BAICE 2004 AGM

3 September 2004, University of Sussex

Present:  Professor Michael Crossley [outgoing Chair] and Professor Clive Harber [incoming Chair] and members as listed in the Minute file

Professor Crossley was pleased to see so many people attending the AGM and welcomed members and potential members alike.

 1.         Apologies:  None received

2.         Minutes of the 2003 AGM:  Minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 2003 were approved.

3.         Matters arising:

3.1       Financial Review – it was agreed that this item would be covered under the Treasurer’s     Report.

3.2       Honorarium for editors of Compare – it was noted that this was being taken forward by the Executive Committee.

 4.        Executive Committee Membership:

 4.1      Election of Chair and Vice Chair:  It was noted that Professor Michael Crossley had now completed his term of office as the Association’s Chair.  In consequence, the Secretary reported that the current Vice Chair, Professor Clive Harber, had been duly elected as Chair to serve for the next two years.  Professor Rosalind Pritichard had been duly elected as Vice Chair for the same term.

 4.2       Election of Ordinary Members: It was reported that, following the appropriate election procedure, Dr Eleonore Arthur (The Open University), Dr Anil Khamis (The Institute of Education) and Dr Leon Tikly (University of Bristol) had all been duly elected to serve on the Executive Committee for a three-year term as replacements for Executive members who had stepped down.

 4.3       Student Representative:  It was reported that, from 2004, a representative from the student   membership would be co-opted onto the Executive Committee following an election from their number at the annual Student Forum.  The current Membership Secretary, Angeline Barrett, would facilitate this for the current period.

 4.4       Appointment of an Honorary Treasurer:  It was reported that Dr Ulrike Niens had agreed to take over from Dr Arthur as the next Treasurer of the Association.

5.         BAICE President 2004/05:  It was reported that Professor Christopher Colclough had been approached and would be pleased to act as the Association’s President for the academic year 2004-2005.  His experience and expertise was considered to be especially apposite in view of the theme of next year’s Oxford Conference.  Members present whole-heartedly supported this proposal and confirmed the appointment.

6.         Report from the Chairs:  Professor Crossley reported that the Association was in a very strong       position.  Membership had grown steadily over the past three years and thanks were offered to Angeline Barrett for her pro-active contribution to this as Membership Secretary.  Thanks were also given to Dr Lore Arthur who was stepping down as Treasurer.  Lore had worked hard to consolidate the Association’s finances and had instituted a system of annual audit, which had put the Association on a strong financial footing.  Lore was also thanked for her commitment to induct the newly appointed Treasurer, Dr Ulrike Niens from the University of Ulster, who was thanked for agreeing to take over the responsibility.  Compare was going from strength to strength and was gaining increased international recognition.  Thanks were given to Drs Caroline Dyer and Rosemary Preston for their hard work and enthusiasm, together with Rosemary’s successor Professor Karen Evans.  Rosemary was also thanked for her hard work in helping to organise the 12th WCCS Conference in Cuba.  The Association had been very active in supporting this both through members presenting papers and through offering additional funds, administered by Rosemary, including competitive bursaries to young scholars to help defray costs.  Thanks were extended to Dr Pauline Rose and Fran Hunt for their work in establishing and developing the increasingly important BAICE website.  Links with other related associations such as UKFIET and the British Educational Research Association (BERA) had been strengthened through joint events and conferences.  Professor Lynn Davies was thanked for her contribution as the Association’s President over the past year and thanks were also extended to Joanna Le Metais who had stepped down from a successful term of office on the Executive Committee following her retirement.  A welcome was also extended to the three new Members of the Executive.  Finally, Dr Fiona Leach and colleagues were thanked for their organisation of the current conference and a stimulating three days were looked forward to.

The incoming Chair, Professor Clive Harber, thanked Professor Crossley for his contribution to the continuing success of the Association during his time as Chair and made a presentation on behalf of members.  Professor Harber looked forward to the next two years as Chair and undertook to address the growing issue of the best way to use the Association’s surplus funds.

7.         Treasurer’s Report:  Dr Lore Arthur circulated a Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31st July 2004 audited by Coppers &Co.  During her term of office the Treasurer had consolidated several small Association accounts so that there now existed two main bank accounts: one for BAICE, and one for Compare.  She advised that some thought could be given to opening a savings account for surplus funds, but that no advantage would be gained from seeking charitable status at this point.  However, some thought should be given to enabling subscription payments to be made in Euros.

8.         Report from the Membership Secretary:  Angeline Barrett circulated a membership report highlighting an increase in full and student membership bringing the current total to 191.    Membership had increased for three main reasons:

  • one day conferences providing opportunities for recruitment;
  • new members attracted through this year’s BAICE conference;and
  • the website making application forms easily available.

Members were encouraged to pay their subscriptions by standing order, which over half now did, in order to ease the administrative load.

9.        Report from the Editors of Compare:  Dr Caroline Dyer reported on the healthy flow of articles for Compare.  The page budget had been increased from 2006, which would enable an extra paper to be included in each issue.  Next year would see special issues from both the 2003 Oxford Conference and from the 2004 BAICE Conference.  Help would be needed with peer reviewing.  There were no vacancies at present on the International Advisory Board but four new members had been appointed to the Editorial Board: Birgit Pepin, Gita Kingdon, Andy Green and Mairead Dunne.  Professor Karen Evans had been appointed as co-editor, in the place of Dr Rosemary Preston, for an initial period of three years.  Caroline thanked Rosemary for her unstinting work on Compare and announced her own resignation following a new post at the University of Leeds.  Anna Robinson-Pant had been approached to take over in her place.

10.       Report on BAICE website:  Dr Pauline Rose thanked Fran Hunt for her help in developing the BAICE website and encouraged members to send her suitable material for future inclusion.

11.    Forthcoming events:

 Oxford Conference 2005:  This was being held in association with UKFIET on the theme of ‘Learning and Livelihood’.  So far there had been an excellent and encouraging response to requests for papers and symposia.

BAICE One Day Conferences: It was reported that three one day conferences had been funded in 2004 at Oxford, Edinburgh and London.  £200 to £300 was available from the Association’s funds to help with the organisation of such events and proposals for future events would be welcomed from members via the Chair or the Secretary.

BAICE Conference 2006:  It was noted that planning for this needed to start shortly and proposals to host this event should be addressed to the Chair or the Secretary as soon as possible.

12.   Any Other Business:  Peter Williams raised the issue of an official response from the Association to the Secretary of State’s strategy paper on International Education to be released on 10th November.  It was agreed that members who had an interest or knowledge in this area should brief the Chair who could co-ordinate an official response.

Rosemary Preston reminded members of the opportunity provided by the 12th WCCS Conference to be held in Cuba in October.

14.       Date of next Annual General Meeting:  Oxford Conference, 13-15 September 2005.

[attachments fields=”id,label,title,size” title=”BAICE 2004AGM Minutes”]