Procedure (including key steps)

Responsibility

1. Policy is identified for development or review. The need can arise from:

• external drivers such as new legislation, policies or strategies, etc
• internal drivers such as: decisions of Council and its Committees; VCE; other senior university committees; new strategies; stakeholder feedback or complaint; new practices, new technologies etc.
• policies reaching their review date.

Policy Maker

OR

Governance and Legal Section

2. Check whether there is an existing policy:

• if Yes determine whether the existing policy requires modification;
• if No proceed with development of new policy.

Policy Maker

3a). If conditions under Step 2 above are met, consult the Governance and Legal Section for advice on the policy development and review process and publication requirements.

During this consultation, the Governance and Legal Section will also advise whether the policy needs to be framed as an Ordinance, Rule or By-Law or for other reasons that require it be approved by the University Council. It is expected that the majority of Operational Policies will be approved by the Vice-Chancellor.

3b) NOTE: Minor changes or clarifications of wording to existing Operational Policies may be approved by the Director, Governance and Legal.

Policy Maker

AND

Governance and Legal Section

4. If new policy, or substantial change to existing policy, is required the Policy Maker appoints a Policy Delegate who is responsible for developing and drafting policy and the Policy Implementation Plan (and any required procedures, guidelines or standards).

Policy Maker

5. The Policy Delegate is responsible for:

• developing policy using the established mechanisms within his/her work unit;
• for consulting any other relevant stakeholders; and
• liaising with Governance and Legal Section as required.

In drafting policy, the Policy Delegate must use accepted university formats and standards from the Policy Development and Review Manual. In parallel to drafting the policy, the Policy Delegate drafts the Policy Implementation Plan and any needed procedures, guidelines or standards.

The Policy Delegate continues iterations of consultations on draft policy (and the Implementation Plan) using established mechanisms until agreement is reached on content.

Policy Delegate

6. The Policy Delegate submits the draft policy and Implementation Plan (and any required procedures, guidelines or standards) to the Policy Maker for endorsement.

Policy Maker
AND
Policy Delegate

7. If the draft policy is endorsed by the Policy Maker, the Policy Delegate submits it (and the Implementation Plan and any procedures, guidelines and standards) to the Governance and Legal Section for assessment against standards and to undertake any editing if required.

Policy Delegate
AND
Governance and Legal Section

8. In consultation with the Policy Maker, the Governance and Legal Section will determine whether the policy should be submitted to any appropriate higher level body (for example, University Council Committees or Academic Senate) for endorsement prior to being submitted for approval.

Governance and Legal Section
AND
Policy Maker

9. The Policy Maker is responsible for preparing the standardised draft policy for approval by the Vice-Chancellor (or University Council if appropriate). This includes submitting the policy to any appropriate University Committees for examination/endorsement if this is required.

(The Implementation Plan and any associated procedures, guidelines and standards should accompany the policy when it is submitted for approval).

Policy Maker

10. Governance and Legal submit the policy for approval and will inform the Policy Maker of the outcomes.

Governance and Legal

11. If the policy is approved, Governance and Legal will number policy (and any procedures, guidelines and standards) and put them on the University web page.

Governance and Legal Section

12. If the policy is approved, the Policy Maker will act on the Implementation Plan.

Policy Maker

13a). If policy is not approved , but a decision is made to reconsider it , it will be returned to the Policy Maker for amendment or further work.

13b). If policy is not approved , and there is no direction that it be reconsidered, the policy will be discarded.

Policy Maker

14. Review of the policy will commence when the scheduled review period is completed. This date will be included on all new or reviewed Policies and Procedures.

NOTE: The standard date for the review of new policies will be 12 months after first approval. Subsequent reviews will be undertaken every 3 years or sooner if deemed appropriate by the Policy Maker. Review of Operational Procedures will be undertaken at the same time as the related policy.

Policy Maker

OR

Governance and Legal Section

15. If, upon review, no changes to the policy are considered necessary, the Policy Maker will record this on the policy and no further action need be taken.

If amendments are required, the Policy Maker re-commences the policy development and review process from Step 3 above. Significant changes to existing policies will require the approval of the Vice Chancellor or Council (where appropriate).

Policy Maker