(1) This Guideline applies to reviews of schools under Organisational Structure Policy and Review of Schools Procedure. This Guideline is provided to assist in the preparation for and conduct of reviews. (2) Preparation for School Reviews begins approximately 15 months prior to the review. A timeline is provided on the School, Centre, Institute and Generalist Degree Reviews website to give direction to schools on the general timing of events for the pre-review, review, and post-review phases of the review process. (3) The school’s submission should be as short as possible to present all required information and future plans. While not being prescriptive of the exact format or length of the school’s submission, the preferred approach is for the submission (excluding appendices) to be approximately 50 pages in length. Appendices should also be as concise as possible, only presenting essential information. (4) The school’s submission should comprise four parts, as follows: (5) The Executive summary describes the contents of the school’s submission, including comments from the Head of School, and could include suggestions for areas of focus for the review committee. (6) This brief section describes: (7) This section includes an analysis of the school’s current status and operations particularly with regard to the school's teaching and learning programs, research and staffing, as relevant to the terms of reference. An overview of the school's goals and priorities over the last few years should be provided with an analysis of the extent to which these goals and priorities are being achieved. Budget information should be provided to inform discussion. (8) The school should provide relevant data in the performance areas identified in the terms of reference. Performance must be explicitly linked to the UQ Strategic Plan 2022-2025 and operating priorities as well as to the school’s strategic plan, and faculty strategic and operational plans. (9) The school should decide how best to represent itself and its disciplines in its submission. The submission includes analysis of quantitative and qualitative data (data can be included in the appendices). This should align with the future direction of the school/discipline(s) and how the school is contributing to that direction and/or realigning its activities in keeping with developments. (10) The submission should highlight any particular strengths of the school that are not covered by the core performance data, as well as data on established, nationally/internationally recognised, discipline-specific performance markers. (11) Comparable data for other relevant schools and/or disciplines within and external to the University should be supplied. Where possible, the school should benchmark its teaching and research activities with two comparable institutions, nationally (preferably Group of 8) and/or internationally (for example, a member of Universitas 21). The primary purpose of benchmarking is to assist in determining the direction of the discipline and the quality of the scholarship. (12) If it is decided that Group of 8 and Universitas 21 institutions do not provide an adequate or feasible basis for comparison, schools should provide reasons for such unsuitability and select another appropriately-regarded national or international institution, or similar sources of data (such as Australian Government benchmark data). The school should identify benchmarking partners early in the preparation process and advise Academic Board Standing Committee once identified. (13) This section is the focus of the submission. It describes plans and strategies for the future development and improvement of the school over the next three to five years. It is expected that the school submission should include any relevant strategic or operational plans which show how the school contributes to the University’s overall strategy and goals. If the submission includes strategic or operational plans then there is no need to rewrite or reproduce content of those plans within the review text. (14) The Review Committee provides an objective assessment of the school's current and future directions and strategies, and to either confirm or recommend changes to those plans. (15) Therefore, this section articulates goals and courses of action that are tied to: (16) In each case, consideration should be given to the school’s human, financial and physical resources to enhance performance, to meet the school’s objectives and to achieve its targets. Key performance indicators should be identified clearly, alongside strategic priorities that link appropriately to specified timelines, milestones and resource allocations. (17) The appendices should include the school’s future planning documents (such as the strategic and operational plans), budget, benchmarking data, and any additional data as relevant. The appendices should only include information that is likely to be of direct use to the Review Committee. It is not necessary to include details of all staff (such as photographs or brief biographies) or lists of published work. (18) Where possible, appendices should be presented in a separate document to the submission. (19) A briefing session for Heads of Schools and other senior members of schools is held in the year prior to the review by the President of the Academic Board to explain the review process. (20) A briefing session for staff and students of each school being reviewed is held prior to the review (generally 4-8 months prior) by the Academic Board Standing Committee (ABSC) representative and the President of the Academic Board on the review committee to explain the review process, advise the school of the review committee membership, and elaborate on the involvement of staff and students during the review week. (21) Organisation of the review timetable is developed by the Chair, the Review Committee, the Review Secretary and other stakeholders as required, and is guided by the following principles: (22) To support the Review Committee, it is recommended that: (23) A sample timetable has been provided in the Appendix. (24) If the review is held online, or if a significant number of interviewees are not available to participate in interviews on campus, the secretariat will arrange for meetings to be held on a video conferencing tool (for example, Zoom or Microsoft Teams). Depending on preference, the review committee members on campus could meet in a meeting room on campus, or participate remotely. (25) Adjustments can be made to the review timetable to make the process more comfortable and sustainable for the review committee members when the review is held online, including: (26) The Review Committee considers the submission prepared by the school, together with other submissions made by interested persons and organisations, and consults with University staff, students and other persons as deemed appropriate, through interviews. Sample questions that the Review Committee might consider is available on the School, Centre, Institute and Generalist Degree Reviews website. (27) Following perusal of the school submission and interviews with the Senior Executives, the committee determines whether there are additional questions to be asked that are relevant to the review, so that the terms of reference are addressed. The committee identifies those areas where more information is required and with support from the Secretary, determine how best to obtain that information (e.g. interviews, visits, records, direct requests to the school). (28) The review committee initially meets with the following staff or their representatives, as relevant to the review: (29) The review committee meets and interviews relevant internal stakeholders based on written submissions received or those identified by the review committee, including (but not limited to): (30) If a perceived or real conflict of interest exists with the Secretary or member of the review committee, a confidential discussion with the President of the Academic Board may be requested via the office of the President of the Academic Board, who will consult with the Chair or other members of the review committee as relevant. (31) Internal stakeholders are able to request an interview with the review committee if required. (32) The review committee engages with relevant external stakeholders, including (but not limited to): (33) External stakeholders may request an interview with the Review Committee via the Secretary. (34) A stakeholder dinner, as set out in the Review of Schools Procedure, will be held on the evening of the second or third day of the review. (35) If the review is held online, the secretariat can include other opportunities for engagement with external stakeholders, such as interviews with the review committee in groups or individually. (36) Brief visits to, and inspection of, school facilities should be included in the program to provide the opportunity to clarify or illustrate points made in the submissions. Where schools are multi-sited, the use of technologies such as video conferencing or filmed tours can be considered. (37) If the review is held online, alternate approaches to share details about facilities can be adopted, such as for the internal members to visit the facilities and include a report to the full committee, or for an appropriate filmed tour to be organised by the school in advance of the review. This can be determined by the School and Secretary in planning for the review, and decided in advance where possible to allow time for filming and video editing if required. (38) Prior to the finalisation of the recommendations on the final day of the review, the review committee meets with: (39) On the final day of the review, the review committee provides a general overview of the findings from the review and an outline of the recommendations to a full meeting of the school. All Review Committee members should attend the school presentation. (40) At the same time, the ABSC representative should inform the school about: (41) If the review is held online, or if a number of staff in the school are not available to attend on-campus, the presentation can be held online. (42) The review report is prepared by the members of the Review Committee with support from the Secretary. The Chair should discuss with members the division of responsibility for drafting individual sections of the report. (43) It is anticipated that the Review Committee develops commendations and recommendations progressively throughout the review. It is expected that a penultimate draft of the report be completed prior to the departure of the external review committee members from the University. (44) The report consists of the following sections: (45) Commendations: (46) Recommendations: (47) Review committees are encouraged to include time-frames for implementation of recommendations. (48) Report of the Review Committee: (49) A suggested review report template is available online: Review of Schools - Report Template. (50) Appendices: (51) Other appendices are to follow, if required. Written submissions are not included in the report. (52) Following the conclusion of the review, the review report with recommendations is finalised by the Chair in consultation with the Secretary and other members of the review committee. (53) The response to the review report and implementation process are outlined in the Review of Schools Procedure. (54) The Executive Dean and Head of School should aim to have some availability during the review in case the review committee requests to schedule further meetings to discuss specific issues. (55) A sample timetable is also available for download on the Academic Board's 'Reviews' website.Review of Schools Guideline
Section 1 - Purpose and Scope
Section 2 - Guidelines
Preparation for the Review
Timeline for School Review Preparation
Structure of the School’s Submission
Part 1 – Executive Summary
Part 2 – The History of the School
Part 3 – The School at Present
Part 4 – The School in the Future
Appendices
Briefing Sessions
Review Timetable
Reviews Conducted Online
Conduct of the Review
Review Committee Deliberations
Initial Meetings with Senior Executives and Senior Staff
Interviews with Internal Stakeholders
Engagement with External Stakeholders
Visits to Facilities
Presentation of the Findings
Structure of the Review Report
Post-review
Section 3 - Appendix
Sample Timetable
Evening Preceding Review
• Dinner for all members of the review committee, the Secretary, and the Executive Dean, to discuss review issues and orient external members to University procedures and protocols.
Day 1 - Morning
• Welcome by the President of the Academic Board (15 minutes).
• Interview with the Vice-Chancellor (30 minutes).
• Interview with the Executive Dean (30 minutes).
• Interview with the Head of School (60 minutes).
Day 1 - Afternoon
• Interview with the relevant Faculty Executive Manager (if the Faculty Executive Manager is not the review Secretary) (30 minutes).
• Interviews with academic, general and research staff, representatives of professional and other external bodies, and undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Day 2 - Morning
• Interview with the Provost (30 minutes).
• Interviews with Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), Dean, Graduate School (or representatives) (15 minutes each).
• Interviews with other University staff.
Day 2 - Afternoon
• Visit to school, inspection of school facilities, informal gathering to meet all school staff.
Day 2 - Evening
• If required, a stakeholder dinner for all review committee members, Executive Dean, and representatives of industry, government, professional bodies and employer groups.
Day 3
• Interviews.
• Report writing to commence.
Day 4 - Morning
• Report writing, outstanding/unscheduled interviews.
• Meeting with Executive Dean (and the Faculty Executive Manager, if the Faculty Executive Manager is not the review Secretary) to discuss draft recommendations.
• Meeting with Head of School to discuss draft recommendations.
Day 4 - Afternoon
• Meeting with President of the Academic Board and Provost to discuss draft recommendations;
• Preparation for presentation to school.
• Presentation of draft recommendations to all school staff at the school – all review committee members to be in attendance (60 minutes).
• Finalisation of report in penultimate draft form.
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