Programme and Module Development and Approval

• Creating a new programme is usually a two-step process: first, the Programme Proposal (Part A: Strategic Approval) form is submitted, accompanied by market research and (ideally) a business case. This requires approval by College Board. For a Collaborative programme this form is replaced by an Approval in Principle (AiP) form).
• Once approved, a New Programme Proposal (Part B: Operational Approval) is submitted, with the programme specification and further documents, including comments from an external adviser. This requires approval at College and University level.
• If a new version of an existing programme is to be created, e.g. a programme for delivery at the Dubai campus or an MSci version of a BSc, this can be achieved through a process called an exceptional programme modification, which requires University-level approval. (Note that some types of programmes, e.g. new Apprenticeships and Dubai programmes, require a Programme Proposal (Part A: Strategic Approval), with the relevant questions completed, to be submitted first, see below for details).
• Microcredentials or non-credit bearing short courses: For new microcredentials or non-credit bearing short courses, a Programme Proposal (Part A: Strategic Approval) form will need to be completed and submitted with costings to be approved by the School and an appropriate College level board, including approval from the College Director of Education.
• Consultation with internal and external stakeholders is a key part of designing a new programme (or modifying an existing one). Internal stakeholders who must be consulted include the Planning Partner, College Accountant, and External Relations. To facilitate a collaborative approach, all programme proposals are also shared with internal experts including Educational Development, Digital Education, Admissions, and Careers Network, for their feedback. External stakeholders include the external adviser (who must complete a report) and any PSRBs. 
• Students are key stakeholders and must be consulted as part of programme design - the Quality Assurance Agency states that universities 'should engage students individually and collectively' in 'design, development and approval processes to ensure the student voice is actively represented'. This can be current students, alumni, and prospective students. Methods for student consultation could include Student Staff Forums, arranging a focus group, or posting on a Canvas page. Student feedback mechanisms, such as student surveys could also be referred to. The College approval committees include Student Representatives in their membership to ensure students are represented in approval.
• There are no fixed deadlines for creating a new programme: the later a programme is set up, the less time there is to market it (which may impact the level of recruitment).
• Advised timelines for final approval: approx. 20 months before planned delivery (e.g. Dec 2025 for Sept 2027) for UG programmes, 13 months for PGT programmes.  
• More information is available on the Proposing a New Programme Staff SharePoint site: https://bham.sharepoint.com/sites/asr/SitePages/Proposing%20a%20New%20Programme.aspx.

• In line with UoB's risk-based approach to programme development, the greater the change to a programme, the greater the level of approval that is required, from creating a new version of the programme (exceptional modification, requiring University approval), to changing compulsory modules (major modification, requiring College approval), or changing the programme lead (no approval).
• The University has a responsibility to deliver to students what has been promised, particularly regarding core content: programmes should not materially change once students have accepted an offer (unless there is a clear rationale). Changes made for sound pedagogic reasons will always be considered.
• The College Marketing and Communications team should always be consulted for modifications that may change how the programme is marketed and/or what is being offered to students. If there are changes that may impact fees and targets, ensure the Planning Partner and College Accountant are consulted.
• The programme modification form must be submitted with a programme specification with the changes marked in tracked changes so those approving can clearly see what is being changed and the Curriculum Management Team know what to change in the Banner records system.
• If the only change that is being made to the programme is the addition of a placement (e.g. a year or semester abroad), the placement proposal form should be submitted in place of the programme modification form.

Exceptional Programme Modifications (University level approval)

This type of modification can be used to create a 'clone' of an existing programme, e.g. for delivery at the Dubai campus, which may require the completion of a Programme Proposal (Part A: Strategic Approval) form and/or the completion of the Appendix. The Appendix takes key questions from the new programme proposal form, including around the programme's fee, the market, and admissions requirements. The Appendix should be completed when a new version of a programme is being proposed (where Part A has not been completed) and should usually be accompanied by a market research report.

Major Programme Modifications (College level approval)

Major modifications refer to changes that are significant and may have implications across a number of areas, such as students' learning experience, completion rates, or satisfaction; internal resourcing; planning, etc. Major modifications include the withdrawal or introduction of compulsory modules, or other significant modification to the portfolio of compulsory modules available on the programme, including modification to assessments of compulsory modules if the modifications result in a significant change to the overall balance of methods of assessment on the programme. 

Minor Programme Modifications (School level approval minimum)

Minor modifications refer to small changes that do not alter the fundamental character of the programme. They should have minimal or no impact on students; in many cases current students will not be aware that any change has been made. Minor modifications could include small changes to the programme learning outcomes in line with progress in the field and/or to better articulate the Birmingham Graduate Attributes, or the addition or removal of optional modules to the portfolio of optional modules available to students. Removal of an optional module can be considered to be a minor change as long as the potential for its removal has been explicitly stated to students when making their decision to accept an offer of study at the institution.

(A programme modification is not always required for introducing optional modules, as the programmes to which the new module will be added will be listed on the module specification form).

Administrative Changes (No approval required)

Some small, administrative changes do not require formal approval; these changes can be made via an email to the Curriculum Management Team. This could be to amend the programme lead, School, or College administrative contact only; to change the semester in which a module is delivered; or amendments to the programme specification to clarify existing practice rather than to make a change (e.g. adding information to the specification that is not currently captured on the specification).

• More information is available on the Modifying an Existing Programme Staff SharePoint site: https://bham.sharepoint.com/sites/asr/SitePages/Modifying%20an%20Existing%20Programme.aspx.

Programme withdrawal is a permanent process. Alternatively, a programme can be suspended for up to two years, after which it will be withdrawn unless a programme reactivation form is completed.

When withdrawing or suspending a programme, consideration must be given as to whether it has current students and/or prospective students. Ideally, programmes will be ‘taught out’, i.e. any students registered on the programme will be able to complete it as planned, with the programme being deactivated once they have completed.

If the programme cannot be taught out, and/or there are prospective students on the programme, please contact your College Academic Policy Partner, as it will need to be ascertained whether the University’s Student Protection Plan will need to be triggered.

As with any changes to programmes that may affect students, you should ensure you consult the Policy on Consultation with Students, its associated guidance, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) guidance.

Withdrawing, suspending, or reactivating a programme requires approval at the School, College, and University level. Withdrawals, suspensions, and reactivations are also reported to the University Recruitment, Admissions and Targets Board (URAT).

• More information is available on the Withdrawing or Suspending an Existing Programme Staff SharePoint site: https://bham.sharepoint.com/sites/asr/SitePages/Programme%20Withdrawal%20and%20Suspension.aspx.

When changing a module, or the portfolio of modules available on a programme, the later the change is made and/or the more significant the impact of that change, the greater the level of consultation is required, with students, Marketing, Admissions, Timetabling etc.

​Changes to modules/programmes made for sound pedagogic reasons will always be considered.

Changes to the portfolio of optional modules (i.e. to the modules offered) that impact timetabling must usually be approved and submitted to the Curriculum Management Team in the October the academic year before delivery. Changes that do not impact timetabling must be made by the end of the January the academic year before delivery.

The below are examples of changes that do not require student consultation:

• Changes to compulsory modules made by the June that is 16 months before delivery (e.g. June 2025 for Sept 2026).
• Changes to optional modules that don't impact timetabling that are made by the end of January before delivery.
• Changes to optional modules that do impact timetabling that are made by October before delivery.
• Changes to module lead, semester of delivery, and other administrative changes that have no impact on students.

Changes made after the above deadlines that impact the student experience, and that result in the module being different from that which students were expecting, require a high level of student consultation (e.g. gaining student feedback on the proposed change). These include:

• Removing or introducing a compulsory module (or an optional module after it has been chosen by students).
• Significant changes to module assessment on a compulsory module (or an optional module after it has been chosen by students) (e.g. changing from 100% assessment by essay to assessment by exam and presentation).
• Significant changes to the module description and/or learning outcomes that alter what the students will be learning (and that, therefore, may also impact programme learning outcomes).

Changes made after the above deadlines that have minimal/no impact on the student experience require a low level of student consultation (e.g. informing students of a change but not requiring a response). These include:

• Minor changes to the module learning outcomes and description that do not materially affect what the students will be learning.
• Minor changes to the assessment, e.g. changing the weighting of assessments or word lengths, or introducing a new assessment type with a low weighting.
• Changes introduced as a result of and in response to student feedback (particularly if it is from the students who will be affected by the change).

Methods of student consultation include: emails/letters to applicants, led by Marketing (for changes that impact programmes/programme factsheets after applicants have accepted their offer); emails to students (particularly if a response is required); Canvas announcements; lecture shouts; (re)induction presentations; Student Staff Forums (it is best practice to utilise these when making any changes to ensure students are engaged in programme/module design).

Any change to a module or programme that takes place in the current academic session is called an in-session change. As these changes carry a high risk, they require University level approval, following approval by the School and College.

The rationale for any in-session changes needs to be very strong, e.g. changes to assessment made in response to student feedback that will have a clear benefit to the student experience.

To create a new module, a module proposal form must be completed and accompanied by a module specification. The specification outlines the module’s content, including its learning outcomes and assessment.

To modify an existing module, the module modification form must be completed and accompanied by the module's specification that shows the required amendments in tracked changes. This is so those approving the modifications can clearly see what is being changed and so the Curriculum Management Team know which module information to alter in the Banner records system. If the same change, with the same rationale, is being made across multiple modules, one modification form can be submitted with multiple module specifications.

To withdraw an existing module(s), the module withdrawal form should be completed, and no specification is required. Multiple modules can be withdrawn on the same withdrawal form, provided the rationale is the same, e.g. the modules are being withdrawn because they are consistently low-recruiting.

All module proposal, modification, and withdrawal forms require approval by the School. Module proposal and withdrawal forms should then be approved by the relevant College committee (usually by Chair's Action), to ensure that any potential resource implications or other factors are thoroughly scrutinised.

Changes to the module lead and semester of delivery do not require formal approval.

• More information is available on the Making Changes to Modules and the Module Portfolio Staff SharePoint site: https://bham.sharepoint.com/sites/asr/SitePages/Module%20Development.aspx.

The updated Competition and Markets Authority Guidance (published May 2023) places greater emphasis on students’ rights as consumers when it comes to significant changes to the teaching they receive, particularly relating to the accuracy of pre-contract information (i.e., information that was likely to be material in their decision making). The CMA guidance states that any pre-contract information is legally binding on enrolment and therefore any changes require the express consent of students.

However, in practice, we will continue to take a pragmatic approach to ensuring that our curriculum can evolve in response to student feedback (particularly NSS results), and other drivers for change, to ensure we deliver the best possible experience for students.

With this in mind, the updated CMA guidance should not be seen as a barrier to making necessary changes. We are broadly covered by our existing Policy on Consultation with Students and accompanying guidance notes and do not need to significantly change our approach to making programme and module changes (see above for key deadlines).

Schools need to remain mindful of the potential risks of making changes if this differs from published information, balancing the risks of complaints to the CMA with the risk of not making essential changes for the benefit of students’ learning. Schools should continue to follow the existing University Policy and Guidance, which provides examples of the different types of change that students may encounter, together with the recommended level of consultation.

Colleagues are asked to consider whether the proposed change is going to make a difference to something that prospective/current students are expecting to experience. If it is, they are asked to make an appropriate risk-based decision about whether to proceed with the change and whether/how to communicate with prospective/current students (see above).

Although the CMA focuses on undergraduate qualifications the University applies the same principles to postgraduate qualifications (where the above information is provided to students).

The programme specification contains the key information about a programme and should be written using the relevant internal guidance and external reference points. Some information on sections of the programme specification is provided below. Detailed guidance for staff is provided on the Programme Specification Guidance Staff SharePoint site: https://bham.sharepoint.com/sites/asr/SitePages/Programme%20Specification%20Guidance.aspx.