Dr Ian G Giles BSc Hons (First Class), PhD
Emeritus Fellow
Ian G Giles BSc PhD PFHEA is an Emeritus Professorial Fellow within Medicine Education.
My academic background in the biomedical sciences (Physiology and Biochemistry) involved me teaching both Medical and Science students. In 1989 I was one of five academic staff members charged with introducing the systems based medical education for which Southampton was renown. I was a founder member of the Medical Education Development Unit (MEDU) when it was established in 1996 to focus on enhancing the student experience and the teaching of medicine.
In 2003 I was appointed Associate Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences when this academic role was established in Southampton. In 2004 I was one of the first two people to be promoted to the newly created academic title, University Director of Education; a University of Southampton title for a professorial level position that focused on internal institutional leadership of Learning and Teaching. My area was Quality and the Learning Environment.
When I was Associate Dean (Education) for the Faculty of Medicine, Health & Biological Sciences (MHLS) I had a major responsibility for Quality Assurance and Enhancement of the Educational provision for 5 academic schools: Biological Sciences; Health Professions and Rehabilitation Sciences; Medicine; Nursing & Midwifery; and Psychology. In my role as Associate Dean, and continuing since, I have had considerable experience chairing joint validation events including health and social care PSRBs: including the NMC, HPC, COT, CSP, Society of Podiatrists, BPS.
As well as being Associate Dean I also spent a period as acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) and was the Director of the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit. In this role I was the institutional contact for the QAA, the Higher Education Academy, and for the NSS, PTES and PRES student surveys.
After taking early retirement I have remained active within the HE sector. As well as being a QAA Associate and HER reviewer, I gained my Principal Fellowship of the HEA in August 2014 through the Southampton PREP framework that I was instrumental in setting up. I have worked with several other universities advising on their staff development and recognition frameworks mapped to the UK Professional Standards Framework.
I was the specialist author for Chapters B3: Learning & Teaching and B5: Student Engagement of the 2012 version of the UK Quality Code and I worked on the early stages of a QAA MOOC toolkit. I produced a document entitled “The making of a MOOC”. I have helped several institutions in their preparation for QAA reviews, including the Higher Education Review. Currently, I am a scrutineer for Taught and Research Degree Awarding Powers overseen by the QAA on behalf of the Privy Council.
My latest activity for the University of Southampton was to conduct a confidential review in Dalian, China for the Vice-President (Education and the Student Experience) in July 2018.
I have experience of working with international partners relating to Quality Enhancement and Quality Assurance, including Medical Education, in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Spain, China, Malaysia and Libya. In 2015 I was a member of the QAA team that visited Mauritius to undertake a review of their tertiary education sector, including the regulatory bodies on behalf of the government of Mauritius. In 2019 I will be returning to Mauritius as an expert panel member organised by the Mauritian Tertiary Education Commission to comment on proposed programmes in the areas of Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology and Pharmacology.
Qualifications
- BSc Hons (First Class), Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Southampton, 1970
- PhD, Biochemistry, University of Southampton, 1974
- Institute of Managing and Leading Education, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, 2005
- Principal Fellowship Higher Education Academy, 2014
Appointments held
- Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education) , University of Southampton (2008)
- Director , Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit, University of Southampton (2007-2011)
- Associate Dean (Education) , Faculty of Medicine, Health & Life Sciences, University of Southampton (2003-2007)
- University Director of Education (Quality and the Learning Environment), University of Southampton (2004-2011)
- Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry , School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton (1986-2004)
- Lecturer in Biochemistry , School of Biochemical and Physiological Sciences, University of Southampton (1976-1986)
Major Internal Academic Roles held
- One of 5 members charged with introducing the revised BM curriculum (1989-1990)
- Coordinator of the Foundation term of the BM curriculum (1990-2003)
- Coordinator of years 1&2 of the BM curriculum (1995-2003)
- Director of Learning and Teaching , Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences, University of Southampton (2000-2003)
- Deputy Head of School (Education) , School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton (2002-2003)
Major External Roles held
- Assistant editor , International Journal of Biochemistry (1985-93)
- Assistant editor , Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology [B] Biochemistry (1991-93)
- QAA Specialist Subject Reviewer – Medicine, Molecular and Organismal Biosciences (1999-2002)
- QAA Institutional Auditor (2002-2004)
- Reviewer QAA Institutional Review, England and Northern Ireland (2011-2013)
- Reviewer for QAA Higher Education Review (2013 to present)
- QAA Associate (2012 to present)
- Specialist author for Chapters B3 and B5 of the 2012 UK Quality Code
- Taught & Research Degree Awarding Powers Scrutineer (2015 to present)
- Co-optee on the UK HEFCE Quality, Accountability and Regulatory Strategic Advisory Committee (QARSAC) to provide peer review input into the newly introduced Annual Provider Review process. (2017-demise of HEFCE in 2018)
I was on the national steering group of two HEA subject centres: SWAP: Social Policy and Social Work and LLAS: Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, until these closed when the HEA discontinued the Subject Network in the summer of 2011