• Section 1 - Background
• Section 2 - Proposed protocol

Section 1 - Background

(1) The current school names derive from the 2006-7 academic restructuring, which in itself derives from the UNE Strategic Plan 2007-10. While some consultation was sought on the new school titles, these were effectively determined by the then Senior Executive as part of the broader academic reorganisation and workplace change processes and then submitted to the Council for approval.

(2) The 2006-7 process established that school titles were, ultimately, matters for the Council to determine but it did not provide a detailed protocol for future changes to school titles, particularly those proposals deriving directly from the academic community.

(3) An expression of interest has been made to change a 2007 school title and the following proposed protocol is designed to meet normal academic and corporate governance requirements for this and any future applications for changes in school titles.

(4) Consultation. The proposed protocol has been discussed among members of the Senior Executive. The Vice-Chancellor in particular has expressed a desire that the Academic Board, as the academic representative and governance body, should make the final endorsement to the Council rather than the Vice-Chancellor him/herself.

Section 2 - Proposed protocol

(5) The proposer of the change (normally the Head of School) applies directly to the Vice-Chancellor (copied to the Pro Vice-Chancellor/Deans and all other Heads of Schools) for approval for a change of name, the proposal to be supported by a report that details:

1. reasons for the proposed change;
2. the level of support for the proposal from within the School;
3. some costing of the workload required (ie: the changes to signage, marketing material, databases, websites etc); and
4. a time frame for implementation of the changes (an agreement to have these implemented over a period of time [typically at an annual renewal period such as updating of the Human Resources or the Course & Unit databases] would be expected to mitigate cost and must be negotiated with all the relevant stakeholders).

(6) The Vice-Chancellor asks whether the proposal is endorsed by the Pro Vice-Chancellor/Dean on the advice of his/her Executive Committee (or equivalent).

(7) The Vice-Chancellor obtains advice whether the proposal creates any issues with the other Faculty.

(8) The proposal, with the Vice-Chancellor's comments is then layed before the Academic Board for its endorsement

(9) The endorsed proposal is submitted by the Academic Board to the Council for its approval.

(10) Once approved by the Council, the Constitution: Faculties and Schools of the University of New England will be amended editorially to reflect the new school name (that is, there will be no additional governance requirement to formally request a change to the Constitution).