Learning and Teaching Committee

Subject: Committee Effectiveness

Origin: Secretary

The following request was circulated to Committee Secretaries by the Academic Registrar on 29 May 2009:

Following discussions at Audit Committee, all formal committees are being asked to review their effectiveness on an annual basis. I would be grateful if you could add this item to the agenda for the last meeting of your committee this academic year, or if it is now too late for that meeting, to the agenda for the first meeting in 2009/10. In subsequent years, please include it on the agenda for the last meeting of the year.

As committees vary a great deal in the way they operate and the nature of their business, we are not currently being prescriptive about how effectiveness should be considered and a light touch approach is entirely acceptable. However, to provide some guidance for you and committee chairs, you might wish to consider the following:

1. Is the purpose of the committee clear and do members feel that it has fulfilled its purpose effectively in the last year (views of those outside the committee but affected by its operation should be taken in to account if at all possible)? If it has not been effective, why not?

2. Is the committee operating in an effective way in practical terms? E.g. do agendas/papers provide appropriate information in a helpful format, are the right people present for discussions and decision-making, are the frequency and length of meetings optimal or is there scope for enhancement?

3. Do communications and operations relating to the committee work effectively? E.g. is the committee being made aware of the right issues/items, are the committee’s decisions being communicated appropriately to the right individuals/other committees and are they being acted upon? Are the right individuals/other committees receiving effective reports on the work of the committee (again comments from outside the membership of the committee itself may be helpful here).

In the light of experience, we may issue more detailed guidance next year on effectiveness reviews, but I hope the above is helpful for now. We are conscious of existing workloads, so I would emphasise that the above process is intended to be light touch and hopefully to result in improvements in committee operation which could save time in the long run.

Author – Robert Bowyer

Date – October 2009