Effectiveness Review of Council 2013 - Cardiff University

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understood though that if this was to take place it would be appropriate to
delay this until after the Institutional Review in March 2014.
Recommendation C2: that Senate might consider a review of academic
governance at some point after March 2014.
8.3 University Executive Board
.1 The University Executive Board, which replaced the University
Management Board, operates as an advisory board to the Vice-
Chancellor and appears to be functioning well. Suggestions that it was
not always clear what was being discussed at the Board have been
answered by the issue of a briefing statement after each meeting. From a
Council perspective the detail contained in the Vice-Chancellor’s report to
every meeting, and the opportunity to ask questions, is seen as ensuring
that the main strategic items are being appropriately covered.
8.4 Operations Board
.1 The Operations Board met regularly during the course of 2011/12 but has
not done so during 2012/13. This is because the co-ordinating role is now
being effectively performed by the Chief Operating Officer who has set up
a Professional Services Group consisting of heads of professional
services and the College Registrars. In this way there is a direct
operational link between professional services and the Colleges.
Recommendation C3: that the Operations Board be formally disbanded.
8.5 Policy Networks
The four policy networks were established in January 2012 with a view to
making them more inclusive than the predecessor committees. Each network
was asked to review its own effectiveness and the outcomes are as follows:
.1 Education and Students Policy Network
This network appears to have worked very well. It has held seven
meetings since January 2012 and its members both School and student
representatives have welcomed the opportunity to discuss a range of
important topics at an institutional level. The network though did make
suggestions for improvement around the need to establish a more formal
Executive Group and greater clarity about how the network could be seen
to influence policy development. The following recommendations from the
network are therefore supported:
Recommendation C4:
To establish an Executive Group for the network, to be chaired by the
PVC Student Experience and Academic Standards and including the
College Deans of Education and a Student Union representative;
To place all sub groups (as listed) under the auspices of the network
and for the Executive Group urgently to review the purpose and
membership of those groups;
To request the Executive Group to clarify which groups should report
to the network and those which should report to Academic Standards
and Quality Committee;
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