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University Governance

Practical Definitions

Governance – the way an organisation determines how it will reach its decisions, who will be the responsible parties at each stage of these decision-making processes, and what broader (strategic or otherwise) standards and outcomes will guide the activity of the organisation.

Management – those members of an organisation with responsibility and authority within the wider governance framework to determine what decisions will be made.

Operational – the everyday activity of the wider organisation, directed by both the over-arching governance framework and decisions of management within this framework.

By giving Academic Senate specific responsibility for many of the academic affairs of the University, the University Council has clearly delegated a governance role. This extends to the power to make policy to enact the decisions of the Academic Senate. These are powers that are legally those of the Council, which have again been formally delegated to the Academic Senate in the By-Law and relevant Rules. They are therefore governance powers and responsibilities, flowing directly from the enabling legislation and University Council.

Corporate Governance

The University Council is the governing body of Charles Sturt University and is invested with all the authorities, functions and powers of the University. The Council is accountable to the University's stakeholders, and under the law, for ensuring that the University manages its resources in a manner that is best designed to fulfil the objects of the University set out in the Act.

In a complex and rapidly changing educational environment, the University Council believes that:

The Council is responsible to the University's stakeholders for setting the strategic direction of the University, ensuring accountability from the management of the University and maintaining and extending free academic inquiry and discourse.

Council performs its functions with the assistance of several Committees as shown here. This committee chart also illustrates the unique position of Academic Senate within this framework.

Academic Governance

The Academic Senate is established in accordance with the CSU Act (at clause 16). The same legislation that establishes Academic Senate specifies the Vice-Chancellor as the only required member of Academic Senate. The CSU Council has the authority to determine additional Senate members and the functions of Academic Senate. These can be enshrined in a By-law or a Rule of Council. Currently the composition, procedural requirements and functions of Academic Senate are established in accordance with the By-Law (clauses 101-107), an instrument of the University Council. The Governance (Academic Senate) Rule 2006 No. 6 (which is a Rule of the Council and has the authority of a By-law) defines in more detail the membership and role or functions of Senate within the boundaries set by the Act and By-law.

Academic Senate is established in this way as “the principal academic governing body” of CSU. In the same manner as the Council has the power to establish any other committee to assist it in the exercise of its governance function, the requirement to have an Academic Senate does not legally confer on that body any role or authority than would otherwise be authorised by the Council. It does, however, indicate that the legislature viewed that such a body was an important part of the governance of the institution. While the University could not dispense with the Senate under current legislation, the University Council has the sole authority to determine both its membership and the functions it will perform on behalf of the University Council.

As a consequence:

a. the existence of an Academic Senate is a statutory requirement, and outside the authority of the Council to alter; and
b. the functions and membership of the Academic Senate are delegations from University Council, and are thus determined wholly by its authority.

This confirms governance as a tripartite arrangement involving Council, Academic Senate and the Vice-Chancellor (or Senior Executive). Further, in assigning the principal functions of the Academic Senate in the By-law, the Council has assigned them to Academic Senate “as the principal academic body of the University”.

Most importantly, there is a compelling rationale for having an Academic Senate that goes beyond the legal requirement to do so and finds a basis both in the traditions of a University, as a self-governing academic community (academic freedom, free inquiry, independence from State direction) and contemporary corporate governance. Under corporate law, the board is vested with the control and management of an institution on the behalf of its members (in the case of the University, its members are its staff, students and graduates). In order to effectively govern, a contemporary board must ensure that they have the skills, experience and qualifications necessary for the proper stewardship and control of the institution. The board achieves this by looking at the core functions of the institution, and its strategic context, and determining the types of capabilities required of members. In turn, contemporary boards recognise that special expertise is needed for specialist functions (eg. Audit and Risk) and that this is best achieved through committees acting for and on behalf of the board. The principles of this argument also apply to academic governance.

In order to govern effectively, the Council needs committees constituted by experts to oversight particular activities (e.g. investment, capital works, communications, academic programs, research etc). Accordingly, the Council must have an Academic Senate because the core function of a University is education and research. It must be staffed by academicians because a prudent board would ensure that the people who oversight a specialist function are competent to do so and therefore assure the board that this function is being performed appropriately.

The need for the Academic Senate to have a high degree of independence in decision making can also be argued from the mission of the University. The mission, among other things, is the promotion of “free inquiry”. The meaning of this is informed by history, reinforced by legal decisions that provide legal substance to the role of academic freedom in universities. The board is legally responsible for the achievement of this mission, therefore, it must ensure that ‘academic independence’ is promoted in the governance arrangements. Because the board has multiple functions that sometimes may be viewed as conflicting with academic independence (e.g. financial management, balanced budgets, limitation of liability, Government funding), the only way to ensure that its broader functions do not impede the core mission of the University is by segmentation of ‘academic’ quality assurance from corporate governance. In effect, good corporate governance in a University requires the Council (legally) to devolve academic quality control to the Senate. In other words, effective and independent academic quality assurance is a legal obligation arising from the duty of members of the Council to ensure effective corporate governance, informed by the historical traditions of universities. As such, the obligation of the Council is to vest real independent authority in the Senate because it is obligated to do so to fulfil its fiduciary duties.

The Academic Senate of CSU with 21 members is the smallest academic board in Australia. It has an elected Presiding Officer, and thus maintains independence from senior management, a feature it shares with all such boards in New South Wales. It balances representative elected members with operational ex officio members. The relatively small size of the board means that it can be convened without difficulty in reaching a quorum. It also encourages focused debate on key issues based on effective roundtable-style discussion. However, effective engagement of the wider academy via effective stakeholder consultation mechanisms is essential. This relates particularly to student involvement but also to staff. Moreover, generation of the desired level of debate will require a more proactive style.

Intersection of Corporate and Academic Governance

There is now an extensive literature and set of discussions worldwide on the role of academic governing bodies in university governance, and there is clearly a widely held view that these bodies have a governance role. In the US, for example, there is a long-standing statement of ‘shared governance’ between academic boards and university councils that is both highly influential and extensively implemented within institutions. The concept of shared governance in universities is also well developed in the governance literature. That the Academic Senate is established in the Act, alongside the University Council and Vice-Chancellor, also confirms that its role is not solely operational. This tripartite arrangement is fundamental to achieving the core values of a university.

The crux of this shared governance model is the intersection of the three bodies at the highest level in determining the long-term direction, principles, core values and key standards of CSU. There is an inclusion and engagement with Academic Senate that relies on a culture of working in partnership, each party concentrating on their particular responsibilities.

In this tripartite arrangement it is important to affirm the role of Academic Senate as the principal governing academic body, with final determinative responsibility for all academic matters. Thus, Council has delegated very significant authority to Academic Senate. Some key academic processes for which Senate is responsible, include:

This system of delegation requires Council to be appropriately informed of the University’s level of academic risk and that there are appropriate quality assurance mechanisms to mitigate this risk. Thus, the relationship of Academic Senate to Council is one of accountability for core academic values. The highest level accountabilities of Academic Senate from the By-Law (Clause 105) relate to “ensuring the high quality of teaching and learning within the University by developing and implementing appropriate policies”, and “advising the Council and the Vice-Chancellor on all matters relating to teaching, scholarship and research conducted at or in connection with the University.”

Specifically, the functions of Academic Senate defined under Governance (Academic Senate) Rule 2006 No. 6 can be classified as relating to policy (1 and 2), quality assurance and gate-keeping actions (3) and acting as the voice of the Academy (4) as follows:

1.

Governance - providing a framework for carrying out the functions of the Academic Senate (Functions a, c, e, g, and k);

2.

Management and Maintenance of Academic Regulations - the authority to develop, implement, monitor and review the administration of academic processes in the University (Functions d and f);

3.

Maintenance of Academic Standards - responsibility for assuring the quality of academic activities (Functions b, h, i and l); and

4.

Communication within the Institution - it is the body that is responsible for facilitating debate of academic issues within the University (Function j).

Intersection of Academic Governance and Management

It is important to recognize that while Senior Management has a separate identity, it also overlaps with Academic Senate and with the Standing Committees of Academic Senate. Thus, Senior Management with its own responsibilities and authority must exercise a dual role on Academic Senate which has a separate but complementary role. This duality of Senior Management, balanced by members with an academic focus, provides Academic Senate with two distinct perspectives from which issues can be scrutinized. The link between these two arms of governance in the tripartite arrangement is fundamental to the successful governing and administration of CSU. As noted by Markwell : “The Board 'is independent of, but shares membership with, senior executive, senior management and Council'.”

According to Markwell the role of Senior Management is to “initiate new activities; the role of the Academic Senate is to ensure that these initiatives are undertaken within an appropriate framework of academic standards, policies, and processes, and to test these initiatives against them. Academic standards must be considered in an appropriate context of universities needing to generate revenue and to promoting equity, access, and diversity.” Thus, the Academic Senate must be conscious of the strategic imperatives of CSU as defined in the University Strategy.

In meeting these objectives, and apart from any informal arrangements, the Presiding Officer, Academic Senate has open access to the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor and meets regularly with the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) to appraise each other of current developments. The Presiding Officer, Academic Senate attends meetings of the Administrative Services Executive Committee chaired by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) and the Vice Chancellor’s Forum. Other formal arrangements that link Academic Senate and management processes are:

i)

the University’s most senior academic staff concurrently holding senior management responsibilities. This is not always the case in universities. For instance, some Deans are chairs of Faculty Board but have no management responsibilities.

ii)

the presence of senior academics with management responsibilities on Academic Senate and on key Senate committees, including chairing the Learning & Teaching Committee; Academic Programs Committee; Research Management Committee; and Board of Graduate Studies.

iii)

the presence of the Presiding Officer, Academic Senate on key Planning Committees: University Course Planning Committee; Information and Learning Systems Committee; Research Planning Committee.

Finally, the Presiding Officer or Deputy Presiding Officer Academic Senate or nominee is engaged in the selection process for all appointments at the level of Dean and above. This includes involvement in the appointment process including membership of the appointment panel. The Presiding Officer, as a member of Council, is normally involved in the selection process for all other senior appointments.