PROMOTIONS TO SENIOR LECTURER
2008
GUIDELINES FOR COLLEGE COMMITTEE
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The objective of the College Committee (the Committee) is to arrive at an agreed list of recommended applicants, for transmission to the UCAATP, following a systematic assessment of each applicant against the agreed benchmarks.
In order to ensure equity and transparency in the promotional procedures and to ensure consistency of approach across Colleges, the University Committee for Academic Appointments, Tenure and Promotion (UCAATP), established a Sub-Committee to administer the 2008 promotions to Senior Lecturer. The UCAATP agreed the following guidelines.
Prior to the assessment of applicants for promotion, members of the College Committee
should familiarise themselves with the Benchmarks and procedures documents. These documents are available on the UCD HR Web Page at www.ucd.ie/hr/. In addition, Briefing Sessions will be organised by the UCAATP for members of the College Committees.
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1 ASSESSMENT OF APPLICANTS
The assessment of applications for promotion to Senior Lecturer is a twofold process.
a) Applications are assessed by the relevant College Committee
b) Applications are assessed by the UCAATP or a Sub-Committee of the UCAATP
c) The UCAATP forwards its recommendations to the Governing Authority for approval
2 ESTABLISHMENT OF COLLEGE COMMITTEES
A College Committee will be established in each College to consider applications for promotion to Senior Lecturer
o The College Committee will be Chaired by the College Principal or her/his nominee and will comprise of senior academic members, normally an Associate Professor and Professor of the College, plus two external members (external to the University). There should not normally be more than two senior lecturers on the College Committee.
o It is recommended that membership of a College Committee should be a maximum of ten (10) including the two external members
o The two external members will be senior academics or, where appropriate distinguished practitioners. External representatives on College Committees will have full membership rights, and will participate fully in the assessment process
o Membership of the College Committee should be broadly representative of the College’s areas of research, where possible; however, members should not advocate on behalf of individual applicants
o Both genders must be represented on the College Committee
o Members of the UCAATP cannot act on a College Committee
o Membership of all College Committees must be approved by the UCAATP prior to commencement of a round of promotions
Applicants for promotion to senior lecturer will be assessed by the College Committee associated with the College which has budgetary responsibility for their school/centre/institute. In the case of applicants whose teaching and/or contribution are carried out in another College the College Committee will seek that College’s advice on the quality of the applicant’s teaching and/or contribution.
3. GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT MEETINGS
3.1 Members of College Committees should not engage in advising or assisting colleagues in the development of their application.
3.2 Each application must be assessed by the College Committee against the three published benchmarks
o Research, Scholarship and Innovation
o Teaching, Learning and Assessment
o Contribution to School/College/University/Society and the Wider Community
3.3 College Committee should consider only applications and documentation forwarded to them by UCD HR, Promotions & Grading.
3.4 In preparation for the assessment meeting of the committee, members should individually carry out an initial assessment of each applicant against the criteria.
All personal notes or aides memoir taken in the course of this initial assessment or in the course of the assessment meeting must be retained. They will be collected by the Chair of the College Committee and retained for a minimum of twelve months. The Higher Education Authority has recently instructed all universities to comply with a Rights Commissioners’ recommendation directing all members of assessment panels to record individual assessments against each candidate. In the event of a challenge to a decision, particularly under equality legislation, such notes may be requested in the course of investigating the complaint and may be relied upon by the university in preparing a defence against any potential claim of discrimination or procedural breach.
3.5 The Chairperson should lead a discussion on each applicant under each of the benchmarks. Every College Committee member should have the opportunity to contribute in relation to each of the three benchmarks for every applicant.
It is not appropriate for member/s to advocate on behalf of individual applicants. Any member for whom there arises a conflict of interest; through for example close research collaboration with an applicant for promotion he/she should declare it and the College Committee should agree an appropriate course of action.
3.6 Discussion of each applicant should continue until agreement is reached on their assessment against the benchmark. Where, after prolonged discussion of an applicant, a panel cannot reach consensus, the application may be forwarded to the UCAATP Sub-Committee with a comment against the relevant benchmark noting the reason(s) for disagreement.
3.7 Each College Committee is required to submit the following documentation to the UCAATP Sub-Committee:
(a) a description of the procedures followed by the committee , including a statement that each of the applicants has been assessed in relation to the benchmarks (The Assessment Certificate is available on the HR Web Page at www.ucd.ie/hr)
(b) An Assessment Record in respect of each individual applicant, completed by the member/s of the committee designated as responsible for recording decisions and the bases for decisions of the committee and signed by each member of the committee, citing evidence in the ‘Reasons for Assessment’ column to support specific decisions in relation to each benchmark. In the case where an equivalent has been used this must be clearly stated in the ‘Reasons for Assessment’ column of the report form.
(c) In the case of applicants recommended for promotion, the record form should establish the case for promotion against the benchmarks, taking into account all the application documents, including the internal referee’s report.
(d) In limited cases where there are any qualifications to the recommendations (where positive or negative) those qualifications should be clearly stated and accompanied by a holistic commentary on that recommendation.
(e) In the case of applicants not recommended for promotion, the record form should clearly state the reasons for not recommending the applicant for promotion.
3.8 The UCAATP Sub-Committee will review all the recommendations of the College Committees.
4. QUORUM
College Committees vary in size and composition. It is not therefore possible to lay down a precise number which constitutes a quorum. However, each College Committee should establish a quorum on the basis of a number close to 80% of its total number, which consists of both gender representation and at least one External member. Every effort should be made to arrange dates for meetings on which all College Committee members can attend, and the issue of a quorum should only arise in the case of unforeseen circumstances on the days of meetings.
5. ROLE OF EXTERNAL REPRESENTATIVES
It is recommended that there be two external members on each College Committee, (both external to the University). These members should be senior academics or, where appropriate, distinguished practitioners.
External representatives on College Committee have full membership rights, and will participate fully in the assessment process. The external members share the responsibility of all panel members to ensure that each applicant is objectively assessed against the agreed benchmarks. In addition, they bring an element of externality which should enhance the objectivity of the process and protect against inherent biases.
6. HEAD OF SCHOOL/PROFESSOR REPORTS
In relation to Reports supplied by the Head of School/Professor, if clarification is required by the College Committee, it is the responsibility of the Chairperson of the College Committee to take appropriate action. Any request for clarification or additional information from the internal referee should be routed through UCD HR, Promotions & Grading and not through direct contact with the referee, or the applicant. If College Committees require confirmation of contributions to the university, a request can be routed to the relevant person / body through UCD HR, Promotions & Grading. The exact nature of the query / request for clarification will be agreed between the Chairperson and the HR Officer, Promotions & Grading who will then forward the query to the appropriate person.
7 EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY
The University is an equal opportunities employer and, in accordance with legislative and statutory obligations, and in the spirit of its own policy, is committed to employment practices that promote gender representation and equality of opportunity among students and employees of the University. It is essential therefore that all applicants be objectively assessed in relation to the agreed benchmarks and should be assessed only in relation to the domains laid down in the benchmarks.
Where a case is made in relation to a non-standard or interrupted career path the College Committee should take cognisance of this when assessing :
(1) Teaching commitment in (T1) (Satisfactory benchmark)
and
(2) The time-band exception for contribution in (C1 & C2).
8 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACTS
College Committees should remember that the University comes under the terms of the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003. This legislation confers on individuals a legal right of access to information held by the University concerning them and a legal right to receive reasons for decisions that have materially affected them.
An applicant may, at the conclusion of the assessment process, request access to his or her assessment records, to the records of the decision-making process, such as minutes, discussion documents and correspondence and/or a detailed statement of reasons for the decision made with respect to him or her. The assessment records should therefore be sufficiently clear and detailed to fulfil a request for the reasons for the decisions. It is therefore important that the ‘Reasons for Assessment’ column are completed for every applicant under each of the selected benchmarks.
9 CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality must be maintained throughout the whole process. All discussion during the assessment process and any data generated during the preliminary assessment and subsequent College Committee assessment must remain confidential to the members of the panel. Names of recommended and non-recommended applicants must not be released by any member of the committee until the UCAATP has made its recommendations and the applicants have been advised accordingly.
10 FEEDBACK
In the interests of transparency, best practice and staff development, it has been agreed that any applicant who requests it should be given feedback on their application. This feedback will be made available after applicants have been formally advised of the outcome. The UCAATP Sub-Committee will provide written feedback. In the case of applicants who are not recommended for promotion by the College Committee, feedback should be given by a member/s of the College Committee. In some cases, the Chair of the College Committee may be the most appropriate person to give this feedback. If this is not the case, the College Committee should designate, at the beginning of their proceedings one or more members to provide the feedback. However, more detailed subject specific formative feedback should be provided by a Head of School, College Principal or nominee.
In accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Acts, staff are entitled to request access to their own personal information, that is all records relating to them, and to request the reasons for any decision that has materially affected them. It is therefore recommended that staff be provided with the following documents – copy of the College Committee recommendation, copy of the UCAATP Sub-Committee record and a copy of her/his Head of School/Professor’s reference. Staff wishing to access additional documents should contact the Freedom of Information Unit.
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