The Government and Management Structure
Open University

Context:
The Open University (UK) is an important example of a single-mode institution. This selection from its handbook describes the university's operations and administrative structures.

Source:
Open University. 1997. "Government and Management Structure." In Open University, Government Structure Handbook. Milton Keynes. Part A, pp. 3-13.

Copyright:
Reproduced with permission. (Permission does not cover identifiable third party material.)

INTRODUCTION

1. This section contains a short description of the University's government structure (paragraphs 3-15) and then examines the objectives which that structure seeks to fulfil (paragraphs 16-32).

2. Throughout the section attention is drawn to the various bodies which have been created as part of the government structure. The terms of reference and membership of these bodies are set out in Part C of the Handbook. The structure as a whole is summarised diagrammatically as follows:

   Government Structure and substructures	pages 9 - 10
   Organisational Structure	page 11
   Operations Substructure	page 12
   Administrative Substructure	page 13

STRUCTURE

THE STATUTORY BODIES

3. The University is governed by a Council which includes amongst its membership representatives of the academic and non-academic staff, tutorial and counselling staff and students, and a number of external organisations such as the Privy Council, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals, Local Education Authorities, the BBC and the Royal Society. It is chaired by the Pro-Chancellor and is normally scheduled to meet six times a year. Subject to the academic powers of the Senate, the Council exercises general control over the University's affairs but is particularly concerned with its finances and property and with staff matters.

4. The Senate is the academic authority of the University and comprises just over 1000 members including all central and regional academic staff and research fellows, together with specific individuals and elected representatives of the tutorial and counselling staff, students, the BBC, and the non-academic staff. It is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and normally meets at least three times a year. The Senate controls the University's academic programme, its teaching and research, regulates its examinations, and is concerned with the institution of degrees and courses of study. Arising from these powers it promulgates the Student Regulations of the University, subject to the confirmation of the Council. The Senate may, subject to the confirmation of the Council, delegate any of its specific powers as conferred by Statute to a body or person constituted for the purpose, and it has done this in relation to a growing number of issues.

5. The third of the Statutory Bodies, the General Assembly consists of elected representatives of the regions together with representatives appointed by the Senate as determined by an ordinance made by the Council on the recommendation of the Senate, and may express an opinion to the Senate on any matter affecting the work and interest of the University. It does not meet on a regular basis, but only when convened by the Central Consultative Committee in consultation with the Vice-Chancellor.

THE COUNCIL AND SENATE SUBSTRUCTURE

6. The Council Substructure There are a number of Committees which report to the Council on specific matters relating to finance, staffing and buildings and estates. The Finance Committee sets the broad financial parameters against which decisions are taken by the Strategic Planning & Resources Committee and the Academic Board (see paragraphs 7 and 9 below). On staffing matters the Staff Policy Committee, like the Finance Committee, sets the parameters of policy in supporting the Vice-Chancellor in the direction and enhancement of the work of staff. It formulates policies in the general areas of terms and conditions of service, staff salaries and gradings and consultative and negotiating procedures with particular categories of staff or their union representatives. The Building Estates & Accommodation Committee considers matters relating to the University's physical property and the Information Technology Security Policy Committee deals with issues concerning information technology and its security.

7. The Senate Substructure The Senate is assisted in the organisation of its business by the Senate Agenda Committee which is principally responsible for ordering Senate's agenda and by the Academic Board. The latter normally receives all items of business requiring action by the Senate. It is empowered to form a judgement as to which items of business should be referred to a full meeting of the Senate and which may be dealt with by the Academic Board on behalf of the Senate. In the latter case, decisions taken by the Academic Board, with the exception of those where Senate's powers have been devolved to the Board, are subject to the approval of Senate members through the non-placet procedures (which are described more fully in Part C) by means of the Academic Board and Validation Board Bulletin. The Validation Board (and Validating Committee) have been set up to control, on behalf of the Senate, the approved validating procedures for academic awards conferred on behalf of the University by o ther authorised bodies.

8. The Honorary Degrees Committee also normally reports directly to the Senate, rather than have its business channelled through the Academic Board in the first instance; while the Quality Assurance Panel can advise the Senate direct or via the Academic and Validation Boards.

9. The Academic Board and its substructure The essential feature of the committee structure is the part played by the Academic Board as the major co-ordinating body below Senate. In addition to helping to organise the Senate's business (see paragraph 7 above), the Academic Board carries out a strategic academic policy function in making choices and setting priorities on policy proposals submitted by subordinate bodies. Co-ordination in a 'flat' structure of committees is provided through support in key policy areas: curriculum development; technology development; research; teaching and students; and strategy and resource management. It is advised in its development of strategic academic plans by the Academic Planning Group. There is also an Undergraduate Studies Board which advises on first degrees.

10. For each area there are a number of related committees. The Curriculum Development Committee is primarily responsible for preparing forward course and programme plans at all levels (other than research) in consultation with the Academic Units. The Committee is assisted by the Media Development Subcommittee and by other subcommittees concerned with collaborative publishing, teaching materials safety and interfaculty studies. The Research Degrees Committee is responsible for research degrees policy (including that relating to the admission, registration and progress of research degree students). The Examinations & Assessment Committee has responsibility for policy in the fields of examination and assessment, while the promotion, conduct and development of research are the concern of the Research Committee.

11. In the area of student concerns the Student Support Committee covers access, recruitment and admissions as well as student progress and retention; while the Teaching and Learning Committee formulates policies primarily concerned with the tuition and counselling of students.

12. The Strategic Planning & Resources Committee (SPRC) is a joint Senate and Council committee, a fact reflected in its membership. As such, it is a key mechanism for enabling the Senate, on the one hand, to exercise its role in advising the Council "on the allocation of resources for teaching and research"; and, on the other, for enabling the Council to exercise its powers "to govern, manage and regulate the finances ... of the University" and "to review the work of the University and ... to take such steps as it thinks proper for the purpose of ... maintaining its efficiency". The major role of the Committee is to develop activity-related plans and formulate priorities. Its main focus is thus on the nature and cost of activities and not on unit budgets, though it sets the framework from which unit budgets are derived. It is the role of a second committee in this area, the Operational Planning & Budget Committee (OPBC), to consider unit budgets against planned levels of activity and to comme nt on the adequacy of these budgets to sustain plans. It also advises the SPRC on the implications for units of the activity levels proposed and identifies potential mismatches between planned levels of activities and indicative allocations of resource to units. In order to achieve this, the membership of the OPBC includes all major budget holders, both academic and operational. Specialist committees also advise the SPRC on technology development, information systems and information technology strategy.

13. Co-ordination of the work of the bodies in these areas is the responsibility of the Academic Board with the five Pro-Vice-Chancellors playing an important part in developing and monitoring activities and plans. They also, together with other committee chairs, help to streamline the committees' operations by taking executive action on routine matters thus reducing to a manageable level the volume of business handled by the committees. (More information on the roles of Pro-Vice-Chancellors is given in Part B.)

THE BBC AND THE UNIVERSITYS COMMITTEE STRUCTURE

14. The BBC is formally represented within the University's government structure through its membership of the Council, the Senate, the Technology Development Committee, the Media Development Subcommittee, Faculty/School/Institute Boards and other committees. In addition certain BBC staff are regularly in attendance at other University Committees. There is also a Joint OU/BBC Committee, established to consider matters arising out of the administration of the OU/BBC partnership and advise the respective partners (see Appendix 1 to Part C).

THE CONSULTATIVE STRUCTURE

15. The General Assembly has been referred to in paragraph 5 above. The Assembly has, as its executive, the Central Consultative Committee on which students, tutorial and counselling staff and full-time staff from each region are represented. The Committee holds three meetings each year, and discusses any matters which are of interest to registered students or to tutorial and counselling staff. Additionally, in each region there is a Regional Consultative Committee which also includes students and tutorial and counselling staff, and which is normally attended by the Regional Director. Regional Consultative Committees discuss both regional matters and University matters of general interest and concern. One of the three meetings each year is a joint session with Regional Committees in each region. In some regions, instead of separate Regional Consultative and Regional Committees, there is one joint Committee.

OBJECTIVES

16. The objectives on which the structure is based were agreed by the Council and the Senate late in 1969. They are as follows:

    1. to further the objects of the University as stated in the Charter and Statutes

    2. to ensure effective decision-taking by allowing problems and issues to be seen in relation to each other at every stage, and thus to minimise duplication

    3. to allow participation by members of the University in its decision-taking processes to the maximum degree commensurate with its efficient operation

    4. to establish and maintain efficient methods of communication before, during and after the decision-taking processes

    5. to establish and maintain clear lines of executive responsibility in order that Committee Chair's and officers of the University may operate within a properly defined framework, and action can be taken quickly and effectively.

    These objectives are examined below in detail.

THE FIRST OBJECTIVE: THE UNIVERSITY'S OBJECTS

17. The objects of the University as embodied in Article 3 of the Charter are the advancement and dissemination of learning through teaching and research by a diversity of means such as broadcasting and technological devices appropriate to higher education, by correspondence tuition, residential courses and seminars, and in other relevant ways. The University is also required to provide education of university and professional standards for its students, and to promote the educational well being of the community generally.

18. A gloss on these objects is provided in Statute 16, where the Senate is charged specifically with the responsibility of taking such measures and acting in such a manner as shall appear to be best calculated to promote the academic work of the University both in teaching and research by the diverse means described in Article 3. Thus it has been regarded as essential that amongst the means of promoting the University's academic work should be an appropriate effective government structure. In many ways therefore the structure's second to fifth objectives state the means of obtaining its first.

THE SECOND OBJECTIVE: CO-ORDINATION

19. The role of the Academic Board and the Pro-Vice-Chancellors in coordinating the work of specialist committees has already been described. It should be noted however that while the government of the University may be said to be carried out by these bodies, its administration is undertaken within a structure which is in part functional but also organised on an area basis. This is particularly clear where the functional divisions of the bodies interact with the main academic areas based at Walton Hall and in the regions.

20. Co-ordination is not an objective solely achieved through committee structures and the work of the Pro-Vice-Chancellors; it is also the function of a professional administration and of expert operational staff.

THE THIRD OBJECTIVE: PARTICIPATION

21. The wording of the third objective points to the conflict which lies inherent within it: how is it possible to reconcile the desirability of involving as many members of the University as possible (and particularly the academic staff who make up the majority of Senate members) in the development of policy with the necessity of providing for speedy and co-ordinated decision taking? The objective raises a second question also: at what point and on what criteria are staff involved within the government structure?

22. In seeking to provide solutions to these two questions, two premises have been taken which apply to both:

    1. not all academic staff as defined* can be included at every level of policy making, otherwise speedy and co-ordinated decision taking will become impossible on account of the numbers concerned;

    2. at whatever level any member of the academic staff is involved, that involvement must be effective; this will mean in practice the member of staff must be a member of a body which prepares proposals, or of one which may comment on them and recommend alterations or of the body which may ultimately accept or reject the proposals.

23. Thus the University's government structure is designed to strike a balance between the representative principle at the level where proposals are initiated and mastery of detail is essential, while encouraging participation at levels where policy is discussed and approved. It does this by providing for:

    1. some members only of the academic staff to sit on Standing Committees working within specific areas of policy development. These members may be chosen as representatives of interested bodies, for example the academic units or the regions who, in choosing them, would have regard to any particular expertise they may possess. This does not imply that they are delegates or mandated to represent only the group which appointed them, though they will have a responsibility to report back to that body. In other cases, the members of Standing Committees are elected directly by the Senate. (Further guidelines on representation, as agreed by the Senate, are included in the Code of Practice for University Elections and Committee Procedure in Part C);

    2. all members of the academic staff to sit in a deliberative capacity on groupings such as Faculty, School, and Institute Boards, and Regional Committees so that matters of policy, referred to these bodies by Standing Committees or by the Academic Board, can be debated and commented upon by those who share similar academic interests;

    3. all members of the academic staff to sit on the Senate which retains its ultimate powers of approval, reference back or rejection while in practice delegating downwards the detailed work of policy formulation to the Academic Board and its Standing Committees;

    4. representation of other categories of "members of the University" on the Senate and its subordinate bodies, and consultation with staff and students on matters affecting them, through the consultative structure (see paragraph 15).

THE FOURTH OBJECTIVE: COMMUNICATION

24. In providing for a participative system of internal government, the University has also established the means by which information on the formulation and determination of policy may be communicated to members of staff.

25. Members of the academic staff are informed of and involved in the formulation of policy through their membership of their Unit's governing bodies (eg Academic Unit), for it is to these bodies that various proposals affecting the academic policy of the University are often referred for comment. The process of consultation therefore is also one of communication. In considering proposals as they are being prepared, members of the University are kept informed of its ongoing business and are able to affect the outcome of proposals through exercising their right to comment on them. In addition, members of the University are free to consult the papers of any University body, providing that the papers are not classified as strictly confidential and restricted. Copies of the papers of the principal University bodies are lodged in the University Library where they are available for reference and copies of all other committee papers may be obtained on request from the Committee Services Office.

26. Members of the academic staff and representatives of the students, tutorial and counselling staff and BBC and non-academic staff are also advised of and involved in the determination of policy through their membership of the Senate. Communication is formalised in the following ways:

    1. by the publication of matters for information and provisional decisions taken by the Academic Board on behalf of the Senate in the Bulletin of the Academic Board (see paragraph 7 above). The Bulletin is issued to all Senate members and to senior administrative and operational staff immediately after each meeting. Senate members may register objections to or submit comments on matters contained in the Bulletin within a specified period (usually three weeks) and reports of the objections and comments received are submitted to a subsequent meeting of the Academic Board. The Board may reconsider its provisional decisions in the light of such reports and it is formally required to do so if 60 or more objections are received against any one provisional decision.

    2. by the circulation of Senate papers and Senate minutes: like the Bulletin, these are distributed to all members of the Senate and to senior administrative and operational staff and cover both items for decision and matters for information. It is at full meetings of the Senate that major academic policy issues are discussed.

27. Responsibility for ensuring that Senate members are kept informed of the activities of the University has been vested in the Senate Agenda Committee.

28. Compendiums of University policy and procedures are available in a number of forms. Some are designed primarily for internal circulation (as is this Handbook) and deal with specific areas of work (eg planning, course production, personnel). Administrators in the academic units and in the different areas shown in the chart on page 13 can advise on the availability of relevant documents. Other publications, while primarily intended for students or tutorial and counselling staff, also contain useful summaries of policy and regulations. The Publications and Information Office of the Students Sub-Division in Academic Administration (Students) can provide information on the appropriate student document for particular purposes and copies of the full texts of Regulations.

29. Less formal means of communication are provided by the regular publication of University papers and journals such as Open House (directed at staff), and Sesame (directed at students and graduates). In addition, the Vice-Chancellor's Report, Open University Statistics and the Accounts provide a historical record of University activities.

THE FIFTH OBJECTIVE: EXECUTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

30. Executive authority in the area of policy development lies clearly with the Chairs of appropriate Standing Committees in consultation with the Committee secretary, and this is stated in the mode of operation of each Committee. In all cases, however, the Chairs must report any executive action they have taken to their Committee, and the action is subject to ratification by the Committee.

31. The duties of the Vice-Chancellor, the Pro-Vice-Chancellors, Deans and Directors of Studies, and Regional Directors are described in Part B, which also includes a description of the duties of other staff and officials of the University. In addition to specific duties concerned with their area, all Heads of Units have responsibilities in relation to staff (appointments, promotion and salary review, probation, staff development, allocation of duties etc), planning and bids for resources and budget control.

32. Executive authority in the operation of procedures may rest with appropriate members of the administration, and may derive either from policy-formulating Committees, or from the Council or from the Secretary.