Reporter 12/6/02: Report of the General Board on amendments to the regulations for Part III of the Natural Sciences Tripos relating to Chemistry: Notice

Report of the General Board on amendments to the regulations for Part III of the Natural Sciences Tripos relating to Chemistry: Notice

3 June 2002

The Council have considered the remarks made at the Discussion on 12 March 2002 (Reporter, p. 624) of the Report of the General Board dated 25 February 2002 on amendments to the regulations for Part III of the Natural Sciences Tripos relating to Chemistry (Reporter, p. 574) and have referred them to the General Board, who have agreed to comment as follows.

The General Board acknowledge the arguments put forward by the Head of Department of Chemistry in favour of the proposals contained in the Report.

In response to those remarks by Dr G. R. Evans that were related to the Report, the General Board point out that the proposal was properly and thoroughly deliberated upon by the appropriate bodies. The proposal, having been considered by the Faculty Board of Physics and Chemistry and then by the Strategic Committee for the Natural Sciences Tripos, was considered by the General Board's Education Committee in November 2001 and again in January 2002 in the light of comments from the Council and its Applications Committee, as indicated by Professor M. J. Grant in his remarks.

Dr Evans is correct that it is a new departure for marks from one Part of a Tripos to be carried forward to another. The General Board's Education Committee gave careful consideration to this key feature of the proposal for this very reason. The Committee are satisfied that its adoption constitutes a useful variation which can be accommodated within the general Tripos structure without adverse effects elsewhere and they draw attention to the specific circumstances of Chemistry in the Natural Sciences Tripos which are highlighted in the Report.

The Council deprecate the action of Dr Evans in making personal remarks about various individuals. The Council believe that such remarks are inappropriate to public occasions such as Discussions.

With the concurrence of the General Board, the Council are submitting a Grace (Grace 2, p. 906) to the Regent House for the approval of the recommendations set out in the General Board's Report.

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