A
Academic planning and resources committee (APRC)
The APRC has responsibility for reconciling the aspirations of the School's various interest groups with the availability of resources, and provides a focus for coordinated planning across the School. Its main function is to plan the medium-term shape and size of the School in the light of the following interrelated factors:
Forecast levels of income and expenditure
Planned growth in student numbers
Five-year development plans generated by each organisational unit
Annual monitoring of resource levels and progress towards objectives identified in the development plans, as well as specific issue or more in-depth reviews where necessary.
(Further information: Schedule|)
Contact: Selina Hannaford|
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Annual monitoring of academic departments/institutes
During the Michaelmas term, each Head of Department/Institute will be required to attend Annual Monitoring meetings with the Director and Pro-Directors. These meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss progress towards objectives identified in their Departmental Development Plan (DDP) and any revisions to those objectives, as well as addressing issues suggested by the RAM indicators. The outcomes of these discussions will be reported to the APRC meeting in December. On the basis of this report APRC will then identify:
(i) units that will not be subject to a further review in the coming session as no issues were deemed by the unit or the Committee to require action;
(ii) specific issues (either localised to an individual unit / area or School-wide) that can be addressed immediately in the Lent term - depending on the nature of the issue, this would typically involve charging the appropriate Pro-Director to take the issue forward either alone or as the Chair of a working group, consult with the relevant parties and then report back with findings and recommendations before the end of the academic session;
(iii) more fundamental issues (either localised or School-wide) that should be reviewed in the Lent term of the following academic session - the wider scope of such reviews would necessitate adequate time being allowed for the preparation of material, longer periods of consultation and most likely the involvement of a member external to the School as part of the review process.
Academic units will have the option of indicating at Annual Monitoring that they wish to undergo a full review even if no issues are identified and similarly APRC retains the right to ask an academic unit to take part in a full review as long as appropriate notice is given.
Starting in 2009-10, academic units will also be subject to an interim review of their DDP. For units that are closely following their existing DDP the review document is expected to be relatively brief. For units that have departed, or plan to depart, from the existing DDP a longer and more detailed review document will be required. Three years after the interim review (2012-13) all units will be required to submit a new DDP addressing such issues as changing market conditions, staffing and priorities for initiatives to respond to developments in the substantive area.
For the DDP reviews the units will be divided into four groups and assessed during the Summer Term (i.e. starting in Summer Term 2010 for the interim reviews) by review groups chaired by the Pro-Directors and VC-AB and consisting of two APRC members per group and an external expert. Each review group will report comments on the DDPs to the Committee at the end of the Summer Term.
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
Annual monitoring statement (AMS)
The Planning Unit, in conjunction with individual strategy owners, is responsible for the completion of the AMS. This document provides the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) with information relating to the School's use of any HEFCE strategic special funding that it has been allocated and the institution's work to promote race equality. The AMS is usually submitted to HEFCE in December.
Contact: Gary Barclay|
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APRC reviews
The APRC| undertakes reviews of all academic and service units within the School. Departments and units making satisfactory progress towards the objectives identified in their development plans and agreed by APRC will not be subject to review. Those departments and units deviating from agreed targets will be subject to either a specific issue or full review (please see the Annual Monitoring of Academic Departments| for further details).
Departments and units may request a full review regardless of progress and similarly the APRC may request a full review of a department/unit deemed to be progressing satisfactorily. As with the Annual Monitoring exercise, the main purpose of the APRC reviews is to establish the level of resource necessary to enable a unit to maintain its core functions and realise its medium-term plans. However, the reviews also have a wider role in ensuring the congruence of a department/unit's medium term plans with those of the School and the pursuit of equity (a notion of achievable fairness having regard to all relevant criteria) within and across the School.
Contact: Selina Hannaford|
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C
Context statistics
The Planning Unit produces the annual LSE Context Statistics document, a compendium of publicly available facts and figures aimed at providing a common understanding of the current size and shape of the School in the context of (i) LSE data for previous years and (ii) data from comparator institutions and the UK higher education sector as a whole.
(Further information: Context statistics pdf|)
Contact: Gary Barclay|
Corporate planning statement (CPS)
The Planning Unit, in conjunction with individual strategy owners, is responsible for the completion of the CPS. This document provides the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) with an update on progress towards delivering the School's objectives and priorities, as set out in the School's Strategic Plan.
Contact: Gary Barclay|
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D
Departmental funding
The Planning Unit is responsible for allocating funds to each academic department/institute to cover two major components of non-staff costs: a basic departmental allocation (covering stationery, telecoms, reprographics, staff facilities and hospitality for students) and the Staff Research Fund (to encourage and support research activity for eligible members of academic staff).
Contact: Gary Barclay|
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E
External advisors
The APRC| review groups will ordinarily include an external member who has extensive knowledge of the area under review. The Planning Unit locates and liaises with potential external candidates and (where possible/appropriate) coordinates the appointment of the same external advisor for other review processes in the School relating to the same area.
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
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F
Financial/resource modelling
The Planning Unit works closely with the Finance Division in supporting the School's needs for detailed evaluation of business options for the School. The Unit maintains detailed projections of student numbers, fee income and staff resources resulting from student expansion, as well as preparing and monitoring progress against the School's Strategic Plan, AMS and CPS documents.
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
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M
Minimum staffing levels (MSLs)
The Minimum Staffing Level (MSL) is the level of resources for staffing purposes allocated by the APRC| to each organisational unit subject to the system in the School. The Planning Unit maintains the MSL/1 form (showing the MSL allocation) for all departments, issues instructions annually and provides advice on all aspects of the MSL staffing system.
Contact: msl1.queries@lse.ac.uk|
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P
Performance Indicators (HESA)
Published annually by Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the Performance Indicators provide comparative data on the performance of institutions in terms of widening participation, student retention, learning and teaching outcomes, research output and employment of graduates.
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
Planning processes of the school
The Planning Unit supports the School's planning processes through servicing one of the School's main strategic committees, the APRC|, and providing a high quality, professional service, offering advice, support and management information, through the application of a holistic view to current and potential planning issues.
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
Planning Unit web pages
All suggestions for improvements to the web pages will be carefully evaluated.
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R
Research centre supplies
The Planning Unit is responsible for allocating the research centre supplies budget to eligible centres. Each research centre receives funding from the School to cover standard overheads (including staff facilities, telecoms, stationery and other administrative costs).
Contact: Gary Barclay|
Resource allocation model (RAM)
The School operates a factor-based RAM whereby resources are centrally allocated to academic units via the APRC|, informed by the comparison of the following key departmental indicators: Student:staff ratio (SSR)|; financial contribution; salary costs as a percentage of departmental income; and student demand and programme health indicators.
(Further information: Resource Allocation Model (RAM)| )
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
Rolling plan of student targets and related issues
Throughout the year, the Planning Unit issues detailed plans concerning student-related issues, including student intake and offer targets, fee levels and postgraduate awards.
(Further information: APRC Rolling Plan|)
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
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S
Statistics on LSE
The Planning Unit provides ad-hoc and routine statistical material for publications and in support of planning decisions.
(Further information: Department of Statistics|)
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
Strategic plan
The Planning Unit, in conjunction with individual strategy owners, is responsible for the development and update of the School's Strategic Plan. The Plan sets out the School's strategic priorities and intended actions over a five year horizon which will be monitored via an annual process to enable the Council of the School to judge the achievement of our intended actions. The Plan is submitted to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) annually.
(Further information: Strategic Plan|)
Contact: Gary Barclay|
Student : staff ratio (SSR)
The SSR measure is one of the key indicators included in the RAM and provides an estimate of student teaching load per member of academic staff for each academic unit, with differential weightings according to student degree level and year of undergraduate study.
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|
Student numbers and fees (SNAF)
SNAF is a working group of the APRC|, set up to review the assumptions in the Rolling Plan as the basis for medium and long term planning of student numbers and related issues (including fee levels, financial awards and offer targets).
Contact: Wayne Tatlow|