We had a second meeting of the academic group in late September, after an earlier organizational meeting.  We discussed TRAC. Inconsistencies between Colleges in terms of points assigned to leadership roles was acknowledged. Currently, there is room for devolved autonomy in School-specific activities. BUCU questioned the connection between TRAC and the actual workload allocation and whether increases in real work on the ground (e.g. based on increases in student numbers) is reflected in workload allocation models, since they are relative measures and since the link to actual working time has been eliminated (by using an abstract, point-based system).  An abstract measure can produce an indication of relative amounts of activity in teaching administration and research (which is what is needed for TRAC), but does not address the issue of absolute workloads, which is where our members have concerns. BUCU also highlighted the importance of having management principles to safeguard fairness, transparency and the right to dispute workloads at the local level. We asked that HSE management standards be considered. For the next meeting, it was agreed that the College-level frameworks for workload allocation would be shared with the BUCU.