Deakin home > Academic Board

• Overview
• Purpose of the Academic Board
• Membership of the Academic Board
• Officers of the Academic Board
• Committees
• Hot topics
• Other useful information
• Agendas and minutes
• Meeting Schedules
• Contacts

A model for academic policy development, review and approval

(Approved by the Academic Board at its sixth meeting for 2006 held on 7 September)

Purpose

To set down the model for academic policy development, review and approval.

Background

The role of the Academic Board in policy development and review

Section 1 of Statute 2.2—The Academic Board provides that “the Academic Board is the principal academic authority within the University. It has responsibility to the Council for maintaining the highest standards in teaching and research”. Included amongst the Board’s responsibilities as described in section 6 of that Statute is to “approve operational policy of an academic nature” in accordance with the authority delegated to it by Council.

The Board has been undertaking a review of all academic and student-related policies on a three-year rolling cycle based on the date on which each policy was last reviewed. The approach taken has been to examine each policy in isolation and to amend details mainly by the addition of new clauses or new procedures linked to the policy, which has led to inconsistencies and an inappropriate level of detail in the policy set.

Policy development and review

In April 2006 the Vice-President reported to the Vice-Chancellor on ways to improve policy development and their representation on The Guide at Deakin. In that report she identified a number of concerns about policy development, including that there are too many policies, that there is information duplication across policies, and that policy development is often driven by the need to respond to an incident or operational problem rather than by principles. The Vice-President recommended that the policy framework be redesigned and that all policies undergo review in a staged process to address the problems identified above. The Vice-Chancellor approved the recommendations and work has commenced on that project initially focussing on Human Resources related policies.

This review will ensure that all policies, including those developed by the Academic Board and its committees will:

• fit within a revised framework that forms a useful and transparent resource for students and staff
• form a coherent suite that complements University legislation and avoids duplication
• be able to accommodate most new directions/operational developments and the need to respond to specific incidents without amendment
• be developed in accordance with academic principles established by the Academic Board.

It is expected that this process will result in a significant cull of existing policies and a rewriting of most others which remain in the policy set. For example, in the work done to date it is expected that the number of policies in the Human Resources set will be reduced from over 50 to 10, with a similar proportional reduction in the number of procedures as well. Other policy areas are expected to be similarly reduced in size with consolidation of policies and procedures and deletion of a number of unnecessary ones.

Set out below is the model for the future development, review and approval of academic policy by the Board and its committees approved by the Academic Board at its sixth meeting for 2006 held on 7 September. The model will ensure a more coherent and concise set of academic policies which are more accessible to students and staff of the University. The approach will also mesh well with the overall policy review described above which is in train and will continue throughout 2007.

1. The Academic Board Steering Committee will identify any policy gaps in the current academic policy and procedure set and any areas in need of review to work on in the coming year’s work program. This will assist in the definition of an annual work program but the Steering Committee may also identify gaps in policies or need to change at other times and those policies and procedures will also be added to the work program list as appropriate.

2. The Academic Board will consider the policy and procedure work program so developed by the Steering Committee, will add or delete items from the proposed work program and will determine the locus of responsibility for the work to be undertaken.

3. The Committee or person given responsibility for each policy and procedure task will prepare a report which establishes the key academic principles and issues associated with the task. These principles and issues will guide the ensuing steps in the academic policy development and review process. In undertaking this work the Committee or person will also consider the higher level formal legislation and all related policies and procedures relevant to the policy area and include recommendations on issues across all levels of the legislative and policy framework related to this matter.

4. The Chair of the Academic Board and the relevant member of the Senior Executive associated with the Committee or policy area will consider this report and formally sign off on the principles as the basis of the policy/procedure development if they believe the principles and issues identified are appropriate.

5. Once these principles and issues have been approved, the University’s Policy Manager in the Governance Unit will develop a draft policy for consideration and approval by the appropriate committee. The draft will be developed in accordance with the Policy and Procedure Development, Approval and Promulgation procedure and after taking advice from the chair and executive officer of the relevant committee or the assigned individual. All draft policies must meet the format and definitional requirements for University policy and procedures.

6. The draft policy will then be considered by the relevant committee of the Board. The committee’s role is to satisfy itself that the new or amended policy adequately addresses the principles established before recommending the policy to the Board for approval.

7. The Committee will recommend the policies and procedures to the Academic Board for approval, supported by advice on the way the policy addresses the principles and issues originally approved by the Chair of the Academic Board and the relevant member of the Senior Executive associated with the Committee or policy area. Where the Board is not satisfied that the policy addresses the established principles, the policy will be referred back to the committee for further work. This will be done through the normal reporting of the relevant committee.