Section 1 - Organisation and Management of the University

Index:

Academic Support Services

Most of the academic support services have the assistance of a committee. The Information Services Committee co-ordinates the University's IT strategy and oversees the work of the Library, the Archives, Computing Service and the Management Information Services Unit through various sub-committees.

Administration

The majority of the administration of the University is carried out centrally, but Colleges, the larger Schools and a few groups of Schools also have their own administrators.

Central Administration is headed by the Secretary of Court and is divided into six divisions: Academic Support; Campus Infrastructure; Student and Staff Support; Financial and Business Resources; External Relations & Marketing, and Management Services.

Information Services is headed by the Director of Information Services and comprises the Library, Archives, Computing Service, Management Information Services, Media Services and the IT Education Unit.

Personnel Related Committees

All committees dealing with personnel matters are convened by the Vice Principal with the human resources portfolio. Joint management/trade union committees are covered in section two of the handbook.

The Human Resources Committee

The Human Resources Committee has considerable delegated powers, and acts for Court in matters relating to appointments, including the membership of appointment committees, probation, resignations, retirals, application to undertake outside work and applications for study leave. It meets monthly under the Convenorship of a Vice Principal, its other members being a lay member of Court, the three other Vice Principals and seven Senate assessors on Court. It is currently under review. The Human Resources Committee is clerked by a member of the Human Resources Service.

Personal Professors Committee

The Personal Professors Committee considers promotions to personal Professorships, taking the advice of external assessors and reporting directly to Court. Committees of review consider applications for promotion to Reader, Senior Lecturer etc. There are eight such committees covering, Arts & Divinity, Law and Financial Studies, Social Sciences, Science, Engineering, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Academic Related Staff. The membership of each committee is determined by Court, but includes the Principal (chair), a lay member of Court, five senate assessors on Court, and the deans of the relevant faculties. The committees of review report to the Board of Review, which makes the final recommendations to the Court for approval.

The Technicians Committee

The Technicians Committee deals with matters relating to the training, recruitment, promotion, remuneration and other conditions of service of the technical and related staff group as a whole. The Committee meets once a term and the membership consists of a Vice Principal who acts as Convener, and 8 Professors representing various Schools/RI's/Services employing Technicians. The members of the Committee are appointed by Court and the committee is clerked by a member of the Human Resources Service.

The Secretarial/Clerical Staff Committee

The Secretarial/Clerical Staff Committee deals with matters which affect the Secretarial, Clerical and Related staff group as a whole. It meets on an ad hoc basis, with the majority of issues being dealt with at officer/executive level. The membership of the Committee consists of a Vice Principal who acts as Convener, two Senate Assessors and two Court appointees. The Committee is clerked by a member of the Human Resources Service.

The Manual and Ancillary Staff Committee

The Manual and Ancillary Staff Committee deals with matters which affect the Manual and Ancillary staff group as a whole. It meets on an ad hoc basis, with the majority of issues being dealt with at officer/executive level. The membership of the Committee consists of a Vice Principal (who is Convener, Joint Manual and Ancillary Staff), and two other Court Appointees. The Committee is clerked be a member of the Human Resources Service.

Committee on Equal Opportunities in Employment

The remit of the Committee of Equal Opportunities in Employment is:

to advise the University Court through the Human Resources Committee on all matters relating to the formulation, implementation, evaluation and review of equal opportunities policies in relation to staff;
to keep the University's procedures under review in the context of its statutory obligations;
to monitor and contribute to the implementation of equal opportunities policies in the University and to this end receive reports; and
to monitor and contribute to the implementation of appropriate training programs in relation to equal opportunities policies and procedures and monitor their effectiveness.

The membership of the Committee consists of a Convener appointed by Court, one member nominated by the Court from its members, one member nominated by the Human Resources Committee from amongst its members, three representatives from the Planning Units and nominated by Head of Planning Units, three members nominated by the Joint Union Liaison Committee, the Director of Human Resources and the Equal Opportunities Officer.

Planning Units and Devolved Budgets

The University implemented wide ranging improvements in its management and administration in 1992, delegating a significant measure of budgetary control, including pay costs to academic planning units and administrative support services within the terms of a general University plan approved by the University Court. The academic Schools/RI's have been formed into eleven planning units, and the central administration and University Services comprise two additional planning units.

Constitution

The University of Glasgow was founded by Papal Bull in 1451; however, its modern constitutional framework derives from the Universities (Scotland) Acts 1858 to 1966. These Acts make provision for the main statutory bodies and officers: the Court, the Senate, the General Council; the Chancellor, the Principal and Vice Chancellor, and the Rector, and set out the powers and duties of those statutory bodies, as well as specifying their composition.

Court

The University Court is the governing body of the University of Glasgow. It was established in 1858 and was incorporated in 1889. All the property of the University is vested in the University Court, which has essentially a dual role; to deal with resource allocation, "to administer and manage the whole revenue and property of the University" (1889 Act); and to review decisions of the Senate. It is the body with which the contract of a member of staff is formally held.

The Court is a relatively small body, with 25 members, including staff and student representatives of the University. However, the majority of members represent the interests of local community, business, commerce and the University's graduates. It is chaired by the Rector, who is elected by the students every three years.

The Court meets regularly throughout the year, receiving papers and reports from a variety of committees, most notably the Estates Planning and Strategy Committee, the Finance Committee, the Staffing Committee, the Management Group and the Audit Committee as well as from Senate.

Schools/Research Institutes/Services

The University has 4 Colleges (Arts/MVLS/Science & Engineering & Social Sciences), together with a number of inter disciplinary centres and Research Institutes, which are grouped together into 27 Schools/RI's: www.gla.ac.uk/academic/. Each College is presided over by an appointed Head of College, and conducts appropriate academic administration, including degree and course development, admissions and appeals and also undertakes financial administration of its own resources. Scrutiny of new course proposals is conducted by relevant College committees (boards of studies), but two interdisciplinary boards of studies (Information Technology and Managerial and Administrative Studies) report directly to the Education Committee of Senate.

General Council

The General Council, which includes in its membership all graduates of the University and all academic staff of more than one year's standing, meets twice a year to consider the well being and prosperity of the University and, through its Educational Policy and Business Committees, to make representations on such matters to the University Court. The Chancellor, whom failing the Rector, presides at meetings of the General Council.

Lay Advisory Committee

The Lay Advisory Committee consists of lay members of the University Court. It meets when appropriate with the Principal and other members of the Management Group to question them on the reasoning and assumptions which lie behind the Management Group's recommendations to Court on matters of University strategy. This enables lay members of the Court to enquire more deeply and open endedly than might be possible in the more formal setting of a meeting of the University Court.

Management Group

The Management Group is the Policy and Resources Committee of the University, and as such is the principal source of recommendations to the Court on planning and development strategies. It conducts regular reviews of inter-related academic, financial, Human Resources and estates and buildings matters. It meets weekly, except for a short period in the summer. The Principal, as the University's Chief Executive Officer, reports on behalf of the group at Court. Where appropriate, the Management Group may report to, or seek the views of the Senate and may comment on matters referred by the Senate to Court. Its membership consists of the Principal, the five Vice Principals, the Secretary of Court, the Clerk of Senate and the Directors of Finance, Estates and Buildings, Human Resources Service and Information Services. The Vice-Principals are senior members of the academic staff, appointed by the Court for terms of four years, who have responsibility for strategy in the areas of: Research, Estates, Staffing, External Relations & Marketing, Learning & Teaching. There is, in addition, a small number of Associate Members of the group who receive papers and attend meetings from time to time.

Senate

Senate is the supreme academic authority, with statutory responsibilities for regulating and superintending the teaching and discipline of the University and for promoting research. The ex-officio membership of Senate includes all Professors, the University Librarian, Vice Principals and Heads of College, and representatives of the associated institutions. Other members totalling one third of ex-officio membership, are elected by the non-Professorial academic and academic related staff. The seven meetings of Senate held during the academic year are chaired by the Principal; the general management of Senate affairs is entrusted to the Clerk of Senate, who is a senior academic elected to office for a fixed term. Senate elects seven assessors to the University Court. It has some twenty committees, of which the most important are the Education Committee and the Research Committee. The faculties are sub-committees of Senate and report to it. An increasing number of committees are now joint committees of Court and Senate, such as the Information Services Committee, the External Relations & Marketing Committee, and the Committee on Educational Strategy and Resource.

UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW