OPEN UNIVERSITY

[this is an example of the documentation produced for a new OU course]

7154 MA (Marketing) Minutes

15/04/99

THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

OPEN UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

Marketing Group: Masters in Marketing

Minutes of the Course Team meeting held in Geoffrey Crowther, on 15^th April 1999

Present:         Haider Ali, Leslie DeChernatonay, Heather Hamblin, Judith Margolis, David Mercer, Tony Stapleton, Mo Vernon, Richard Wheatcroft

Apologies:       None

Actions

i)          Judith

a – to map B820 against the PGDip syllabus.

b – to circulate the PGDip syllabus to the marketing group.

ii)         David

a – to ask Colin Gray to undertake research with CIM members to establish uptake (this should be done in conjunction with David Sagar at CIM).

iii)                David & Richard

a - subject to the above, to present the proposal to the Autumn MBA Board.

1                    Principles

There was a discussion about the involvement of CIM and what their interest was in this.  It was understood that the academic 'owners' of the programme would be OUBS, who would be responsible for all content and activities.  However, extensive liaison with CIM would be maintained - to ensure that the programme meets the needs of its members.  The question of CIM membership being included in the fees and then that part of the fees paid to CIM was raised.  However, it was noted that the students would already be CIM members.

It was established that at this stage, although there was agreement that we should proceed with this proposal, a precedent shouldn’t be set.   The proposal should therefore be drafted carefully, e.g. a strong case need to be put forward as to why B820 was needed, especially as it will be an MA rather than an MSc. 

Action point: Judith will map B820 against the PGDip syllabus to strengthen the case.

As the programme would be designed for practitioners, the programme will lead to an MA (Marketing) as opposed to an MSc.

It was felt that at this stage there would be no transfers to the MBA and vice versa.  However, discussion took place as to whether credit can be given for the parts of the MBA that students have already done so that they can go on to take the rest of the MBA.  This would mean students studying B800 plus one elective that broadens the qualification out.  These are areas that need to be discussed further.

2  Model

Figure 1 below shows the model that the Masters in Marketing should follow:

Note that this format is for the first year only.  In subsequent years students will study B82X before the ‘free choice’ elective.  The lag of a year between the launch of B825 and B82X in the presentation is to allow time for the lessons learned in the launch of the former to be transferred to the latter. It should be noted that there were still concerns about the timing of the programme launch.

At present it is proposed that the only entry to the programme will be through a CIM PGDip qualification (or equivalent), which will also count as the first stage (60 points) of the Masters. There was concern that this was the only route in and there was discussion about other routes for people to come through - especially as the market through CIM may not be as large as hoped for and this needs to be taken into account. It was noted  that OUBS is not a preferred or sole candidate to run courses through CIM. CIM is seeking to extend its franchise and there may well be other institutions looking at co-operative routes to run their courses. This therefore raises the need to have a better understanding of the market through CIM. However, if we have other entries in we need to ensure the academic quality of the entry requirement.
 

Action point: Judith will circulate the PGDip syllabus so that the marketing group can see what level CIM students would have reached.

As Figure 1 shows, the three compulsory courses will be:

§         STRATEGY (B820) - as marketing and corporate strategy very closely parallel each other, and marketers are inevitably involved in discussions with senior management about such strategies, this course (the core course for the MBA) is an essential ingredient for the MA. Students will, therefore, follow exactly the same syllabus on B820 as those on the MBA.

§         MARKETING IN A COMPLEX WORLD (B825).  Students will follow the same syllabus as the MBA, with the (administered) exception that they will be restricted to taking two selected electives instead of any two of the range on offer.

§         A NEW COURSE (B82X) which will take elements (Book 1 only) of 'The Challenge of the External Environment' (B885) and selected electives from B825. This course will only be available on the MA (Marketing). 

The final course will be a free choice to be chosen from the whole range offered on the MBA programme.  This will allow students to widen their experience.

 

3   Timetable Issues and Resources

The plan was launch in 2000K but there were concerns about launching too early as it would mean there was insufficient learning about B825 from the market and at least one presentation of B825 was needed in order to see response to it from the market.  However, it was noted that there was no more risk than for any other course but B82X will be studied last in the presentation round.

Two issues were raised:

§         The question of risk – however, it was felt that this was minimised as B825 was already ahead of schedule and B885 was a well established course.  The elective elements of B825 were not felt to be a problem, although students had not yet studied them.

§         Resourcing – it was felt that resources would be a problem.  However, the peak loads are the 3^rd quarter this year and the 3^rd quarter next year.  As the writing of the new course doesn’t fit in this period there shouldn’t be a problem.
 

4   Programme board and course teams

The formal proposal, that shows this is a valid academic programme, should be submitted to the MBA Board (which has already indicated its support in principle). However, research was needed to see how many CIM students will actually sign up to the MA, as it would not be viable if there were less than 200 students.

Action point: David will ask Colin Gray to undertake research with CIM members to establish uptake (this should be done in conjunction with David Sagar at CIM).

Action point: David and Richard will present the final proposal (subject to the other action points being satisfactory) to the Autumn MBA Board, so that it may be forwarded, if approved, to the Autumn School Board.

As B82X was a new course, a formal proposal should also be submitted for this. It was anticipated that the course team for this will be made up of a combination of members of the B825 and B885 teams (which already overlap extensively and largely include members of the Academic Marketing Group).

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