Consultation with General Assembly on amendments to
Charter and Statutes
The University wishes to make
minor amendments to its Charter and to some of its Statutes. The Charter requires such changes to be made
by “Special Resolution” which includes consultation with members of
the General Assembly and Senate.
Senate considered the
proposals at its meeting on 1 July and will make any comments to Council as
part of the usual reporting procedures.
The proposals will first be
considered at the Council meeting on 9 July and then confirmed at the meeting
on 9 October. Following this, the
amendments will be forwarded to the Privy Council for final approval.
Members of General Assembly
are hereby invited to read through the proposed amendments and offer comment to
the Assistant Secretary to Council (m.t.routledge@lboro.ac.uk)
by Wednesday 8 July at the latest.
1. Amendments to the Charter
Background
Following extensive
discussion at its October meeting, Council agreed at its meeting on 28 November
2008 that, whilst the
“The
statutory powers of Court be transferred to Council at
the next available opportunity and that reference to Court be removed from the
Charter, Statutes and Ordinances”.
References
to Court in the Charter are few. The most significant change is to paragraph 5
relating to the Chancellor. It is proposed to amend this as follows:
“There
shall be a Chancellor of the University who shall be the Chief Officer of the University, shall confer Degrees and shall
serve as a member of the Council of the University. and shall preside over meetings of its
Court.”
Full details of the proposed amendments can be viewed here.
2. Amendments to the Statutes
Background
Following extensive
discussion at its October meeting, Council agreed at its meeting on 28 November
2008 that, whilst the
“The
statutory powers of Court be transferred to Council at
the next available opportunity and that reference to Court be removed from the
Charter, Statutes and Ordinances”.
Proposals
a) Various
Statutes - Removal of references to Court
The
proposed amendments delete the references to Court in line with the decision of
Council and to move Courts limited statutory powers to Council. The most
significant change which results from this is the transfer of the three members
of Council elected by Court to the group of Council members co-opted by Council
(on the recommendation of the Nominations Committee). Council also acquires the
power to appoint the Chancellor and Treasurer of the University.
A
further two amendments simply recognise current practice as follows:
b) Statute
IX The Registrar
The
Chief Operating Officer acts as Registrar in relation to the majority of the
functions of the Registrar set out in the Statutes and Ordinances. However, the
Academic Registrar has been appointed Secretary to Council and is responsible
for secretarial services to other committees. At present Statute IX establishes
the Registrar as Secretary to Council etc. The attached amendments bring
Statute IX into line with current practice by deleting the following paragraph:
“The
Registrar shall be the Secretary of the Court and the Council and shall be
responsible for providing secretarial services for the Senate and any
committees of the Court, the Council and the Senate and the Joint
Committees thereof.”
c) Statute XIII Council
In
light of the amendment of Statute IX above, paragraph 7 of Statute XIII has
been amended to allow Council to appoint its secretary from amongst the
administrative staff of the University.
In
addition, the follow paragraph has been added to the explicit functions of
Council in paragraph 6 of the Statute:
To ensure that the University has appropriate
procedures for the management of risk and to oversee the operation of these
procedures.
Again
this change simply recognises current practice and in this case is in line with
the expectations of HEFCE and good governance.
Full details of the proposed amendments can be viewed here.