Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Ordinance 7: Academic Bodies

Academic Bodies

There will be constituted, subject to the provisions of the Charter and the Statutes, such Faculties, Boards of the Faculties and Departments and such other bodies as the Council and Senate may from time to time consider necessary for the administration of teaching and research.

7.1: The Faculty Boards
(1) There will be a Faculty of Arts, a Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine and a Faculty of Social Sciences.
(2) Each Faculty will have a Board (‘Faculty Board’)
(3)

Each Faculty Board will appoint a Chair from the Faculty, who will be the Faculty Chair. The Faculty Chair will hold office for three years and will be eligible for reappointment. The Faculty Chair will hold office for no more than two consecutive terms of three years.

(4) Each Faculty Board will have the following powers and functions:
(a) To regulate, subject to the Statutes, the Ordinances and Regulations, and to review by the Senate, the teaching, research, curricula and examinations in the subjects prescribed for the Faculty.
(b) To recommend to the Senate examiners for appointment.
(c) To make recommendations to the Senate for the award of degrees (other than honorary degrees), diplomas, certificates and other distinctions in the subjects prescribed for the Faculty.
(d) To recommend to the Senate Departments to be constituted by the Council.
(e) To appoint members of the Faculty Board to be members of the Senate as provided for under Statute 7.
(f) To discharge such other functions as the Senate may from time to time determine.
(5) The membership of the Faculty Boards will be as follows:
(a) Board of the Faculty of Arts
  (i) The Vice-Chancellor ex officio.
  (ii) The Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Arts ex officio, who will Chair the Board
  (iii) The Deputy Chairs (Education, Research, and External Relations) ex officio.
  (iv) The Head and one other member of Academic Staff elected by and from each of the Departments of Classics and Ancient History, English and Comparative Literary Studies, History, the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, the School of Modern Languages and Cultures and the School for Cross-Faculty Studies.
  (v) The Chair, ex officio, and the Deputy Chair ex officio, of the Faculty Education Committee of the Board of the Faculty of Arts.
  (vi) One member of Academic Staff elected by and from the Department of Philosophy.
  (vii) Two members of Academic Staff, one to be elected by and from the Board of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine, and one by and from the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
  (viii) Up to five student members, at least one of whom will be a registered undergraduate student and at least one of whom will be a registered postgraduate student, elected in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Procedure for the Election of Student Members and Observers on the Boards of the Faculties. The student members will not participate in nor receive papers for any business affecting the appointment, promotion and personal affairs of individual members of staff of the University or affecting the admission, academic assessment or personal affairs of individual students.
  (ix) Up to three co-opted members, being members of Academic Staff, subject to the approval of the Senate.
(b) Board of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine
(i) The Vice-Chancellor ex officio.
(ii) The Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine ex officio, who will Chair the Board.
(iii)

The Deputy Chairs (Education, Research, and External Relations) ex officio.

(iv) The Head and one other member of academic staff elected by and from each of the Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology and Statistics; the Schools of Engineering, Life Sciences and Medicine; and the Warwick Manufacturing Group.
(v) The Chair of the Faculty Education Committee of the Board of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine, ex officio; two members of academic staff elected by and from the Faculty Education Committee of the Board of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine to represent undergraduate education; and two members of academic staff elected by and from the Faculty Education Committee of the Board of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine to represent postgraduate education.
(vi) Two members of Academic Staff, one by and from the Board of the Faculty of Arts, and one by and from the Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
(vii) Up to five student members, at least one of whom will be a registered undergraduate student and at least one of whom will be a registered postgraduate student, elected in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Procedure for the Election of Student Members and Observers on the Boards of the Faculties. The student members will not participate in nor receive papers for any business affecting the appointment, promotion and personal affairs of individual members of staff of the University or affecting the admission, academic assessment or personal affairs of individual students.
(viii) The Departments within the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine shall be the Departments of Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Psychology, Statistics, the School of Engineering, the School of Life Sciences, the School of Medicine and the Warwick Manufacturing Group.
(c) Board of the Faculty of Social Sciences
(i) The Vice-Chancellor ex officio.
(ii) The Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Social Sciences ex officio, who will Chair the Board.
(iii) The Deputy Chairs (Education, Research, and External Relations) ex officio.
(iv) The Head and one other member of Academic Staff elected by and from each of the Departments of Economics, Philosophy, Sociology, Politics and International Studies (PAIS), Warwick Foundation Studies (WFS), the School of Law, Warwick Business School (WBS) and the School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences (SELCS).
(v) The Director, ex officio, or another member of the Academic Staff nominated by the Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), the Institute for Employment Research (IER) and the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre.
(vi) The Chairs of the Faculty Education Committee of the Board of Social Sciences ex officio.
(vii) Two members of Academic Staff, one to be elected by and from the Board of the Faculty of Arts, one by and from the Board of the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
(viii) Up to five student members, at least one of whom will be a registered undergraduate student and at least one of whom will be a registered postgraduate student, elected in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Procedure for the Election of Student Members and Observers on the Boards of the Faculties. The student members will not participate in nor receive papers for any business affecting the appointment, promotion and personal affairs of individual members of the staff of the University or affecting the admission, academic assessment or personal affairs of individual students
(ix) Up to three co-opted members, being members of Academic Staff, subject to the approval of the Senate.
7.2: Departments

The Council will establish Departments on the recommendation of the Senate after consultation with the Faculty Boards

(1)

 

 

 

There will be the following Departments within each Faculty:

(a)

The Faculty of Arts

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/aboutus/

(b)

The Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/deptsandcentres/

(c)

The Faculty of Social Sciences

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/departmentsandresearchcentres/

(2)

The framework for the management structure of each Department and staff consultation mechanisms will be set out in Regulations.

(3)

The membership of a Department will consist of all of the employees of the University who at the 1st of October in any year hold a contract of employment in that Department of at least twelve months duration (or are seconded or otherwise assigned).

(4)

Where an individual holds a contract in more than one Department, that individual will be considered a member of all the Departments concerned, however, only one of the Heads of Department concerned will be considered to have managerial responsibility for an individual who is a member of more than one Department. At the time of an individual’s appointment the Heads of Department concerned will agree who has managerial responsibility and will notify the individual concerned in writing.

(5)

Each Department will have a Head, who will be appointed under the provisions of this Ordinance, with the exception of the Dean of the Warwick Medical School who will be the Head of the Warwick Medical School (ex officio), the Dean of the Warwick Manufacturing Group who will be the Head of the Warwick Manufacturing Group (ex officio) and the Dean of the Warwick Business School will be the Head of the Warwick Business School.

(6)

A Head of Department will be responsible for the management of the Department to the Vice-Chancellor who may appoint a deputy for this purpose.

(7)

All members of the Department will be responsible to the Head through whatever decision-making and management structures the Head from time-to-time approves.

(8)

Heads will be responsible for a range of duties defined from time to time in Regulations.

(9)

The Vice-Chancellor will establish a Committee on the Appointment of Head of Department. The Committee will receive and approve recommendations from Departments for appointment of Heads of Departments.

(10)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The membership of the Committee on the Appointment of Head of Department will be as follows:

(a)

The Vice Chancellor or Provost;

(b)

A senior member of the University from outside the Department who has been appointed to act as independent Chair for the consultation process;

(c)

The Registrar; and

(d)

Three members of the Department appointed by the Vice Chancellor who are not themselves nominees for appointment to Head of the Department.

The Secretary to the Senate will normally be the Secretary to the Committee.

The Vice-Chancellor will appoint a senior member of the University from outside the Department to act as an independent Chair to conduct the consultation on the appointment of the Head of Department.

(11)

The Head of Department will normally be chosen from amongst the professorial members of the Department.

(12)

The term of office of a Head of Department will normally be five years. A Head of Department may be re-appointed for a second consecutive term of up to five years.

(13)

In the Autumn Term of the academic year in which the Head of Department’s appointment expires, the Vice-Chancellor will advise eligible members of the Department that a consultation on the appointment of Head of the Department will be held and of the name of the independent Chair appointed by the Vice Chancellor.

(14)

The independent Chair will determine, in consultation with the departmental management committee, how the consultation will be conducted.

(15)

The independent Chair will prepare, a report on the results of the consultation for submission to the Committee on Appointment of the Head of the Department. The report will contain the names of all those who have indicated a wish to go forward in nomination for appointment as Head of the Department and will make such recommendations as may be appropriate.

(16)

On receipt of nominations the Vice-Chancellor will convene a meeting of the Committee on the Appointment of the Head of Department. The Committee will have the power to:

 

(a)

confirm the appointment of a single nominee

 

(b)

make an appointment from a number of the nominations received

 

(c)

undertake further consultation with the Department with a view to making an appointment.

(17)

Where either no nominations are forthcoming or the Committee on the Appointment of the Head of Department is unable to make an appointment as in paragraph (16) above, the Committee will canvass further opinions within the Department on the basis of which it will either appoint a new Head of Department, or extend the appointment of the current Head of Department for a further twelve month period notwithstanding the fact that the Head of Department may already have served two consecutive terms of office, or appoint an Acting Head of Department for no longer than twelve months after which time the process for appointing a substantive Head of Department will have been completed.

(18)

In the case of a casual vacancy the Committee on the Appointment of the Head of Department will appoint an Acting Head of Department, except that no Acting Head of Department may hold continuous office for more than twelve months.