Timetabling and Room Booking Policy

Timetabling & Room Booking Policy

The Timetabling & Room Booking Policy was approved by UBTLSE in January 2025 for the building and publication of the 2025/6 timetable.

Background to formulation of the policy

In advance of the 2022/3 academic year, the Timetabling & Room Booking Team undertook consultation with Schools to understand the factors that were important to them in timetabling, and the times of year at which they were best able to engage in timetabling-related activities. That consultation resulted in a series of recommendations which were implemented for the 2022/3 timetable build and continued into the production of the 2023/4 timetable. The Timetabling & Room Booking Policy builds on the recommendations which were implemented for 2022/3.

Consultation

The Policy has been drafted as part of the Enabling Operations Workstream of the Portfolio Review Pathway. Consultation was undertaken via the following channels:

Enabling Operations Workstream
CILT (Committee for Infrastructure in Learning and Teaching) and its sub-committee SCELTI
DELT (Sub-Committee on Delivery and Enhancement of Learning and Teaching)
SDTLs
SDAT Community of Practice
Conversations with Estates, Disability Advisory Service, Health & Safety Services, DTS, CQSD, and other teams in Student Services

Policy key principles

The key principles for the policy were ordained by Peter Miskell, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education & Student Experience. These are:

That a 鈥榬ight first-time' approach is central to a timetabling policy.
That a consistent, regular weekly pattern of teaching is the desired mode of delivery for the majority of modules.
That essential programme activities should be timetabled.
That post-publication changes to the timetable should be kept to an absolute minimum.
That the University must make efficient use of its resources to achieve the required growth in student numbers.

Frequently asked questions about the timetable for staff can be found on the FAQs page.