- Target:
- Professor Fred Hilmer Vice Chancellor UNSW and UNSW Council Members
- Region:
- Australia
The Universities Governing Bodies Bill 2011, passed through NSW Parliament in October, will allow Universities to opt to reduce the size of their governing bodies and, in so doing, decrease representation of elected staff and student representatives.
In 2009, the NSW Upper House launched an inquiry into the governance of NSW Universities. UNSW made a public submission to that inquiry.
In that submission, which was signed by both the Vice Chancellor and Chancellor on behalf of Council, it was proposed that, among other things:
UNSW Council be reduced from 22 to between 11 and 14 members;
Academic staff-elected representation be reduced from 4 to only1 member;
Alumni representation to be reduced to 1 representative, who is appointed, not elected;
Student representation to remain unchanged at 1 Postgraduate and 1 Undergraduate, despite the massive constituency they represent.
These proposals were discussed and voted upon by the previous Council, but were not adopted by a unanimous decision of Council.
We feel these recommendations are a regressive move to further entrench the UNSW Council’s lack of accountability towards members of the University community.
We the undersigned are concerned at the potential impact of the Universities Governing Bodies Bill 2011 on the structure and composition of the UNSW Council.
Under the new legislative environment, we believe any attempt to reduce the number of elected staff and student representatives on the UNSW Council would pose a serious threat to the collegial governance structure which has been part and parcel of UNSW’s history as a University.
We therefore call for no reduction in the number of elected staff and student representatives on the UNSW Council.
We also call for Alumni representatives to be elected to UNSW Council and not appointed.
In consideration of the significant role of the student body within the university community, we also call for student representation to be increased to two Postgraduate representatives and two Undergraduate representatives.
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The No reduction in elected representatives on UNSW Council petition to Professor Fred Hilmer Vice Chancellor UNSW and UNSW Council Members was written by Kiraz Janicke and is in the category Education at GoPetition.