Create a New Course

Information for staff

Once you have completed steps 1 to 6 of the process for Developing a New Course (Planning Office website), you can move on to Step 7: Programme Approval Panel (PAP) approval.

Programme Approval Panel (PAP) approval

The Panel's role is to ensure that the proposed course meets the required academic standards of the University and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). In doing so, the Panel will scrutinise aspects of the course such as:

• the course aims;
• the management and delivery of the course;
• the curriculum and assessment methods and the learning outcomes associated with the course;
• progression opportunities;
• research supervision arrangements;
• the mechanisms for student support;
• the course documentation.

Preparation for the panel meeting

To prepare for the panel meeting, the programme proposal team should:

• consult the programme approval secretary (Andrew Petersen: ap262@le.ac.uk; 229 7458):
• to request the course approval is included in the PAP schedule; 
• for advice about the preparation of documents needed for the programme approval and the format of the panel meeting (See Programme Approval Documentation below)
• complete the required programme approval documentation and submit it to the programme approval secretary by the required deadline.

The panel meeting

The meeting will take place on an appropriate date in the programme approval schedule. At the panel meeting, the Panel will identify any outstanding academic issues with the proposal and discuss with the proposal team how to resolve them.

After the panel meeting

• creation and circulation of written report: the panel meeting secretary (a member of the Quality Office) will produce a written report of the programme approval panel meeting. The proposal team will be supplied the report once it has been approved by the panel;
• address conditions/recommendations: the proposal team must respond to any panel conditions or recommendations contained in the report and finalise the course documentation (programme and module specifications and, for undergraduate courses, a skills matrix).
• panel chair review: the proposal team submit their written response and the finalised course documentation to the panel meeting secretary for review by the secretary and panel chair;
• formal PAP approval: when satisfied the course meets the necessary University and QAA academic standards, the panel chair will formally approve the course for introduction. The secretary will confirm the sign-off with the proposal team and relevant head of department as well as relevant individuals in Marketing, Admissions and the Registry or Graduate Office;
• College Academic Committee: if the College Academic Committee approval has not already been received, the proposal team should submit the programme documentation to the secretary of the relevant College Academic Committee. The Committee will check that the course complies with the University Learning and Teaching Strategy.

Programme approval documentation

* For the purposes of programme approval, module descriptions should include a summary of the specific academic content of each of the modules to be delivered within the programme.

 Once the programme approval process has been completed and all issues have been resolved, the proposal team can move to Step 8: Course and Module Set Up.