Academic Board Charter

Table of Contents

1. Constitution

2. Structure and Independence

3. Sub-committees

Appendices

Appendix 1 - Constitution

Foreward

This Charter document applies to the Academic Board of James Cook University and has been prepared having due regard to the James Cook University Act 1997, other relevant legislation (where appropriate), the Council Objectives Document, and other applicable University Policies and Procedures.

1. Constitution

The Board is established by virtue of Part 4 - Bodies connected with the University - Division 4 - Academic Board of the James Cook University Act 1997(JCU Act).

The JCU Act specifies that the Academic Board is to:

(a) advise the council about teaching, scholarship and research matters concerning the university;

(b) formulate proposals for the academic policies of the university;

(c) monitor the academic activities of the university’s faculties ;and

(d) promote and encourage scholarship and research at the university.

The attached present-day Constitution sets out the Board’s membership, functions and role.

2. Structure and Independence

2.1 The Board is a committee of Council and is therefore directly responsible to Council.

2.2 The Board consists of ex-officio, elected, appointed and co-opted members.

3. Sub-Committees

In accordance with Clause 10.1 of the Constitution of the Academic Board, the Board has established the following sub-committees:

3.1 Education Committee

3.2 Research Committee.

Appendix 1 - Constitution

Academic Board - Membership and Operation

[Approved by Council on 4 December 1997 and amended by Council on 6 August 1998, 3 June 1999, 11 April 2000 and 1 June 2000 (amendments operational from

1 March 2001)].

Amended by Council on 2 December 2004 and on 11 August 2005. Approved by Council 1 December 2005, amended by Council 7 December 2006)

1. Definitions

In this statement of membership and operation of the Academic Board

"appointed member" means each of the following –

(a) the Chairperson; and

(b) the Deputy Chairperson.

"Board" means the Academic Board of the University.

"Chairperson" means the officer duly appointed by the Council under the JCU Act to provide a lead role in academic governance and to chair the Academic Board.

"Deputy Chairperson" means the officer duly appointed by Council under the JCU Act to act as Chairperson to the Academic Board in the absence of the Chairperson.

"eligible member" means a member, other than ex-officio or Head of Division.

"member" means a member of the Board.

"ex-officio member" means each of the following –

(a) the Vice-Chancellor of the University;

(b) the Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the University(4);

(c) Chair, Education Committee

(d) Chair, Research Committee.

2. Functions and Role of Board

(1) The Board is a committee of the Council and the principal academic body of the University with overall responsibility for academic governance at the University.

(2) The functions of the Board shall be –

(a) to advise the Council about teaching, scholarship and research matters concerning the University;

(b) to formulate proposals for the academic policies of the University;

(c) to monitor the academic activities of the University's faculties;

(d) to promote and encourage scholarship and research at the University;

(e) to monitor the quality of teaching, research and scholarship in the University and to develop policies on quality improvement;

(f) to develop policies on student admission, progress and discipline.

(3) The role of the Board, including the Board’s responsibilities for Governance, maintenance of academic standards, communications within the institutions and relationships with external stakeholders, is set out in Schedule 1.

3. Membership

The Board shall comprise of the following:

(a) the 2 appointed members;

(b) the 7 ex-officio members;

(c) the 8 elected faculty representatives consisting of 2 representatives of each faculty of the University, elected under the procedures set out in Schedule 2;

(e) the 2 students of the University, 1 undergraduate and 1 postgraduate student elected by and from the Council under the procedures set out in Schedule 3; and

(f) up to 2 co-opted members.

4. Co-opted Members

The Executive Committee may appoint up to 2 members to address issues of equity and skills.

5. Advisers

The following shall be advisers to the Board:

(a)DVC (University Services & Registrar)

(b)Director, Student and Academic Services

(c)Director, Information Services

(d)Dean, Graduate Research Studies

(e)Immediate past Chairperson of the Academic Board.

6. Secretary

The University Secretary or nominee.

7. Term of Office

(a) The term of office for elected members shall be two years.

(b) Should an elected member vacate their office before the expiry of their term, the Secretary shall call for an election to replace this member.

8. Appointment of Chairperson

Under the procedures set out in Schedule 4 the Council appoints the Chairperson for a term of up to 3 years.

9. Appointment of Deputy Chairperson and related matters

(1) Under the procedures, set out in Schedule 3, the Council appoints the Deputy Chairperson for a term of up to 3 years which does not coincide with the term of the Chairperson.

(2) The Deputy Chairperson is to act as Chairperson –

(a) when there is a vacancy in the office of Chairperson; and

(b) while the Chairperson cannot perform the functions of the office.

10. Number of Board meetings a year

The Board must meet at least 6 times a year.

11. Who is to preside at meetings

The Chairperson, or in the absence of the Chairperson, the Deputy Chairperson, shall preside at all meetings of the Board.In the absence of both the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, a member of the Board elected by and from the members present, shall preside.

12. Quorum

At any meeting of the Board, a majority of members shall constitute a quorum.

13. Casting Vote

The Chair of the meeting will have a casting vote in the event of an equality of votes.

14. Duties of Board

The Board must –

(a) consider and report on matters referred to it by the Council or the Vice-Chancellor; and

(b) as soon as practicable after each meeting of the Board, submit a report about the meeting to the Council; and

(c) perform other duties approved by the Council; and

(d) carry out the matters referred to or contained in the Functions and Roles of the Board under clauses 2(2) and 2(3) above.

15. Academic Board Delegations of Authority

All delegations of authority of the JCU Council will appear in the Council’s Delegations Register. More specifically, those delegations concerned with academic activities will predominantly appear in the Schedule of Academic Delegations and will be made on the basis of compliance with current relevant policy and procedures.

Where appropriate, some authority has been delegated to a sub-committee of the Board. The inclusion of the Chairperson of the Academic Board as a member on all such sub-committees of the Board satisfies the requirement under the James Cook University Act for such committees to have at least one member of the Council before authority can be delegated. Any such authority so delegated will be referenced in both the sub-committee’s Terms of Reference and the Schedule of Academic Delegations.

Governance

• Developing, annually reviewing and recommending to the Council the approval of the University’s triennium-based Academic Plan consisting of a Teaching and Learning Plan and a Research and Innovation Plan

• Recommending to the Council annual targets for the Academic–related Key Performance Indicators of Council

• Setting of annual targets for Key Performance Measures assigned by the Council to the Board

• Establishment of sub-committees of the Board to assist the Board in the effective discharge of its responsibilities

• Biennial review and recommendation to Council on proposed amendments to the University’s Statement of its Strategic Intent as they relate to the Academic Mission of the University

• Approval of all Academic-related Policies (in areas covering teaching and learning, research and research training, scholarship and community service) except for those policies where the Council has specifically retained “approval authority” over.

• Conduct elections of members onto the Board and its sub-committees

Maintenance of Academic Standards

• Approval of all newly established, amended, suspended or disestablished courses, except for any course where a new discipline is being established or the course is being offered off-shore for the first time which shall require the approval of the Council. [Once a course offering has been established, all variations (including amendments, suspension or disestablishment of Award Requirements/ Course structure/ Majors/ Minors/ Pre-requisites/ Subjects/ Availability) will be approved by the Education Committee or the Research Committee (in respect of HDR courses).]

• Approval of a new discipline code

• Approval of all newly established, amended, suspended or disestablished Majors/Programs/Areas of Specialisation. [Once a Major/Program/Area of Specialisation, has been established, all variations (including amendments, suspension or disestablishment of a Major/Program/Area of Specialisation will be approved by the Education Committee or the Research Committee (in respect of HDR courses).]

• Approval of Majors/Programs/Areas of Specialisation appearing on Testamur

• Approval of all newly established subjects as part of a new course. [Once a Course offering has been established, all variations (including amendments, suspension or disestablishment of subjects will be approved by the Education Committee or the Research Committee (in respect of HDR courses).]

• Approval of all Articulation Agreements and Advanced Standing Arrangements. [Once an Articulation Agreement or Advanced Standing Arrangement has been established, all variations (including amendments, suspension or disestablishment) will be approved by the Education Committee or the Research Committee (in respect of HDR courses).]

• Approval of all Course Review reports and faculty responses

• Approval of all annual reports on compliance with Academic-related Policies where prescribed

• Approval of all newly established, amended, suspended or disestablished scholarships and prizes. [Once a scholarship or prize has been established, all variations (including amendment, suspension or disestablishment) will be approved by the Education Committee or the Research Committee (in respect of HDR-related scholarships or prizes).]

• Approval of a PhD Award

• Establish, consider Reports from and disestablish Working Parties of the Board

• Approval of the annual Academic Calendar

• Approval of Framework for Undergraduate students

• Approval of Framework for Postgraduate students

• Approval of Model Requirements for Course offerings (u/g and p/g), scholarships and prizes and other recognition of academic excellence

16. Committees

(a) The Board may establish one or more committees for effectively and efficiently performing its functions.

(b) The Executive Committee may appoint up to 2 persons to each Committee for a period of up to 2 years to deal with issues of equity, skills and geographical representation.

(c) The Board will decide all matters about a committee, including, for example, the way a committee must conduct meetings.

(d) Any Committee established by the Board is taken to be properly constituted when it has a majority of its total membership, whether they be ex-officio, appointed or elected members.

17. Reporting

After each meeting the Board shall submit a copy of the Minutes of the Meeting to the Council.

The Board will make recommendations to the Council on matters that require the approval of Council.

18. Review

The Charter of the Board shall be reviewed at least every 2 years and recommendations made to the Council.

Schedule 1

The Role of the Academic Board

Governance

• Debating, developing and implementing institutional strategy on a range of academic areas including:

a. educational and information technology

b. international development, and

c. community engagement

• Ensuring an effective structure and decision-making processes through an established and effective Sub-Committee of the Board with:

a. membership beyond the Board

b. distributed participation throughout the university

c. Board’s work conducted mostly by the Sub-Committee

d. a clearly-defined relationship between Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee

• Alignment of the Board’s work with the University’s strategic plans and policies

• Formulation and approval of policy on and relating to teaching and learning, research and community engagement.

• Maintaining processes for induction and training of new members, succession planning, optimising the sharing of institutional knowledge.

• Assessing the impact of budgetary decisions on academic matters.

Maintenance of academic standards

• Responsibility for quality in all academic activities including teaching and learning, research and research training, scholarship and community engagement.

• Development and preservation of definitions of academic standards and integrity.

• Accountable and transparent framework for:

a. implementation and review of policy

b development and review of academic quality assurance measures

c. facilitating compliance with policies and procedures.

• Processes should:

a. ensure integrity of academic programs and research, and

b. be effective, timely, comprehensive and rigorous.

• Ensuring members of the Board and committees understand the role of policy and processes of compliance.

• Forum for students to be involved in the development and evaluation of academic processes.

• Having authority for approval/accreditation/review of new and existing course offerings.

• Having oversight of all courses of study on and off-shore.

• Processes should ensure comparability of standards, within and external to the University.

• Assessment and evaluation of teaching and learning

• Ensuring quality and improvement in teaching and learning practice

• Monitoring the adequacy of staff development activities undertaken by academic staff in both the Teaching and Learning and Research and Innovation areas.

• Ensuring transparency of performance in subjects/courses and link to policy implementation, review and development by making use of national, institutional or internally derived academic performance indicators.

• Debating and establishing research policy and encouraging and supporting research.

• Having a sub-committee for research with responsibility for a range of issues.

• Benchmarking with other universities

• Overseeing the conduct of regular reviews of faculties, schools, disciplines and courses.

• Establishing performance criteria for probation and promotion.

• Bringing a whole of institution perspective on academic matters and maximising efficiency and quality and removing unnecessary duplication

Communications within the institution

• Clearer institutional focus through:

a. promulgation of essential academic information

b. ensuring wide input into academic governance

• Identifying and promoting academic priorities for the university

• Developing high level strategies and mechanisms for communications in respect of:

a. policy dissemination

b. transparency and accountability of process

c. agendas and discussions

d. actions taken

e. stakeholders involved

f. predictable milestones, and

g. reporting

• Utilising vertical and horizontal communications (vertical between Council, Board and academic community and horizontal between the Board, Faculties and Schools)

• Ensuring transparent communications by:

a. promulgating agendas and minutes and regular reports

b. providing summaries of agendas and minutes

c. providing an internal bulletin notifying issues for debate and decisions of the Board

d. maintaining a functional website, or

e. developing a guide to academic policies through a manual or website.

• Conducting professional meetings which are:

a. based on transparent, ethical and moral processes

b. participatory and robust discussion

c. the source of vigorous debate

d. supported by communication designed to have strategic impact within and outside the University

e. a forum to question the Vice-Chancellor and Executive management on important matters

• Clarifying process by which elected members communicate with their electorates.

• Committee structure should support communications.

• Cross membership of committees vital to ensure communications

• Staff induction process should create awareness of the board’s role in the university.

Relationships with External Stakeholders

• Being engaged with community issues to ensure:

a. timely identification and

b. the provision of strategic analysis and advice to the university community

c. discussion and comment on contemporary issues in policy, political and public contexts for higher education, and

d. the provision of informed commentary on government policy

• Having oversight of policies that regulate academic relations with stakeholders including

a. professional placements and protection policies

b. credit transfer and articulation and advanced standing arrangements

c. open foundation programs etc

• Maintaining appropriate structures and quality assurance processes for community engagement activities.

• Determining forms and conditions of awards, scholarships and prizes.

• Engaging with the graduate community via alumni associations.

• Providing substantial input for audits by AUQA.

• Monitoring and reporting on the outcomes of the university’s equity and diversity policies.

• Consulting internally and externally regarding introduction and deletion of programs or courses in line with current National Strategic Protocols.

Schedule 2

Procedures for the Election of Two Representatives from Each Faculty to the Academic Board

1. Each faculty must elect two of its members to serve on the Board for a term of 2 years.

2. Faculty representatives on the Board must be members of the academic staff who hold an appointment of half-time or greater and of not less than two years.

3. The election shall be conducted by the University Secretary in accordance with the principles laid down in the James Cook University Statute No. 2 (Conduct of Council Elections) 1997.Elections shall be held in the fourth week in November in each odd -numbered year and the University Secretary shall invite nominations not earlier than the first day of October of each such year giving the required notice of the date on which nominations close.

4. Upon receipt of the nominations the University Secretary shall decide whether nominees, by virtue of the requirements of clause 1, may be declared elected or whether an election shall be conducted.

5. Where the number of nominations is less than two or does not meet the requirements of clause 1 the University Secretary shall request the appropriate Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor to appoint the necessary additional eligible person or persons to the Board.

6. As soon as practicable after the counting of the votes theUniversity Secretary shall declare the complete poll indicating the names of the successful candidates by publication on the official website and by such other means that the University Secretary deems suitable.

7. The successful candidates shall assume office one week prior to the date of the first scheduled meeting of the Board in that year following the election.

8. If an elected member ceases to hold office before the expiry of a normal term an election of another member shall be held as soon as possible unless the remaining term of office of the former member was six months or less, in which case the University Secretary shall invite the appropriate Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor to appoint an eligible person to membership of the Board for the balance of the term.

Schedule 3

Procedures for the Election of Two Student Representatives of the JCU Council to the Academic Board

1. The two members to be elected by and from the Council to the Board shall comprise:

(i)1 undergraduate student

(ii)1 postgraduate student.

2. The two student members required to be appointed under clause 1 shall assume office one week prior to the date of the first scheduled meeting of the Board following the day of appointment and unless otherwise precluded shall hold office for a period of two years.

3. If a student member ceases to hold office, or ceases to be eligible to hold office on either the Board or the Council before the expiry of a normal term the University Secretary shall invite the Council to elect a replacement student member onto the Board as soon as practicable for the balance of the term of the student ceasing to hold office.

Schedule 4

Procedures for the Appointment of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Academic Board

1.Eligibility for appointment

Members of the academic staff wishing to be considered by the Vice-Chancellor for recommendation to Council for appointment to the position of Deputy Chairperson of the Academic Board shall:

1.1 Hold an appointment of not less than 5 years; and

1.2 Not to be an ex-officio member of the Academic Board or Head of Division. (however officers may apply on the proviso that if appointed they would be prepared to relinquish their substantive position).

2. Appointment Process

2.1. Calls for Expressions of Interest from eligible members of the academic staff.

2.2. Details of short-listed candidates submitted by the Vice-Chancellor to a Meeting of the Academic Board for comments, feedback and an indication as to the Board’s preferred candidate.

2.3. Details of the short-listed candidates submitted by the Vice-Chancellor to a Meeting of the Council together with Academic Board input and a recommendation from the Vice-Chancellor on the appointment to the position of the Chairperson and/or the Deputy Chairperson of the Academic Board.

2.4. Council appoints the Chairperson and/or Deputy Chairperson of the Academic Board and the term of office that the Chairperson and/or Deputy Chairperson will hold being a period of not longer than 3 years.

3. Other Matters

3.1 In the case of the Chairperson the position is full-time and the appointment must specify a reversionary clause.

3.2 In the case of both the Chairperson and the Deputy Chairperson the term of office may be terminated by the persons so appointed or by the Council upon 3 months’ notice in writing.

Schedule 5

Duties of the Chairperson of the Academic Board

The duties of the Chairperson of the Academic Board include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Chairing meetings of the Academic Board, and attending meetings of the Education Committee, Research Committee and the Ceremonial and Honorary Degree Committee;

2. Chairing, from time to time, scheduled ORGU Reviews, Student Academic Misconduct Committees and others as required by Policy;

3. Ex-officio membership of the Council of James Cook University (7 meetings per year) and membership on various committees and sub-committees as elected. The Chairperson presents the Academic Board report to Council;

4. Membership of the Vice-Chancellor’s Advisory Committee (approximately 25 meetings per year).

5. Approving agendas, minutes and executive minutes as required in 1 and 2 above and in addition to preparation time in respect of all meetings attended;

6. Developing and maintaining the Academic Plan of the University;

7. Participation in Graduation Ceremonies;

8. Participation in Selection Committees for senior appointments within the University;

9. Communication and engagement with the University community through presenting academic forums, and providing systematic and prominent feedback.

Related documents, legislation or JCU Statutes

Statute No. 2 (Conduct of Council Elections) 1997

Approval Details

Policy sponsor:	Director, Governance Services & University Secretary
Approval authority:	Council
Version no:	12-1
Date for next review:	09/10/2014

Modification History

Version no.	Approval date	Implementation date	Details
12-1	05/04/2012	06/04/2012
09-1	09/10/2009
08-1	21/02/2008
06-1	07/12/2006
05-4	01/12/2005
05-3	07/10/2005
05-2	11/08/2005
05-1	23/06/2005
04-1	02/12/2004
00-2	01/06/2000	01/03/2001
00-1	11/04/2000
99-1	03/06/1999
98-1	06/08/1998
97-1	04/12/1997

Stella Coppola last updated this page on 2 May 2013.