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Faculty of Humanities

Humanities Teaching Sustainability project overview

Our taught programmes portfolio is what makes Humanities a target destination for around 124,000 applicants each year and for the approximate 22,000 taught students currently registered on our programmes. This is a huge strength of the Faculty.

However, our portfolio of programmes* and course units* is large, complex and increasingly difficult to deliver. As the higher education sector and student demand evolve, we must create the capacity to innovate and develop our portfolio, building on existing strengths and seizing new opportunities in line with the ambitions of the Manchester 2035 strategy.

It is timely to review our portfolio in light of changing student demand, the decline of some markets, impacts of cost of living on student demand and new priorities. We recognise that innovating and developing our portfolio requires significant investment of staff time and resources, and we need to free up space to do this.

It is important that we continuously review the demand for and delivery of our taught portfolio to ensure that it can be timetabled effectively, to offer students an appealing choice, and that it takes account of employer market demand and emerging trends.

The purpose of the Teaching Sustainability project is to create the principles and underpinning models for our Schools to be able to deliver an attractive, streamlined taught programmes portfolio to further improve our student and staff experience. The project started in the 2023/24 academic year and is due to run over three years through to 2025/26.

* See glossary below.

Project objectives

  • Streamline the curriculum: Design programmes with simpler structures, organised and curated option choices, minimise timetabling clashes, reduce assessment clustering and improve the overall student experience.
  • Promote future growth and innovation: Create space and capacity for new opportunities by investing our time into curriculum innovation, driving continuous improvement.
  • Attract and retain students: Maintain our student numbers and continue to attract a diverse cohort of high-quality home and international students through responding to market and student demand.
  • Create and maintain a distinctive portfolio of programmes and course units: Develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that align with the ambition of Manchester 2035 and prepare our students for employment or further study, with excellent graduate outcomes.
  • Deliver programmes stably and effectively: Achieve greater stability in the delivery of our teaching through shared/team teaching and minimising last-minute changes, and reducing workloads for academic and professional services staff.

Teaching Sustainability project taskforce

The Teaching Sustainability project taskforce meets approximately every six weeks during the academic year. It is approaching the portfolio review through phases, each focusing on different aspects of the programme portfolio. Recommendations made by the taskforce will be considered by the Faculty Leadership Team (FLT) and recommendations for programme and course unit changes are managed through the usual Faculty and University governance process.

Taskforce members

  • Professor Fiona Devine, Dean & Vice-President (Chair)
  • Emma Rose, Deputy Executive Director of Faculty Operations
  • Professor Fiona Smyth, Vice-Dean for TLSE
  • Professor Thomas Schmidt, Head of School, SALC
  • Professor David Spendlove, Associate Dean for TLS (Portfolio)
  • Professor Sarah Dyer, Associate Dean for TLS (Flexible and Distance Learning)
  • Professor Mario Pezzino, Director of Teaching and Learning, SoSS
  • Professor Camden Reeves, Director of Teaching, Learning and Students, SALC
  • Jayne Hindle, Head of School Operations, SALC
  • Dr Rory Stanton, Director of Teaching, Learning and Students, SEED
  • Professor Manuel Lopez-Ibanez, Director of PGT Studies, AMBS
  • Professor Julia Dobson, Head of Department of Modern Languages and Culture
  • Hannah Cousins, Faculty Head of TLSE
  • Katie Jackson, Humanities Education Officer, UMSU
  • David Boyd, Head of Faculty Financial Planning and Analysis
  • Fiona Keenan, Head of People and Org Development, Humanities
  • Claire Ung, Data Analyst, Humanities
  • Kate McNamee, Head of Faculty Marketing, Communications and Recruitment 
  • Ben Cawley, Communications and Content Manager, Humanities
  • Professor Peter R Green, Faculty of Science and Engineering representative
  • Professor Jennifer Hallam, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health representative
  • Lexy Cummins, Project and Business Change Manager, Faculty Office
  • Helen Dunning, Secretary, Faculty Office

Meetings and minutes 2024/25

Teaching Sustainability project Languages subgroup

The Department of Modern Languages and Cultures delivers a number of programmes and pathways with small numbers of registered students, and so the project approach being applied to the Faculty overall would not be suitable for the Languages portfolio. The Languages subgroup is therefore reviewing the portfolio in a different way to achieve the objectives of the Teaching Sustainability project.

The subgroup meets approximately every six weeks during the academic year, in between taskforce meetings.

The Faculty values Modern Languages and Cultures and is working with SALC to review the portfolio in line with the remit of the Teaching Sustainability project.

Subgroup members

  • Professor Fiona Devine, Vice-President and Dean (Chair)
  • Professor Fiona Smyth, Vice-Dean for Teaching, Learning and Students
  • Emma Rose, Deputy Executive Director of Faculty Operations
  • Professor Thomas Schmidt, Head of School (SALC)
  • Professor Camden Reeves, Director of Teaching and Learning (SALC)
  • Jayne Hindle, Director of School Operations (SALC)
  • Jennifer Haworth, Teaching and Learning Manager (SALC)
  • Professor Julia Dobson, Head of Department of Modern Languages and Cultures
  • Dr Francisco Eissa-Barroso, Admissions Lead (SALC)
  • Fiona Keenan, Faculty Head of P&OD
  • Kate McNamee, Faculty Head of Marketing, Communications and Recruitment
  • Ben Cawley, Faculty Communications and Content Manager
  • Lexy Cummins, Project and Business Change Manager
  • Helen Dunning, Subgroup Secretary

Meetings and minutes

Project glossary

  • Programme – An award of the University of Manchester. Externally, these are often referred to as ‘courses’
  • Pathway – A specific route through a programme that results in an award of the University of Manchester
  • Course unit – A component part of a programme or pathway, sometimes referred to as a ‘module’
  • Programme code/plan code – Coding used in the student record system. A programme can be linked to a single plan code or to multiple plan codes. In the latter case, this is normally used for a programme which has multiple named pathways
  • Student pathway – Used within Scheduling and Timetabling to refer to the specific set of units each student chooses through their programme

If you have any questions about the Teaching Sustainability project, please contact Project and Business Change Manager Lexy Cummins – lexy.cummins@manchester.ac.uk