IMA: Programme Approval

The Institute’s Programme Approval scheme approves university degree programmes from which all its graduates will meet the educational requirements for the Chartered Mathematician (CMath) designation

The following information is relevant to universities applying for approval for the first time and those wishing to renew their existing approval. It is also available as a PDF document in the ‘Downloads’ box on the right hand side of this page.

Approval is granted by the Chair of the Institute’s Higher Education Service Area (HEdSA) committee (or other nominated person), based on the recommendations of an external academic, and is provided at two levels:

i) Approved by the Institute to meet the educational requirements of the Chartered Mathematician designation. (This normally corresponds to integrated masters (MMath etc.) degree programmes.)

ii) Approved by the Institute to meet the educational requirements of the Chartered Mathematician designation when followed by subsequent training and experience in employment to obtain competencies to those specified by the QAA for taught masters degrees. (This normally corresponds to Bachelor degrees.)

Programme Approval is designed to be undertaken as part of a department’s 'Periodic Programme Review' and carried out by an external academic. External assessment is a pre-requisite for Programmes that are eligible for the Chartered Scientist (CSci) designation. The Programme Approval process for Chartered Mathematician therefore includes external assessment to align CMath to CSci.

Approval is granted for up to six years, to coincide with the cycle of the ‘Periodic Programme Review’.

The scheme is open to universities in the United Kingdom. For universities in Scotland, the content of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th years shall be considered for the decision on approval of the degree.

The Institute does not charge for running the Programme Approval scheme although we do request that the travel expenses of the external academic are met. This should be clarified between the external academic and the university before nomination.

Criteria for Approval
To be considered for approval, degree programmes must;

i) Be an honours degree, of at least three years duration.

ii) Mathematical topics must normally constitute at least two-thirds of the total content at each stage of the course. If any particular year has less than this it can be compensated for in later years.

iii) Degree programmes should satisfy the relevant version of the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications and the current QAA benchmark for Mathematics, Statistics and Operational Research at the appropriate level (Bachelors, integrated Master etc). Further details can be found at www.qaa.ac.uk/.

External Academic(s)
Universities seeking approval must nominate an external academic who is acceptable to the Institute; the nominee should have sufficient experience of the academic requirements for CMath and be a Fellow of the Institute or have gained equivalent professional experience.

Your nominee will automatically be accepted if they are a Fellow of the Institute and Chartered Mathematician. The Institute maintains a list of CMath FIMA academics that would be prepared to receive an invitation to join a University’s periodic review process.

If your nominee is not a Fellow of the Institute and Chartered Mathematician, their full curriculum vitae should be submitted, to be reviewed by the Institute’s HEdSA committee.

Universities may choose whether the external academic sits as a full member of the panel or as an observer on behalf of the Institute. External academic(s) sitting as a full member of the panel must adhere to QAA’s Codes of Practice.

Note that current external examiners are not normally allowed to review degree programmes for approval, as their External Examiner’s Reports will normally form part of the “evidence” submitted as part of the review process.

Guidelines on the Programme Approval scheme will be issued to external academics.

How to Apply/Renew Approval
Please complete the Programme Approval Application Form and submit this electronically to Vanessa Thorogood, Education Officer. Please provide a definitive list of nominated degree programmes and give degree titles in full.

A checklist for universities is available to help you through the approval process.

Approval Process
For programmes to be approved by the Institute, the external academic is required to assess whether the programmes meet the required mathematical content threshold, in addition to the normal requirements for revalidation of the programme.

Where possible the external academic should be included within discussions and receive relevant paperwork associated with the ‘Periodic Programme Review’, as this saves the preparation of any new documentation for the Institute’s Programme Approval process.

The external academic then makes their recommendations to the Institute, via a feedback form, for each degree programme the university lists for consideration of approval.

The summary report(s) is sent to the chair of HEdSA (or other nominated person), for approval to be granted.

If you have any additional questions concerning the scheme, please contact Vanessa Thorogood, Education Officer.