Regulations Governing Departmental Management Structures

(1)    The Vice-Chancellor has nominated the Deputy Vice-Chancellor as the individual to whom Heads of Departments shall be responsible in the first instance.

(2)    The Head of Department will be responsible for the following:

(a)    academic management of all departmental programmes

(b)    strategy and planning of the academic and support functions

(c)    effective financial management including allocation and deployment of resources within procedures set out in the University’s Financial Regulations

(d)    management of all staff to ensure the proper execution of their duties within procedures and policies approved from time to time by the University

(e)    development of all staff through promotion or performance management systems as approved from time to time by Council

(f)    promotion of the University’s commitment to equal opportunities and its statutory obligations under anti-discrimination legislation.

(3)   The Head of Department shall appoint a management group to advise her/him.  Members of the management group will be responsible to the Head of Department.  The Head shall determine the structure of the management groups and methods of appointing members.

(4)   The Head of Department shall normally appoint a Deputy who will be a member of the management group.  The Head shall determine the methods of appointing the Deputy to meet the particular needs and circumstances of the departments. 

(5)   The Head of Department may delegate defined areas of responsibility to the Deputy, members of a management group, other members of department and in general determine the administrative and management structures and processes within the department.  Where the Head delegates defined tasks he/she shall be responsible for ensuring appropriate mechanisms are in place for the proper execution of these duties.

(6)    The Head of Department shall publish details of departmental management structures and decision-making procedures.

Staff Consultation

(7)   Each Department shall have a Departmental Council which shall meet at least once a term on dates agreed annually in advance.  In addition to ordinary meetings, one extraordinary meeting of the Departmental Council a term shall be called if requested by at least one-third of the members of the Department. For all meetings of Departmental Councils formal agenda papers shall be published in advance and formal minutes shall be kept.

(8)   The membership and role of the Departmental Council shall be determined by the Head of Department by a mechanism of his/her choosing subject to approval by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor having regard to the following principles:

(a)    no powers vested in a Departmental Council can supersede the responsibility of a Head for departmental management;

(b)    the Departmental Council should reflect the range of staff categories employed in the department;

(c)    all members of the Departmental Council should have similar rights.

(9)   Each Department:

(a)    shall appoint members to the appropriate University Committees and working groups and to such other bodies as the Department may be represented on from time to time.

(b)    shall establish machinery, including a Staff and Student Liaison Committee, to facilitate consultation with students about syllabus matters and other details relating to the courses they are studying.

(c)    may pass resolutions on any other matter for consideration at an appropriate Sub-Faculty, Undergraduate Studies Committee, Graduate Studies Committee or Board of Faculty.