Guide to Headships of Academic Departments

Preface

This document should be read in the context of the University's basic objectives of excellence in research and teaching, and, where appropriate, the development of commercial applications. The effective management and organisation of the work of departments is crucial to the achievement of this objective.

This document is intended to be flexible enough to accommodate academically productive innovations in departmental organisation and practice.

A. General

1. The Court will appoint Heads of Departments (HODs). Where a Department has Divisions, as provided by Section F, the Court will also appoint Heads of Divisions. Throughout this document, the terms "Department" and "Head of Department" should be understood to include "Division" and "Head of Division", respectively.

2. Persons eligible for appointment as HOD will normally be Senior Lecturers, Readers or Professors.

3. The HOD will be appointed to the headship for a period, normally of four years. At the end of the period of office, the Head of Department may be reappointed for a further period, normally for no more than two years.

4. Nonetheless, HODs appointed without limit of tenure (i.e. to retirement) may continue to exercise that right.

5.A HOD may seek permission from the Court to relinquish Headship before the end of his/her term of office.

6. If a majority of the members of a Department become sufficiently concerned about the leadership of their Head of Department, they should seek to resolve the situation, either at a departmental meeting or a special meeting called for that purpose. If this fails, the members should nominate a departmental representative to approach the relevant Dean, to convey the nature of their concerns and to request an investigation with a view to timeous and appropriate remedy, of which one could be termination of the Head of Department's appointment to that office.

B. Consultation procedure

The following procedure will apply in the event of a prospective vacancy, including a situation where an incumbent may be reappointed.

1. Twelve months in advance of the prospective vacancy, or, in the case of a HOD relinquishing the position before completion of the term of office, as soon as is practicable, the Court will appoint a Committee comprising the relevant Dean as Convener, and one Senate Assessor on the University Court not from the Faculty, which will consult with members of the Department and communicate with the Department and Court on questions relating to the tenure and appointment of a HOD. Where a Dean is a member of the Department concerned, the Committee will be convened in his/her place by the Dean of a cognate Faculty.

2. The proceedings with respect to the appointment of a HOD are strictly confidential. Any breach of confidentiality will be reported to Court.

3. The Convener will be responsible for advising the Department of the procedures and for canvassing confidential opinions in writing from any member of the academic, research, academic-related and support staff of the Department as defined in 7. below, who will have been provided with a copy of this document. The Convener will also seek other opinions, including those of the relevant Human Resources Manager, with regard to process. The Committee may hold meetings with staff as it sees fit. The Committee may ask the candidate(s) to address an open meeting of all Departmental staff, at which they will indicate their strategy and plans for their term of office, if appointed.

4. If more than one candidate comes forward from the Department, a secret ballot may be conducted by the Committee as a guide to assessing level of support and suitability, the result of which will not necessarily be binding on the Committee. The Committee will always have discretion to commission such a ballot; the Committee must commission a ballot if it is requested to do so in writing (as part of the consultation process in 3. above) by at least 25% of the academic, research, academic-related and support staff in the department (as defined in 7. below).

5. The Committee will discuss with and ascertain the willingness and suitability of any candidate to serve as HOD. The Committee makes recommendations on the appointment, on the basis of its judgement in view of all the evidence, to Court.

6. The Department will be informed by the Court Office of the Court's decision on the headship.

7. The academic, research, academic-related and support staff who will be consulted (in 3. and 4. above) will be those identified by the Human Resources Department as having a current contract of employment with the University of Glasgow.

C. Appointment of acting heads of department

1. When a HOD will be absent (e.g. through illness or on study leave) for a period not exceeding one year during his/her term of office, an Acting HOD may be appointed.

2. The HOD will notify the Dean of his/her impending absence and the Dean (or if the Dean is a member of the Department, a cognate Dean) will consult with him/her, and the members of the academic, research, academic-related and support staff about the appointment of an Acting Head.

3. The Dean, or cognate Dean, will make a recommendation to Court for the appointment of an Acting Head, specifying the duration of the appointment.

D. Duties and functions of heads of department

1. HODs or HODs-designate, must attend the introductory programme of general management training and development for new HODs offered by the Staff Development Service, prior to taking up office, under normal circumstances. They will also be required to attend training courses offered by SDS in Equal Opportunities, Recruitment and Selection, and Disciplinary, Harassment, Capability and Grievance Procedures.

2. HODs are accountable through the Dean to the University Court for matters relating to the management of employment and employee affairs and for the performance of their duties as set out in this and associated documentation. HODs will continue to be responsible for ensuring that the Department complies with the University's codes of practice and for ensuring that legal obligations are met, in particular in respect of health and safety matters, animal procedures, Data Protection Act, Copyright Act, all legislative matters and University procedures relating to employment of staff, and associated issues. It is expected that the HOD will fully utilise service and support department staff in satisfying this requirement, especially Human Resources Managers.

3. HODs are accountable through the Dean to the Senate for the performance of their duties in respect of the organisation of teaching and research, and for quality assurance issues.

4. The duties and functions of a HOD are set out in detail in a number of documents, and what follows is a summary.

On appointment each HOD will be provided by the Human Resources Department with details of access to, and support in the practice of (as relevant):

Equal Opportunities Policy and Strategy
Appraisal Scheme
Financial Regulations and Handbook
Planning and Resource Manual
University and Faculty Strategic Plan
Promotions Procedures
Quality Assurance - Guide to Good Practice
Recruitment and Selection Procedure and Guidelines
Requirements of HOD training and development activities and programmes
Disciplinary, Harassment, Capability and Grievance Procedures
The individual conditions of service of the support staff in the Department

5. The accountabilities and powers of the HOD will include the organisation and allocation of teaching, examining and advising duties within the staff resources allocated by the Faculty. Those powers will be exercised in consultation with all the Professors in the Department.

6. HODs are encouraged to delegate tasks to appropriate members of the department who may constitute an Executive. Delegation does not, in any way, diminish the overall accountability of the Head of Department to the University Court and Senate, as appropriate.

7. The Head of Department:

in consultation with all the Professors in the Department, is responsible for encouraging research in the Department and, where appropriate, commercial application.
should consult all members of the Department with regard to research, teaching, examining, and advising.
will call a minimum of one formal Departmental Staff Meeting in each term of the academic year, to provide a forum for open discussion on matters relating to teaching, research and service issues.
is accountable for ensuring that the Department implements, maintains and monitors the relevant sections of "Quality Assurance - Guide to Good Practice".
is accountable for allocating duties to staff; for commenting on proposals for the advancement and promotion of staff; for managing grievance, disciplinary and capability procedures; for staff development training; for appraisal; for managing the deployment of staff within the department; and continuous improvement initiatives.
is accountable to the University Court through the Dean for the implementation of departmental plans after approval by the Faculty Management Group.
is accountable for the allocation and management of the Department's resources within constraints of budget allocation and procedures, and the rules and regulations laid down in the University Financial Handbook.
is accountable to the Dean for the effective management of space.

E. Support

1. Heads of academic departments can normally expect by way of support in their role:

(a) ongoing personal development, including training in management, and activities designed to support the management and motivation of staff.

(b) substantial relief from the normal teaching load.

(c) paid study leave at the completion of the term of office (two terms following a four-year term of office, three terms for a six year term of office).

(d) a forum for Heads of Department meeting regularly with Deans.

2. In addition, where resources permit and the situation warrants, Heads should receive:

(a) research assistance.

(b) dedicated administrative and secretarial assistance.

3. The Court and Senate will support Heads of Department in the execution of their duties.

F. Divisions and sub-departmental units

1. It will be for a Department to determine whether or not there will be one or more organisational sub-units, described by terms such as 'unit' or 'division', subject to the approval of the Faculty Management Group, the Court and the Senate, of such constitutional arrangements. This will also apply in Faculties which are also Departments. Heads of Divisions should have an agreed job description.

2. The roles and accountabilities of the Heads of such Divisions will be defined in writing by the delegation of accountabilities by the Head of the Department or the Dean.

3. The University Court will not normally be involved in the process leading to the appointment of the Heads of Divisions where the Department is not a Faculty, but will ratify all appointments which involve a substantial degree of devolved responsibility on notification by the Head of Department.

G. Supra-departmental units

In respect of each supra-departmental entity (e.g. Schools) below the level of Faculty, there must be a constitution approved by Faculty, Senate and Court, which should inter alia specify the duties/powers of the departments involved, their respective heads, the supra-departmental entity, and the Faculty involved.

H. Honoraria

1. All non-clinical Heads of Department will receive an honorarium from the Court, on a scale varying with the size of department.

2. During the term of an Acting Headship appointed by the Court, the Head's honorarium will be transferred to the Acting Head.

3. It may be possible for the Heads of Department and Acting Heads of Department to waive their right to a personal honorarium; in these circumstances, the equivalent amount will be transferred to the departmental discretionary fund. Details are available in the Finance Office Handbook.

4. Honoraria will be paid from central funds to heads of the entities one level below that of the Faculty. For most Faculties, this simply means Heads of Department. For Faculties which are also Departments, this will mean Heads of Division or another body or bodies identified in the Faculty constitution approved by Court.

5. Other honoraria (e.g. for Deputy Heads of large departments in multi-department Faculties) may be paid out of Faculty rather than central funds, subject to the appointment and the honorarium being notified to Court.

UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW