Moving Forward

Phase 2 of the Project will complete with the publication of the 2012-13 Academic Timetable.  The Project will continue, however, to ensure continued development of the University’s estate and to collect and act upon feedback from Schools.

Benchmarking the 2012-13 Academic Timetable

The Effective Zoning of Teaching Analysis, carried out on the 2011-12 Academic Timetable, will be repeated at the end of this year, based on the 2012-13 Academic Timetable, and the results will be shared for comparison.

Aligning the Estate with Demand

Estates’ have conducted an analysis of teaching demand by group size against availability of rooms by capacity.  It has indicated that the University has an over-provision of teaching accommodation in the region of 16 rooms.  However, it has shown that there is under-provision of rooms in certain capacity bands, forcing some teaching activities to take place in unsuitable rooms.

A further modelling exercise has confirmed that a reduced provision of teaching rooms could accommodate existing timetabling requests if the Estate was realigned to match the list of locations used in the model.  The model also suggests that 100% of teaching could be placed in Schools’ green zones if the Estate was matched to demand.

The Estates Department will continue to develop a strategic plan to align the provision of teaching rooms with demand and to model the impact of changes before any refurbishment or development plans are made.  Details of refurbishments to the Estate will be added here on an on-going basis.

Faculty Timetabling Steering Groups

At present, there are few formal mechanisms in place to allow to School to feedback on the success, or otherwise, of their timetabling allocations after the timetable has been released.  From October 2012, Faculty Timetabling User Groups, chaired by the Timetabling and Room Booking Manager, will be set up to meet twice yearly. 

These groups will help to recognise specific faculty needs and enable staff to discuss their timetabling allocations in a constructive manner.  They will also present opportunities for the Timetabling and Room Booking Unit to raise awareness of timetabling challenges, such as late change requests and the need to teach across a five day week.  If you would be interested in being a member of your Faculty's Timetabling User Group, please contact claire.baxter@qub.ac.uk for more information.