Specific Duties and Responsibilites of the Corporation
The Corporation's broad strategic role involves key responsibilities which are stated in paragraph 3(1)(a)-(e) of the Articles. This details that the Corporation shall be responsible for:
the determination of the educational character and mission of the institution and for oversight of its activities;
the effective and efficient use of resources, the solvency of the institution and the Corporation and for safeguarding their assets;
approving annual estimates of income and expenditure;
the appointment, grading, suspension, dismissal and determination of the pay and conditions of service of the holders of senior posts and the Clerk;
setting a framework for the pay and conditions of service of all other staff.
Under Article 9 the Corporation cannot delegate the following:
the determination of the educational character and mission of the institution;
the approval of the annual estimates of income and expenditure;
the responsibility for ensuring the solvency of the institution and the Corporation and the safeguarding of their assets;
the appointment or dismissal of the Principal, or holders of a senior post;
the appointment or dismissal of the Clerk;
the modifying or revoking of the Articles of Government.
Subject to the provisions of Article 9, the Corporation may delegate powers to Committees established for any purpose or function or to the Chair of Governors or Principal. Dunstable College Corporation has established eight Committees including the mandatory Nominations (Search) Committee and Audit Committee. Article 11 empowers the Principal to delegate any of his/her functions other than the management of the budget and resources to senior postholders. The Articles of Government require the Corporation to determine the senior postholders. At this College, the members of the Executive Team (the Principal/Chief Executive, Deputy Principal/Director of Academic Standards, Director of Resources) and the Clerk to the Governors are the designated senior postholders.
Roles within the Corporation
There are three very important roles in the conduct of the Corporation's work, as follows:
The Chair
The Instrument of Government requires the Corporation to appoint a Chair and Vice-Chair and the Corporation has determined that the Chair/Vice-Chair will be elected annually at the first meeting of the academic year. The Principal, Staff and Student Members are prohibited from being elected Chair/Vice-Chair but may participate in the election process. Similarly, the Chairs of Committees are elected annually at the first meeting of the academic year.
The Chair has a very important role to play, particularly in terms of the way in which the Board may delegate to him/her certain functions. The relationship between the Principal and the Chair of Governors is a key relationship. All Chairs must be able to demonstrate the skills involved in the role and must arrive at a balance between allowing debate and facilitating the appropriate management of the meeting. As far as the Chairs of Corporation Committees are concerned, Governors will want to be assured that such individuals have some skill and expertise in the key area of focus for that Committee.
Rules have been made by the Corporation in respect of Chair's action which is either in relation to routine items of business or on issues when it is not possible to secure a special meeting of the Corporation on an early enough timetable. Such Chair's action has to be properly documented and recorded and formally reported to the full Corporation at the earliest opportunity.
The Clerk to the Governors
The Instrument of Government requires the Corporation to appoint a Clerk although it does not specify how such an appointment shall be made. This is because there is a range of models for this position, which may be one where the postholder only undertakes that role or one where it is combined with another post in the College. Whatever model is adopted, the Clerk cannot be a Member of the Corporation, must be fully independent and act, in that capacity, as an Officer of the Corporation. At present, the Clerk to the Governors at Dunstable has a part-time contract with the College.
The Clerk to the Governors is responsible for organising the proper conduct of the Corporation's business and, as such, is a servant of the Members. It is primarily the Clerk who offers independent advice to the Corporation and Members of the Corporation, and must be satisfied that advice on all issues is corroborated by other external advisers if the Corporation has any doubt. In addition, Governors also have arrangements to enable individual Members to seek independent advice.
Specifically, the Clerk to the Governors has the following duties:
to summon meetings;
to prepare agenda and papers;
to ensure the appropriate minuting of meetings;
to advise on procedures;
to ensure that the decisions of the Board are conveyed appropriately to those responsible for implementing them;
to undertake correspondence on behalf of the Board;
to provide a channel and process for individual employees to raise genuine and legitimate concerns and to promote accountability throughout the College.
The Principal and Chief Executive
The Principal, as Chief Executive to the Corporation, has a range of roles:
as the senior employee of the Corporation, she is personally accountable to the Corporation;
she acts as the Corporation's professional adviser;
she acts as the accounting officer for the institution as laid down in the Articles of Government;
if the Principal has chosen to be a full Member of the Corporation, as is the case at Dunstable College, she is a full Corporation Member with full voting rights.