Site Visits
The main purposes of a site visit are to:
- Verify the degree to which the course complies with NUCAP guidelines;
- Confirm that content within the application is an accurate reflection of the course and the academic unit;
- Consult with the academic unit regarding items contained within interim reports and issues raised at the site visit as appropriate;
- Confirm with the head of the academic unit any outstanding matters to address and suggest solutions as appropriate.
Three appropriately experienced assessors, comprising an academic (normally level D or E), a senior practitioner and NUCAP staff member will visit the academic unit. The assessors may need to take photographs as they prepare documentation for the report.
Preparing for a site visit
A site visit is normally conducted over a two day period, with the site visit team arriving around 9am and finishing at approximately 5pm each day. The site visit team will require a centrally located meeting room, together with on-hand copies of unit outlines, laboratory manuals, student handbooks and any other useful documentation. It would also be appreciated if refreshments and lunch could be provided for the site visit team – the academic unit will be reimbursed for these expenses.
We would be grateful if you could organise the following schedule of activities for the two day visit.
Day 1
| Start |
Finish |
|
|---|---|---|
| 9:00am | 9:30am | Meeting with head of AU, head of department/school and dean of the faculty or pro-vice-chancellor/deputy vice-chancellor as relevant to academic unit. |
| 9:30am | 10:30am | Tour of facilities including teaching and research laboratory spaces, dedicated exercise and sports science tutorial rooms and the library. |
| 10:30am | 10:45am | Break |
| 10:45am | 12:45am | Meeting with academic staff (including key sessional staff). Please note that the head of the AU should not attend this session. For applications that also include a clinical exercise physiology (EP) course this session can be divided into two parts – please contact the NUCAP manager to discuss this. |
| 12:45am | 13:30pm | Lunch |
| 13:30pm | 14:30pm | Meeting with principal coordinator of the course/s. |
| 14:30pm | 14:45pm | Break |
| 14:45pm | 15:15pm | Quality assurance as relevant to the academic unit and the application. For example, this session may involve meeting with the chair of the teaching and learning committee and/or the overseer of the internal and external course review process. |
| 15:15pm | 16:00pm | Meeting with staff responsible for the work experience program. |
| 16:00pm | 17:00pm | The site assessment team may request to meet again with one or more academic staff member(s). |
Day 2
| Start | Finish | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00am | 9:30am | Meeting with principal support staff, representing administration, technical and information technology. |
| 9:30am | 10:30am | Meeting with two students from each year of the course and two recent graduates who have been working in a related field for at least one year but no longer than 3 years. |
| 10:30am | 10:45am | Break |
| 10:45am | 11:45am | Meeting with an appropriately representative group of work experience supervisors. There must be at least six members in this group and they must best represent the breadth of work experience placements available to students. |
| 11:45am | 12:30am | Lunch |
| 12:30am | 13:00pm | Overview of site visit findings with head of academic unit. |
| 13:00pm | 17:00pm | Site visit team may meet to finalise details of the site visit. |
The site visit team would appreciate it if a schedule could be sent to the NUCAP manager at least one week before the site visit, detailing the names of each person attending each session. For all academic staff listed, please note next to each, the unit/s of study they coordinate. It is also helpful if all persons meeting with the site visit team are wearing name tags.
