6. Committee Membership and Types

The composition of a committee may allow for members to be elected, nominated, appointed. If the type of member is not determined by Ordinance or Regulation, the process is determined by the constituency concerned.

Elected members

Will be nominated initially from a specified constituency. If there are more nominations than vacancies an election is held in which all members of the constituency may vote. 

Nominated members

Are identified by an individual or group and usually a single name is put forward for each vacancy. A Committee will commonly delegate to its Chair the task of nominating a representative to serve on another body.

Appointed members

Must be appointed by the body on which they are to serve although in practice they may have been nominated by the specified constituency and it would be unusual for the appointment not to be approved.

Co-opted members

Some committees have explicit reference to co-opted members in their composition. This permits the inclusion of members who have expertise to offer to the business of the committee but who may not be clear representatives of any particular grouping associated with the committee. Names are usually discussed informally and put forward by the Chair to the committee for approval.

Ex officio members

Are members by virtue of their office in the University, e.g. the Vice-Chancellor, Chief Operating Officer, Dean of School, Associate Deans etc. 

The membership of Council and Senate are determined by the University’s formal governance instruments. Both Council and Senate have elected members governed by Ordinance XIII for Council and Ordinance IX paragraph 8 for Senate. The election process is undertaken by the Academic Registrar’s Office, please see Section 22 for details of the election procedure and how elections are conducted.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Pro-Vice-Chancellors, Deans and Associate Deans sit on committees ex officio.

All of these roles have formal appointment procedures which can be found below.

The allocation of Deans to committees will be undertaken by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor supported by the Strategic Planning Office.

Nominations or appointments by Loughborough Students’ Union to University committees are notified to secretaries at the beginning of each new academic year by the Academic Registry.

Nominations from small constituencies are the responsibility of the Chair and Committee Secretary as are nominations/elections of a Committee’s members to its Sub-Committees.

Vacancies arising on Committees mid-year (e.g. due to staff leaving or study leave) should be filled at the earliest opportunity where this is feasible. Where study leave means a member will miss only one meeting there is no need to seek a replacement (Ordinance XV). For most committees the new member should normally serve for the standard period of office rounded up or down depending on the time of year to account for the vacancy being filled part way through the year.

Some committees are convened only when required by the submission of individual cases for consideration. These are:

• Student Disciplinary Panel and Student Disciplinary Appeals Committee (Ordinance XVII)
• Academic Misconduct Committee and Appeal Committee (Regulation XVIII)
• Research Degree Appeal Bodies/Committees (Regulations for Higher Degrees by Research - Regulation XXVI)

The membership of these committees and the procedure for appointment of members is included in the relevant Ordinance or Regulation.