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Rationale
Shafston requires an academic committee structure that promotes the goals of excellence and accountability in teaching and scholarship, quality in academic service delivery, strategic academic planning, and positive and productive relationships with external educational and professional bodies and industry partners. The Academic Board of Shafston shall be the premier academic forum for overseeing and discussing all academic matters, and for advising Council and the Company Directors on all matters of academic relevance and on the development of academic policies and procedures pertaining to the delivery of all academic services.
Terms of Reference
The Academic Board shall provide a general leadership role in all academic service delivery. It shall be responsible jointly to Council and the Company Directors for, and report to them on, the development and adoption of academic policies and procedures designed to ensure the highest quality of academic service delivery, enunciate the rights and responsibilities of both students and academic staff, and promote the academic standing of Shafston with employers, professional associations, accrediting authorities, and other stakeholders in the community with whom Shafston is, or might be, a partner. Subject to adoption of its report, it shall:
- Approve specific rules and regulations for, and academic content of, all academic programs and units of study offered at Shafston as Shafston academic programs;
- Approve significant changes to specific rules and regulations and academic content of Shafston academic programs;
- Approve specific rules and regulations pertaining to the academic conduct of students in Shafston academic programs;
- Approve the establishment of new academic disciplines, including related, new academic programs, and the disestablishment of existing academic disciplines, including existing academic programs;
- Approve the establishment of all professorial positions, if and when Shafston elects to use the title of professor, and develop policies that establish the criteria for such approval;
- Oversee all external accreditations of Shafston academic programs and, in doing so, ensure that all internal and external requirements for accreditation by professional associations and accrediting authorities are met;
- Oversee all matters relating to the conduct, assessment and continuous improvement of standards of teaching;
- Receive and consider reports from School Boards of Studies;
- In consultation with Shafston’s marketing divisions, ensure that all marketing materials accurately reflect the rules and regulations, academic content and accreditation status of Shafston academic programs;
- Develop and implement policies for continuous quality improvement, which ensure that academic services provided by Shafston aspire to be of the highest standard, and which inform its response to all external quality audits of its operations;
- Advise the senior executive on the academic implications of capital works and other infrastructure developments, and on the library, computing and physical infrastructure requirements of existing and new academic disciplines and programs;
- Advise on the delineation of, and nomenclature for, academic appointments, and the criteria to be applied in selection or promotion of academic staff to the various levels of appointment;
- Advise on long-term and short-term strategies for achieving Shafston’s academic objectives;
- Approve the list of graduands in Shafston academic programs who are eligible to have their award conferred by Council; and
- Advise on any other matters of an academic nature on which Council or the Company Directors from time to time may which to seek advice.
Membership
The inaugural membership of the Academic Board shall be:
- Executive Director (Academic) who shall be the Chair of the Board
- Honorary Fellows of Shafston appointed from time to time by the Council
- Heads of Schools
- Director of Studies, ELICOS
- Representative of sessional academic staff
- Representative of the Alumni
- Representative of currently enrolled students
Secretarial Services
The Executive Director (Academic) shall, in consultation with the senior executive, appoint a Shafston administrative staff member to act as minute secretary for the Academic Board and its committees. The minute secretary shall be in attendance at all meetings of the Academic Board, and in attendance, as required, at meetings of its committees, and shall have responsibility, as directed by the Chair, for the compilation and circulation of agenda and accompanying papers and the recording and circulation of minutes. The minute secretary shall not have rights of audience and debate.
Alternative Chairing Arrangements
Academic Board shall elect annually from its members who are full-time staff of Shafston a Deputy Chair, who shall discharge the duties of the Chair in the absence of the Executive Director (Academic).
Quorum
The quorum for meetings of the Academic Board shall be half the membership plus one.
Meeting Cycle
The Academic Board shall meet quarterly. Where possible, meetings shall be scheduled to coincide with the calendar requirements for approval of academic programs and adoption of graduation lists. The actual meeting times shall be at the call of the Chair, after consultation with members.
Standing Committee
There shall be a Standing Committee to whom the Academic Board shall delegate responsibility for any or all of its functions, which shall meet as required between scheduled Board meetings. The Standing Committee shall consist of the Chair, the Deputy Chair, Heads of Schools and Director of Studies (ELICOS). The Chair of the Academic Board shall chair meetings of the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee shall report all decisions and actions taken to the next available meeting of the full Academic Board.
Other Committees
The Academic Board may establish other standing or ad hoc committees as it deems fit.
Rights of Attendance, Audience and Debate
In the spirit of open academic governance, all full-time employees of Shafston shall have the right to attend meetings of the Academic Board. The Chair shall have sole discretion in deciding who, aside from members, shall have rights of audience and/or debate. Requests for these rights should normally be transmitted to, and discussed with, the Chair prior to the start of the meeting.
Period of Review
Council shall review this policy on the establishment, functions, membership and operation of the Academic Board if and as the need arises or when a period of three years from the policy’s initial implementation has elapsed. In addition, the Academic Board shall put in place procedures for an independent audit of its own operations and performance to be conducted at the end of its first three-year term with the outcome of the audit to be reported to Council.
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