Changes to Charter, Statutes, Ordinances and Policies

A substantial programme of work has recently been concluded resulting in some changes to the University's Constitution and governing documents.

The Constitution has been redrafted so that the University complies with the highest standards of contemporary corporate governance and ensuring that potential mismatches between practice and legislation are eradicated. The new Charter and streamlined Statutes provide a more concise description of roles, duties and responsibilities in a more accessible way. The governing body of the University, the Council, has also been reviewed and changes are being introduced to Council from the beginning of the 2010-11 session.

Following consultation within the University, proposed changes to the Charter and Statutes were approved by the Council of the University in June and submitted to the Privy Council. The Privy Council approved the changes in July 2010 with an implementation date of 22 July 2010.

These constitutional changes will have a considerable impact on the effectiveness of the University. Changes to the constitution of the University have always required the approval of the Privy Council. However, a number of key rules about how the University conducts its business have now been reallocated from the Statutes to Ordinances (supplementary rules to the Statutes which were formulated as the University developed). This means that where Senate or Council recognise a need for change, then the University itself can more swiftly enact that change without the need for Privy Council approval.

The new Charter, Statutes and Ordinances of the University were included for the first time in the 2010-11 University Calendar.