Procedures for Appointment to Vice- Dean

1. Vice-Deans are appointed by, and are formally accountable to, the Board.

2. The Vice-Dean, in consultation with the Executive Committee and having received the advice of the Faculty Dean, will present a proposal to the Provost on the method of appointment of the next Vice-Dean, and for those appointed in 2005, on the initial term of appointment. Normally this should be considered approximately twelve months before the expiry of the term of appointment of the existing Vice-Dean so that adequate time is available to the Vice-Deanery should it wish to proceed with an open competition.

The Vice-Dean may be appointed by
a) Election (see 5 below)
b) Selection by Internal or Open Competition (see 6 below)
c) Combined Nomination and Election (see 7 below)

3 . The term of office for those appointed as Vice-Dean in 2005 will be a three to five year period, with the possibility of renewal for a total period of no more than eight years. Appointment will normally be taken up on 13 th July of the relevant year.

4 . In the case of a new Vice-Deanery, the process will be managed by the Dean of the Faculty as Acting Vice-Dean, (more than one Dean may be involved).

5. Election of Vice-Dean

5.1 The process of election to the position of Vice-Dean is supervised by the Faculty Dean 1 .

5.2 At least three months before the expiry of the term of appointment of the existing Vice-Dean, the Dean will inform staff of the need for an election and of the procedures to be followed, and will invite nominations.

5.3 The electorate shall be all full-time members of academic staff in the Departments constituting the Vice-Deanery on contracts of more than one year in duration, including staff on contracts of indefinite duration.

5.4 Nominations for Vice-Dean should be received by the Dean by the stated deadline. A candidate must be an elector, must normally be on the Senior Lecturer grade or above, and must consent to the nomination.

5.5 If no candidate or only one candidate is nominated, the Provost may require that the process as set out in 7. below is followed.

5.6 The Dean will advise the Provost of the name(s) proposed and, on receiving the Provost's consent, will conduct an election by secret ballot.

Ballot

5.7 Ballot papers and return envelopes will be forwarded to all electors by the Faculty Office, and a deadline set for return of papers of not more than three weeks.

5.8. The ballot paper will indicate the names of the candidates and must have a faculty stamp to ensure its authenticity at the counting stage. The voting is anonymous.

5.9 All ballot forms must be returned to the Faculty Office in the envelopes provided and be received by the date and time specified. Any ballot forms not returned in this way and those returned late will not be counted. All envelopes must be date stamped on receipt to ensure that they were received within the timescale.

5.10 All ballot forms are opened at the same time in the presence of an adjudicator. The adjudicator must be from outside the Faculty. The votes are counted and the candidate with the most votes is nominated to the Provost.

Nomination to Board

5.11 The Provost will present the name of the person elected for nomination as Vice-Dean to Board for approval and to Council for information.

5.12 Once approval has been received, the candidates and the electors are advised formally by the Faculty Dean.

6. Selection of Vice-Dean by Internal of Open Competition

6.1 The Vice-Dean, following consultation with the Executive and having received the advice of the Faculty Dean, may propose to the Provost that the Vice-Deanery wishes to proceed to select a new Vice-Dean by internal competition only, or by open competition 2 .

6.2 In the case of internal competition, this should take place at least three months before the expiry of the term of appointment of the existing Vice-Dean. In the case of open competition, the process should commence twelve months prior to the expiry of the current Vice-Dean's appointment.

6.3 The Faculty Dean 3 will form a search committee and will submit its membership to Council and Board for approval. The membership of the search committee will normally include the Faculty Dean (chair), two or three members of the Departments constituting the Vice-Deanery , two senior members of academic staff – one from within the Faculty and one from without and one of whom is a Provost's nominee, and an external assessor.

6.4 An advertisement and further particulars will be drafted and approved by the search committee and circulated internally and externally as appropriate.

6.5 Applications should be submitted to the Staff Office which will liaise with the Faculty Dean as Chair of the Search Committee.

6.6 Candidates must hold the position of Senior Lecturer grade (or its equivalent) or above, and meet other requirements as may be determined by the search committee.

6.7 Applicants shortlisted by the search committee will be invited to attend for interview and to make a presentation. All members of the Departments constituting the Vice-Deanery will be invited to attend the presentations.

6.8 The search committee shall nominate a candidate for appointment and the Dean will forward this nomination to the Provost , who will present the nomination to Board for approval and to Council for information.

7. Combined Nomination and Election of Vice-Dean

7.1 The process of nomination and election to the position of Vice-Dean is supervised by the Faculty Dean 4 .

7.2 Three months before the expiry of the term of appointment of the existing Vice-Dean, the Executive of the Vice-Deanery will propose the membership of a nominating committee, to be chaired by the Faculty Dean. The membership of the nominating committee should not normally exceed four, including the Dean.

7.3 The Faculty Dean will submit the membership of the nominating committee to Council and Board for approval.

7.4 The nominating committee will propose up to three candidates, whose names will be forwarded by the Faculty Dean to the Provost for approval. A candidate must be an elector, must normally be on the Senior Lecturer grade or above, and must consent to the nomination.

7.5 The approved shortlist of candidates will proceed to election by secret ballot, in accordance with 5.3 and 5.7 – 5.12 above.

1 Where the Dean of the Faculty is also a member of the Vice-Deanery concerned, a pro-Dean shall be invited to act as Dean for the purpose of conducting the election

2 Within the resources available to the Departments constituting the Vice-Deanery.

3 Where the Dean of the Faculty is also a member of the Vice-Deanery concerned, a pro-Dean shall be invited to act as Dean

4 Where the Dean of the Faculty is also a member of the Vice-Deanery concerned, a pro-Dean shall be invited to act as Dean