Minutes of the Staff-Student Joint Committee Meeting held on Monday 14 May 2001 at 2.15 pm in the Board Room

Present	Ms SA Bird		Mr PWT Mash
	Mrs C Drummond		Ms SF Morgan
	Mr TG Froggatt		Dr GT Parks  (Secretary)
	Mrs J Hawtrey-Woore		Mr B Timms
	Ms F Khattak		Mr HK Taylor
	Mr BR Martin (part time)		Dr JA Williams  (Chair)

01.20  Apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Dr Al-Tabbaa, Mr Auger, Dr Jones, Dr Sutcliffe and Mr Zhao.

01.21  Welcome of new member

Dr Williams welcomed Miss SA Bird, the newly elected member of the SSJC.

01.22  Minutes of the meeting held on 5th February 2001

The minutes of the meeting held on 5th February 2001 were approved.

01.23  Matters arising from the minutes

         00.10(i)  Coursework Working Party

Dr Parks reported that the Coursework Working Party established by the Coursework Committee had met to consider the matters raised by the SSJC, and that its recommendations were being now considered by the Subject Groups.

         00.10(vii)  Review of Computing teaching

Dr Parks reported the Working Party reviewing Computing teaching had met, and that its recommendations were now being implemented. As a result, Computing would now be examined in the Part IA Mathematical Methods paper.

         00.10(viii)  Voluntary coursework sessions

Dr Parks reported that the proposal to introduce “Workshop Skills” sessions for Part I students had been approved by the Coursework Committee, and that the first sessions had now run. Mr Froggatt commented that those who had attended these sessions had been very positive about them. Dr Parks reported that the Electrical and Information Engineering Subject Group would be considering a proposal to introduce “Computer Build” sessions at its meeting on 15th May.

         01.09(ii)  “SSJC Guide to the CUED Computing Facilities”

Mr Timms reported that he had put a web page entitled “The SSJC’s Crash Course in CUED Computing” which was on the SSJC’s home page (http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~eng-ssjc/). He invited feedback from other members of the SSJC.  Dr Parks undertook to arrange for links to be provided to these pages from the official Department web pages.

         01.12(iii)  IA Linear Circuits teaching

It was agreed that Ms Bird, Ms Morgan and Mr Taylor should prepare a paper to be considered by the Electrical and Information Engineering Subject Group at their Long Vacation meeting. This paper would be sent to Dr Parks by 22nd June.

         01.13(i)  SSJC Dinner

Dr Parks reported that Professor Newland had agreed to provide some financial support for an SSJC dinner.  Mr Mash agreed to organise a dinner for the week ending 15th June.

         01.13(ii)   SSJC home page

Mr Timms reported that this had been overhauled and was now ready for new content. Digital photos of some members of the SSJC were still required.

         01.14(iv)  Cleaning of the statue at the CUED entrance

Mrs Hawtrey-Woore reported that cleaning the statue was surprisingly expensive and that ongoing discussions concerning possible redesign of the area concerned were a good reason for inaction. However, she undertook to investigate this matter further and to obtain an up-to-date quotation for the job.

         01.15  CMI

Dr Williams reported that 20 IB CUED students had been selected to go to MIT this August, the majority (13) being prospective EIST students. 20 MIT Engineering students were expected in return. The need for the incoming MIT students to be provided with a suitable College parent/buddy, preferably a student at the same College doing similar 3rd year papers was highlighted. It was suggested that, if a suitable College parent was not available, the Teaching Office should seek to find one from another College.

01.24  Cover for student bicycle racks

It was agreed that Mrs Hawtrey-Woore would discuss with the Clerk of Works the possibility of covering (some of) the bicycle racks provided for students. It was emphasised that any covering should not result in a reduction in the number of available spaces.

01.25  Drinking water availability

Mrs Hawtrey-Woore undertook to provide disposable, paper drinking cups at the nine locations where drinking water was available to undergraduates. It was agreed that these locations should be advertised more effectively through signs in the Inglis Building foyer and through information on the SSJC home page.

01.26  Provision of on-line timetabling information

Mrs Drummond undertook to look at the way in which this information is provided by other departments. It was agreed that the Teaching Office would explore ways of presenting timetables and lab rotas on the Web.

01.27  Interim Report of Modularisation Working Party

This item was discussed at some length. All the interim recommendations of the Working Party were welcomed by the student members of the SSJC with the exception of the recommendation that all examinations (both 3rd and 4th year) should be scheduled at the start of the Easter term. Dr Williams and Dr Parks explained the reasons why the Working Party had made this recommendation. It was agreed that, if this examination pattern was adopted, methods by which students could be provided with more quantitative indications of their progress during the 3rd and 4th years, perhaps through the introduction of MIT-style quizzes, should be seriously considered.

01.28  Date of next meeting

Next SSJC Monday 22nd October 2001, 2.15 pm, Board Room.

01.29  Any other business

Dr Williams thanked the members of the SSJC for whom this was their last meeting   (Ms Khattak, Mr Pain and Mr Timms) for their contributions during the year.