This document includes information for Colleges, School of Health, CULC and CUG

For 2025-26 the various Curriculum Transformation Projects mean there will be a lot of changes that affect how courses are timetabled. This document summarises this information for academic staff.

With 20 Buildings, 1045 Rooms and about 1.5 million teaching hours to schedule, timetabling is always a complex process. Due to the substantial changes and delivery planned for post September 2025, it is more critical than ever that timetabling teams receive clear and complete information as early as possible.  Timetable construction is a complex process that relies heavily on timely and accurate data.

To ensure the successful delivery of timetables across all courses, deadlines have been set to provide timetabling teams with sufficient time to complete their work.  When these deadlines are missed the quality and accuracy of the final timetables are impacted. 

For all areas the timetabling team have agreed processes for how to collect the information they need. It is important that all staff follow these processes closely and meet the deadlines issued for each timetabling period so that timetables can be produced in time for checking and issued on time to students.

1. Contents

2            Key Changes  for 2025-26

2.1        Changes to block delivery

2.2        Changes to intakes

2.3        Changes to dates for blocks/ semesters

2.4        Colleges Level 6 (Third year Undergraduate) Curriculum Transformation running for the first time

3            Block formats and teaching hours

3.1        Legacy –Course Codes

3.2        Delivery Locations

3.3        CUG teaching hours

3.4        Carousel Models – PGT

3.5        Contact hours for PG CTP

3.6        Wednesday afternoons

3.7        CMI Modules

3.8 Course Hour (Colleges/ SHC & CULC)

3.9        Other talks/ events that are not linked to modules

3.10        Attaching Off Campus Events to a student timetable

4            The Teaching Week

4.1        Standard teaching day , week and start and end times

4.2        Wednesday Afternoons

5            Key information needed for timetabling

5.1        Teaching/ session types and attendance monitoring

5.2        Course Codes and intakes

6            Assessments

6.1        On campus Assessments

6.2        Group work

7            Assigning students to groups – including block delivery and ‘Cluster’ modules      

7.1        Processes for timetabling group set up

7.2        Groups for modules taken by more than one course

7.3        Groups for modules taken by multiple intakes

8            Links to other documents/ resources

2          Key Changes  for 2025-26

2.1       Changes to block delivery

From September 2025, many Postgraduate (PG) courses and SHC undergraduate (UG) courses have undergone Curriculum Transformation, moving to Block Delivery structure for new students. 

Please refer to the details on the Office of Teaching and Learning Staff Portal site – PGCTP  and also SHC CTP.

Note that existing students on PG and SHC UG courses will remain on semesterised delivery- these will be referred to as “legacy”. 

2.2       Changes to intakes

In line with the introduction of the 6 block system many PGT courses will now have 6 intakes

2.3       Changes to dates for blocks/ semesters

• CUG – retains planned start dates for 2025-26, where teaching for Block 1 commences Monday 8^th September for 6 weeks.  This means CUG blocks will not be fully aligned with the college/ SHC blocks. CUG will align with all parts of the business from September 2026.
• Colleges/ SHC and CULC teaching will commence on Monday 15^th September 2025, for both Block and Semesterised teaching. For CULC this will be a week earlier than in previous years.
• Colleges/ SHC and CULC (not including SHC) – UG teaching remains on semesterised delivery for this academic year. 
• SHC – has undergone curriculum transformation where the majority of UG and PG are moving to the new Block delivery from September 2025.  This School will have courses also remaining on the semesterised (legacy) delivery.

2.4       Colleges Level 6 (Third year Undergraduate) Curriculum Transformation running for the first time

• Most college undergraduate courses were re-written for September 2023 entry and the final year of these courses will be running for the first time in 2025-26.
• This will mean some changes to the modules running and spaces required etc. compared to previous years.
• Add+Vantage is not part of the new courses so from September 2025 these modules will not be needed for most UG students. However,  there may be a requirement for some level 5 & 6 modules to be scheduled for those students who temporarily withdraw or did not pass.  So, please remember to keep a slot free /or only used for activities with alternative time slots available.

3          Block formats and teaching hours

3.1       Legacy –Course Codes

Courses classified as legacy will continue to be delivered in their existing semesterised format. This applies to all students who enrolled on these programmes prior to July 2025 and who will be continuing their studies into the 2025/26 academic year. These courses will remain in the semesterised structure until the completion of the enrolled students’ studies.

3.2       Delivery Locations

From September 2025, all courses will now be defined by their delivery location.  These will help with reporting moving forward.

As part of the PG Curriculum Transformation, the business is moving to single course codes with several delivery locations.  

Course codes will generally start with the College/Entity initials eg:

Initially only  SHC  will have courses with the same course code running at different locations ( Main Campus, Scarborough,Hudson).  So, eg. SHCT321, may be linked to delivery locations UNI, UNIL and CUSC. It is important that information provided to timetabling makes it clear which locations each course will be delivered at and the event information for each location.

3.3       CUG teaching hours

CUG – Teaching will consist of 20 hours per student per week of one module per block.  The current model is split as:

• CUL – 2.5days per week on campus (with caveat that some larger courses move online for the latter 4 hours of tutorials).
• CUSC/CUC/WRO – 5 x 4hours across the week, either AM or PM delivery, including 4 hours of tutorials. 

3.4       Carousel Models – PGT

Following the curriculum transformation, the PGT block delivery will run on a few clearly defined carousel modules. 

• Full Carousel with 6 modules delivered in any order
• C30 = Carousel with 30 credit project at the end.
• C60 = Carousel with 60 credit project delivered in the last 2 blocks

Exceptions- a small number of courses have received approval to operate a different pattern.  The timetabling team will not action these unless confirmation of the agreed approval is provided by the PVC.  This is not a “choice” to be made by schools / colleges.

Details of carousel models are provided on the OTL webpages- linked here

3.5       Contact hours for PG CTP

Courses will run one module per block, with courses having 6 x 30 credit modules, or 4 x 30 credit modules + 1 x 60 credit module.

All modules will be delivered in block delivery format over 6 weeks of study, except for double 60 credit modules, which will be delivered over 2 consecutive blocks of study. Note that the course hour also needs to be scheduled each block- see notes below.

Only one module will be delivered within each block of study to each cohort of learners.

Total Contact hours – modules will be delivered across 2 days, with a mix of 8-12hours per week, depending on which College/Entity.  These 2 days must also include the Course Hour.  The 2 days must not be consecutive, with at least 1 day between, to allow students time to reflect and prepare for the next sessions.  

3.6       Wednesday afternoons

For Colleges/SHC, Wednesday afternoons need to be kept clear of mandatory teaching from 1300hrs for sport and other activities for UG students in both block and semesterised teaching formats.

PG teaching can be scheduled on Wednesday afternoons, providing they are not sport related courses.

It may also be possible to have some UG events scheduled on a Wednesday afternoon, providing there is approval from the Associate Dean or equivalent and there are other time slots available so that those who undertaking sport activities, can opt for the session that is not on Wednesday afternoons.

For CULC, Wednesday afternoons should be kept clear of mandatory teaching for UG beyond 1400hrs and PG beyond 1500hrs. There may be a requirement for some teaching to take place, if so, prior agreement with the Academic Dean is required.

For CUG, most sites operate minimal teaching on Wednesdays, whereas in CUL sites, currently some full teaching days are now utilised on a Wednesday

3.7       Course Hour (Colleges/ SHC & CULC)

All courses will incorporate a Course Hour to develop a sense of belonging and course identity with students.  The course hour should be timetabled within one of the 2 days of teaching days. The course hour will need to be attached to the module code running in that block, to ensure that the session shows on the students timetable.

It has been agreed that there will not be separate course hours for “new” students each block.  Instead the new students will be with the existing students. This ensures that existing students will be “reminded” of the information provided to the “new” students.

It has been agreed that all course hours for the 2025/26 academic year must be delivered face-to-face. This approach ensures consistency in student experience and supports the effective use of on-campus resources.

3.8       CMI modules

For several years CMI modules have been taken by most PGT students Where PGT courses are switching to block format the CMI content will now be within their course modules and not delivered as stand alone modules.

The CMI modules will still be running for some of the  PGT students who have not switched to block format. They will remain online via the AULA platform.  Some face to face support sessions may be provided, but it is not possible to add these support sessions to the students timetables due to the complexity of students from many different courses taking the same module.  Therefore, rooms will be booked on an adhoc basis for the member of staff taking the support session through timetabling.reg@coventry.ac.uk (subject to room availability) but students will not be attached to the booking.  The academic staff will therefore need to notify the students of the time and venue for these support sessions via the AULA platform.

3.9       Other talks/ events that are not linked to modules

Occasionally we are requested to add information in the timetable about events, such as career talks.  These events cannot be displayed on students timetables unless they are linked to a module running in that block / semester.  Therefore, please bear this in mind if you want such events to be displayed.

3.10       Attaching Off Campus Events to a student timetable

If students have events held off campus, we can usually attach these to the timetable so that they are visible to students.  This includes field trips or other offsite events.  All events that form part of the students structured teaching hours should normally appear on the timetable. 

Note: for any sessions like these which take place off campus, attendance should be recorded manually via Sonic, to ensure attendance is captured.

Note that

• The sessions must be linked to a module running that block / semester, otherwise the session will not show on students timetable, nor will the session show on Sonic for manual attendance to be recorded.
• Some off campus venues are already added within the Timetabling system, so we can display this information on the timetables.  We do have the ability to add / create new venues if requested.
• When teaching sessions are delivered off campus and attendance tracking is required, it is essential to allocate a “dummy room” in the system. This allows tutors to manually record attendance using Sonic, as the usual attendance monitoring system, Touchpoint, cannot be used in off-site locations due to the absence of scanners. To ensure accurate attendance records and avoid disruptions, please notify the timetabling team in advance when an off-campus session is scheduled and requires attendance monitoring.
• Tutors are responsible for manually editing attendance in Sonic for these sessions to ensure student participation is accurately captured.

4          The Teaching Week

4.1       Standard teaching day, week and start and finish times

We expect most teaching to continue to be scheduled between

• CULC Monday- Friday 10:00-19:00
• Other areas Monday – Friday 9:00-18:00

All areas should expect to have taught face to face sessions timetabled across the week and not just use more popular slots.  Analysis of timetables is carried out to monitor this and areas who have unfairly low use of less popular slots or days may have their timetables changed.

Timetabling teams will work closely with academic management to determine the appropriate teaching days, where possible, for each course/groups. These decisions will be influenced by several factors, including the availability of suitable teaching spaces.

Start and finish times

• All teaching must start on the hour – no  teaching will be scheduled on the half hour
• All teaching events must finish at 10 to the hour (e.g. at 9:50, 10:50 etc.) to allow for timely evacuation of the rooms and movement to next class
• In most spaces start times will be set to avoid leaving 1 hours slots in the day that are difficult to use. For example, 2 hour lectures can start at 9:00 or 11:00 but not at 10:00

4.2       Wednesday Afternoons

For Colleges/SHC, Wednesday afternoons need to be kept clear of mandatory teaching from 1300hrs for sport and other activities for UG students in both block and semesterised teaching formats.

PG teaching can be scheduled on Wednesday afternoons, providing they are not sport related courses.

It may also be possible to have some UG events scheduled on a Wednesday afternoon, providing there is approval from the Associate Dean or equivalent and there are other time slots available so that those who undertaking sport activities, can opt for the session that is not on Wednesday afternoons.

For CULC, Wednesday afternoons should be kept clear of mandatory teaching for UG beyond 1400hrs and PG beyond 1500hrs. There may be a requirement for some teaching to take place, if so, prior agreement with the Academic Dean is required.

For CUG, most sites operate minimal teaching on Wednesdays, whereas in CUL sites, currently some full teaching days are now utilised on a Wednesday.

5           Key information needed for timetabling

5.1       Teaching/ session types and attendance monitoring

The majority of events shown on the student timetable are mandatory attendance, however some sessions will show as “optional/drop in”.  Events which are part of the students’ structured learning hours should normally be mandatory.  Other types of support events can be optional.

We use touchpoint monitoring in teaching spaces to capture the face to face attendance.  This is used for management reporting of attendance trends and to identify rooms which have been booked but not used.  It is also a data set used to identify students who are not attending who may need some intervention.  In some cases this is used for the Home Office / professional body reporting.

It is therefore important that all information on the timetable is correctly identified as optional / mandatory and that the correct students are attached for each event

There is a separate document on the knowledge base (linked here) which explains in detail how timetables need to be set up for attendance monitoring

5.2       Course Codes and intakes

It is important to ensure that the correct course codes and intakes are communicated to your timetabling team.  (Eg. Legacy = Sept, Jan or May intake, PGT = Sept, Nov, Jan, Mar, May, Jun).  Without this information, this will impact on the students not being able to see their timetable. 

6          Assessments

6.1       On campus Assessments

The new teaching and learning principles state that:

There will be no return to face-to-face examinations, except in cases where a Professional, Statutory, or Regulatory Body (PSRB) explicitly requires it.

Written examinations and other written assessments, including the majority of computer-administered exams – will not typically be conducted on campus.  Any department wishing to schedule rooms for such assessments must first obtain approval from the Associate Dean and provide documented evidence of this approval when making a room booking request.

Certain assessments, such as OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examinations) and some presentations, do require on-campus space.  If you are not using your standard module rooms for these assessments, please consult with the Timetabling Team prior to the block/ semester starting to confirm if space will be available. 

6.2       Group work

On-campus space for students to meet face-to-face for group work outside of scheduled classes will be limited.  Additionally, some commuting students may face challenges in attending campus for such meetings.

To ensure equity and accessibility, assessments should be designed to support effective remove collaboration.  Group activities and assessments must be structured in a way that allows all students to participate fully, regardless of their ability to attend in person.

7          Assigning students to groups – including block delivery and ‘Cluster’ modules

7.1       Processes for timetabling group set up

It is essential that student groups are set up accurately, particularly for courses that have block delivery or have a cluster of courses taking common modules. These groups not only support effective teaching and assessment, but may also be used within AULA to enable staff to engage with specific subgroups of students in large modules.

Please note that our CMIS timetabling software does not integrate with AULA. As a result we cannot directly transfer information of which students are in each group from  CMIS to AULA or vice versa. Any group structures required in AULA will need to be  uploaded manually. This process is managed by the AULA Support Team, not the Timetabling Team. Departments should liaise directly with the AULA team to ensure group data is correctly imported – this may require a download of groups from timetabling for departments to pass onto the AULA Support Team.

Within the current timetabling system (CMIS), the Timetabling Team is responsible for manually configuring course structures. This includes mapping each module instance (defined by module code and semester/block) to the appropriate course stage and intake period. Additionally, the team sets up the group structure for each module and course.

Once students have completed enrolment, they are allocated to groups by the Timetabling Team. Note that until this allocation (fitting) is completed students may appear in multiple groups. on the Sonic registers and sessions lists.

Please be aware that this allocation process can take up to 48 hours post-enrolment, as updates from the student records system are not currently immediate. We anticipate improvements in this process as we transition to a new timetabling supplier in the future.

7.2       Groups for modules taken by more than one course

Where modules are taken by students from multiple courses, students will be allocated to course-specific groups. If there is more than one group per course students will be put into those groups randomly.

Groups should be set up with consistency in mind. Where possible, students will remain in the same groups across modules from block to block/ semester to semester, supporting continuity in learning and collaboration.

Occasionally we may be able to accommodate an alternative approach, but this must be formally requested and approved in advance by senior academic management and the Timetabling Managers. Where this is approved, any manual lists of which students should be in each group must be provided well in advance of the start of teaching by the course team and the students must already be enrolled and available in the timetabling systems. This ensures that students have information on their sessions in good time and attendance monitoring works correctly. These limitations mean that such provision cannot be made for the first modules that students take when they enrol.

7.3       Groups for modules taken by multiple intakes

With Block delivery for PG CTP there will be students from different intakes in the same modules. Where these modules have more than one group, timetabling may be able to put the different intakes into different groups or into the same group. You will need to confirm with your timetabling teams which approach to take.

8          Links to other documents/ resources

Details of curriculum transformation process – on the Office of Teaching and Learning Staff Portal site – PGCTP  and also SHC CTP.

• These include details of the carousel models – linked here

Attendance guidance documents

·       Attendance monitoring- Academic Staff guidance

Timetabling teams contact details linked here

Suggestions/ Corrections for this document

If you have any information about changes/ additions needed to this document please contact Claire Lovick aa0306@coventry.ac.uk