teaching and perception of the EMB course; essentially, this is a course that teaches mathematics to students who do not want to learn the subject.  Student feedback is highly likely to be negative and the Committee welcomed the efforts made by the management committee in addressing these and other important aspects of management for the course.

The Committee noted, however, that the time between the last two meetings was excessive (7 months) and would recommend that the meetings take place more regularly in future and at least termly.  The Committee agreed that they would continue to receive minutes of the meetings for the time being.

ii.	Director of Studies Committees (minute 76)

Dr Findlay reported that the Standing Committee on Education of the Senior Tutors’ Committee welcomed the information contained in minutes or notes of meetings of Directors of Studies Committees and that it would be useful if any matters arising from the email groups for the Natural Sciences Tripos could be relayed to that Committee for information.

iii.	Chairmanship of the Committee for the Easter Term 2002 (minute 77)

At their last meeting, the Committee noted that the current Chairman would be on sabbatical for the Easter Term 2002 and, as he had agreed to resume the post of Chairman, the Committee would need to elect a person to serve as Chairman for this one term only.  The Committee approved the appointment of Dr Waldram as Chairman for the Easter Term 2002.

iv.	Minutes on the Web (minute 78)

The Committee noted that unconfirmed and unreserved minutes were now on the web (@cam only) at:

http://www.cam.ac.uk/localusersonly/cambuniv/natscitripos/committee.html

85.	MINUTES OF THE STRATEGIC COMMITTEE FOR THE NST

The Committee received the minutes of a meeting of the Strategic Committee, held on 26 February 2002, (CM.121) and noted, in particular the following minutes:

•	minute 91: Changes to the Tripos (Part III Astrophysics and Part IB Fluid Mechanics)
•	minute 93: Annual Report of the Committee of Management 2000-2001

Under minute 91, the Committee noted that the Part III Astrphysics proposal had been aprproved on the understanding that the Institute of Astronomy and the Department of Physics would have closer links in the future development of courses in astrophysics and that the Strategic Committee would review this provision in due course.

The Committee also noted that, due to the timing of various other meetings that, on behalf of the Committee, the Chairman had approved the necessary changes to regulations for the decisions of the Strategic Committee, in the form of two Notices (CM.122 and CM.123).

Under minute 93, the Committee noted that the General Board would be addressing the regulations concerning Examiners and their responsibilities in the light of policies of the two Natural Sciences Tripos committees.

86.	REPORTED AND STRAIGHTFORWARD BUSINESS

i.	Part IB Plant Sciences

On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman approved a request of the Faculty Board of Biology to change the name of Part IB Plant Sciences to Part IB Plant and Microbial Sciences and the necessary changes to regulations.

87.	
CO-OPTATION TO THE COMMITTEE

The Committee were requested to review their current membership and consider whether they would wish to co-opt further persons onto the Committee, in order to increase their coverage of subjects taught in the Tripos, or other required areas of experience.  The Chairman reminded the Committee of the request of the Faculty Board of Physics and Chemistry for the Committee to co-opt a member of the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy to ensure representation from that Department (minute 3).

The Committee agreed to return to this issue at the next meeting.

7.	DATES OF MEETINGS 2002-2003

The Committee agreed to the following dates for meetings of the Committee next year, on the understanding that the Lent Term meetings may be rearranged or cancelled if there was insufficient business:

Michaelmas	Easter	Lent
22 October 2002	4 February 2003	6 May 2003
19 November 2002	11 March 2003	10 June 2003

All meetings would be at 2:15 pm.

8.	PART II (GENERAL) COURSE

Dr Findlay expressed concern that the Part II (General) course was not meeting the needs of students.  The Committee noted that the Strategic Committee currently was reviewing this issue (CM.121, minute 77) and that the Faculty Board of Biology had set up a Working Party to consider the introduction of a Part II Biological Sciences course to address this concern.  The Committee requested to see the report of progress made to date.

9.	DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting shall take place at 2:15 pm on 7 May 2002 in the Old School’s Meeting Room.