Members of the General Council are asked to feedback any comments by 31 January 2024 Dear Member of the General Council The University Court on 4 December considered a report from the Business Committee of the General Council proposing changes to the Ordinance which defines the criteria for membership of the General Council – Ordinance 186. Document General Council Ordinance re Membership - Report to University Court December 2023 (286.12 KB / PDF) The report sets out the case for updating Ordinance 186 to allow membership to be conferred on: all those graduating with academic awards approved by Senate, not just degrees; all academic, professional, administrative and technical staff at grade 8 and above, without restricting membership to those with job titles such as lecturer, reader or professor. As changes to any Ordinance require a period of statutory consultation before Court can decide whether to proceed further, this notice is to inform General Council members about the consultation and to invite their views. In addition, the draft Ordinance and a short covering note has been published: On the Old College noticeboard On the University website: https://governance-strategic-planning.ed.ac.uk/governance/university-governance/acts-and-secondary-legislation/university-ordinances/draft-ordinances And will also be circulated to Senate in the form of the Court paper. Members who wish to comment on the proposed changes, either in support of them or in favour of the status quo, should send their comments in writing to me by 31 January 2024, either by email to General.Council@ed.ac.uk or by letter to the General Council office at the address given below. The comments will be considered by the Business Committee in early February and reported and discussed at the Half-Yearly Meeting on 17 February 2024. The outcome of the consultation will be considered by the University Court on 26 February. If the Court should decide then to proceed, a draft revised Ordinance will be sent to the Scottish Universities Committee and to the Privy Council. Only if the Privy Council approves the revised Ordinance, can the proposed changes begin to be implemented by the University. Dr William Duncan Secretary to the General Council Charles Stewart House 9-16 Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1HT Some FAQ’s on proposed changes to General Council membership The University Court is considering proposed changes to Ordinance 186 which defines who are entitled to be members of the General Council. The changes if approved by Privy Council would allow membership to be extended to: all those graduating with academic awards approved by Senate, not just degrees; and all academic, professional, administrative, and technical staff at grade 8 and above, and not restricted to those with job titles such as lecturer, reader or professor As changes to Ordinances require a period of statutory consultation, General Council members were invited in December to comment on the proposed changes and the responses will be considered by the Business Committee prior to being reported to and discussed at the Half-Yearly Meeting on 17 February 2024. In responding, some members have asked questions and as these may influence their reaction to the proposed changes, here are some frequently asked questions and answers What is grade 8 and above? For many years, the University has classified posts according to grades 1 to 10, so that posts of similar responsibility and standing are allocated to the same grade, irrespective of whether they are academic, professional, technical. More information on what is expected of staff in each of the grade levels from 1 to 10 is given in this link All Grade Profiles (ed.ac.uk) University Lecturers are grade 8; Senior Lecturers/Readers are grade 9, and Professors are grade 10. The current GC membership Ordinance only applies to staff with those with these academic job titles, not to other equivalent staff on the same grade scales. This different treatment is not aligned with the University’s commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Why will other academic awards become eligible for membership, in addition to degrees Not all who now graduate receive degrees. The current Ordinance restricts GC membership to those awarded degrees. In addition to degrees, there are currently about 30 other awards that can be made by the University, some of which confer the status of being a graduate of the University. The proposed rewording of the Ordinance reflects the contemporary flexibility in awards and inclusivity, while maintaining the University’s formal academic standards, by permitting all graduates of the University to become members of GC. For example, the new wording opens GC membership to those graduating with postgraduate diplomas or those completing joint degrees with partner Universities. How many more members will this add to the General Council? This depends on whether the changes apply only to those who receive an eligible academic award at a graduation ceremony or staff who are appointed to grade 8, 9 or 10 professional posts after the Ordinance change has been approved, or whether the changes are applied retrospectively. If only applicable to new awards/appointments, it would add about 1600 per annum (an increase of 0.6%) of which c.1500 would be for awards not classified as degrees but awarded at a graduation, e.g. postgraduate certificate. In the fully retrospective case, it would add about 23,000 (c. 8%) new members to the GC Register. These figures are likely to overestimate the additional numbers, because those who already have a degree from Edinburgh are already GC members and would not be added again to the Register. The Ordinance is intentionally written not to pre-empt the decision still to be made by the Registrar in consultation with the Business Committee about whether there should be retrospection and if so, how this is implemented – there are various options. What will one off costs of set-up be? The joint Working Party between D&A and General Council set up to review the feasibility of the workload concluded that ‘Any additional resource requirements arising from bringing in new categories would be temporary and manageable through phased implementation of changes to incorporate existing staff or award holders who would become eligible.’ This is because the General Council Register is a subset of a larger Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Database operated by Development and Alumni (D&A) and the potential additional graduate members of General Council if applied retrospectively – by far the largest group at c22,000 - are already in that database and so attributing them to the General Council Register would involve minimal extra work. Future non-degree graduates will be added to the D&A database anyway and so the Ordinance change creates no additional burden on D&A in relation to this group. The additional work in adding professional staff depends on whether there is retrospection and if so, how it is implemented. Full and immediate retrospection would add about 1000 extra staff members to the Register. Their details are already held in HR records and transfer of the relevant information to the GC Register in the D&A CRM system would involve additional work, but D&A is confident that this is manageable. The terms of the Ordinance would also allow some flexibility in the implementation timetable if necessary. What will on going additional running costs be? Again, this will be minimal because all communication with new members who become eligible by virtue of the Ordinance change will be electronic or via the GC website. [There may be a few exceptional cases where the new member has a disability or where University compliance with Equalities Act and related policies already requires sending other University communications in a different format to that person but this will not be a new requirement arising from the Ordinance change.] 6. Why is the Chaplain now included in those eligible to be General Council members? This reflects the fact that Chaplain has traditionally played a prominent role in the Half Yearly Meetings, providing an opening reflection, and closing benediction, as well as being consistent with extending membership to those in Senior University posts Dr William Duncan Secretary to General Council January 2024 This article was published on 2024-07-08
