Policy without (much) pain - University of Ballarat

Policy without (much) pain4. Institutional policy frameworksThe policy framework of an Australasian tertiary institution is the hierarchy of texts that define andgovern the institution’s activities. At the top of the hierarchy is the Act of Parliament (for mostAustralian institutions, the State Parliament) which founded the institution and empowered it toregulate its activities. On the next tier of the framework is the legislation that the institution isempowered by its founding Act to make for itself. This comprises the legislative documents(statutes, regulations, rules, by-laws) that broadly define what the institution does, authorising itsmanagers and staff to form committees, assess and graduate students, make decisions, spendand invest money, and so on. This level of document is generally approved by the institution’scouncil. In Australia, new or amended statutes of a university also need to be approved by thestate government. This can make the time-frame for approval of these legislative documents alengthy one.Optimally, there should be acommittee or executive groupwhich considers proposals todevelop new policies.The next lower tier of documents arecommonly called policies. Policies set outprinciples for an area of activity, and high levelrules. A credit policy, for example, may setmaximum limits on the amount of credit forprevious study that can be granted towards anaward. Policies tend to fall into one of twobroad categories: academic/educational, orservices/resources. Academic or educationalpolicies are commonly approved by the highest academic committee of the institution (academicboard or senate) or by the institution’s highest governing body (the council). Policies on theservices/resources side may be approved by the Vice-Chancellor, by the senior managementteam or executive, or by the relevant member of the senior management team or executive. So anew leave policy may need to be approved by the Director of Human Resources, or by the wholeexecutive, or by the Vice-Chancellor.~ 8 ~