Archaeology review complete; report submitted to UEB
Wednesday, 23 May 2018
A Review Group looking at the Department of Archaeology has submitted its final report to the University Executive Board.
Led by the University Secretary and Chief Strategy Officer, Richard Messer, the Group acknowledged that a shrinking pool of students nationally was one of the major contributing factors to the decline in Archaeology's income. However, it has made recommendations on improving income as well as managing costs, through the introduction of new programmes and cessation of other activities.
The review was initiated last year, at the request of the School, with a brief to develop a strategy and implementation plan to ensure that Archaeology’s identifiable contribution:
- increases to 20% of income in the 2018-19 forecast;
- increases in each of the three subsequent years;
- increases to a percentage of income by 2022-23 such that the school delivers its percentage contribution target, plus a 3% surplus contribution target in line with its 5-year plan
The Review Group – consisting of Nick Branch (Head of School, SAGES), Elizabeth McCrum (Teaching & Learning Dean) and Dominik Zaum (Research Dean) – spoke with a number of staff and students and accepted individual and team submissions as part of the review.
According to its report, ‘The Department set up a number of work streams to consider various aspects of what it took to be the main actions necessary to improve teaching related income. The Head of Department regularly provided updates to the Review Group on these workstreams. The Review Group found this a very useful way of engaging with the thinking of the Department during the Review’.
The students that the Review Group spoke with emphasised the Department’s international reputation, high levels of student satisfaction, quality of the physical learning environment and the approachability of its academic staff. ‘They also emphasised the attractiveness to applicants of Reading’s Field School model and they felt that this compared favourably to offerings at other institutions to which they had applied,’ the report said.
Archaeology is one of the strongest research units at the University, with a strong national and international reputation. Its research strengths are reflected in high global rankings (28th in the 2017 QS Global Rankings), and its strong REF performance (5th in 2014), making a strong positive contribution to the overall REF ranking of the University.
Income derived from research makes an important contribution to the total income of the Department, and continued strong income from research is central to its financial sustainability.
The University has performed relatively strongly amongst the market for courses with ‘archae’ in the title – ranking 4th out of 42 institutions (behind Leicester, York and Cardiff) and a stable share of students. However, the UCAS end of cycle data indicates a shrinking pool of students nationally, with a gradual decline in the number of students applying to study Archaeology.
Building on the feedback from staff and students, the Review Group has recommended producing detailed cases for the setting up of two new undergraduate degrees – in Archaeology and Geography and in Archaeology and Anthropology – and a new postgraduate degree in the area of Professional Practice in Human Osteoarchaeology. It has also recommended significant changes to the undergraduate curriculum, including more options for students outside the Department.
A £2.2 million ERC Research Grant to Professor Roger Matthews has had a positive impact on the Department’s finances and allowed the Review Group to recommend a new post to support the successful introduction and delivery of new programmes.
The group has recommended the discontinuation of the postgraduate degree in Environmental Archaeology from 2018-19, with staff time devoted to it being redistributed to other priorities
Changes have also been recommended to the Field School with a view to offering the best experience to our students. Moving forward, the excavations will have a clear link to the Research Division Planning and have a multi-site model based in the first instance at Islay and Silchester It is expected that the new model will enable a reduction of non-staff costs by £75k-£80k per annum. A formal process is underway to determine the staffing for this model of Field School.
The Department will continue to actively manage staff turnover and consider the need to replace staff in order to manage staff costs effectively.
Dr Mary Lewis will be the new lead for the Archaeological Science research area, working with the Research Division Lead and Research Dean on ways to improve the research income and the recruitment of externally funded post-doctoral research fellows.
An Implementation Group will be set up to support the Department and monitor progress against the recommendations.