(1) This Procedure provides instruction to staff on the process for development, review, approval and management of the University’s policy documents. (2) This Procedure supports, and should be read in conjunction with, the Policy Management Policy. (3) This Procedure applies to all staff, students, affiliates, and any person engaged by the University to review or develop University policy documents, including external consultants. (4) As set out in the Policy Management Policy, all University policy documents are organised into a hierarchy as: (5) Local protocols are not part of the Policy Framework but must be consistent with approved policy documents. Local protocols are not published on the University’s website. These are locally managed instructions for internal use only and must be clearly titled as local protocols or local instructions. (6) All University policy documents are categorised as either academic or operational in accordance with the Policy Management Policy. (7) Where the categorisation of a policy document is unclear the Governance and Policy Division will consult with the Chief Governance Officer and University Secretary to determine the appropriate category. (8) The appropriate consultation and approval pathway is determined by: (9) Policy amendments may be required as part of a scheduled review or in response to internal and external legislative or regulatory changes and changes in the University’s strategic goals. Amendments are categorised, in accordance with the Policy Management Policy as: (10) Where a review is completed, and no changes are required a recommendation may be made to the delegated authority to approve a no change review. (11) Where a policy document is no longer required a recommendation may be made to the delegated authority to rescind the policy document. (12) Policy documents are subject to review in accordance with the approved policy review cycle. (13) If a gap is identified in the current policy suite the Responsible Officer should contact the Governance and Policy Division for guidance. The Governance and Policy Division in consultation with the Responsible Officer will determine whether the policy gap can be incorporated into an existing policy document or if a new policy is required. (14) If a new policy document is required, the Responsible Officer must complete a new policy approval form which must be approved by the relevant Senior Executive and the Chief Governance Officer and University Secretary prior to drafting of the new policy document. (15) The Responsible Officer must provide a copy of the new policy approval form to the Governance and Policy Division before drafting commences. This will be submitted to the delegated approval authority with the final version of the policy document. (16) Before commencing a review Responsible Officers must contact the Governance and Policy Division to request a current word version of the policy document to be reviewed or amended. (17) The Governance and Policy Division will provide the Responsible Officer with following documents, or a link to the Policy Toolkit: (18) The Governance and Policy Division will provide advice on the appropriate approval pathway in accordance with the Delegations of Authority Policy. (19) Approval is required for: (20) UOW has obligations under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 to publish open access information on its website, unless there is an overriding public interest against its disclosure. Policy documents form part of the open access requirements. Further information regarding open access information can be found on the University’s access to information page. Any requests not to publicly disclose policy documents must be discussed with the Information Compliance Unit and the Governance and Policy Division. (21) Before drafting a new or existing policy document the Responsible Officer should consider: (22) The Responsible Officer should: (23) All policy amendments must be marked up as track changes in the word document provided by the Governance and Policy Division or for new policy documents in the University’s approved policy template. (24) To maintain accurate version control there must only be one version of the document being edited at any given time. (25) The appropriate consultation pathway should be identified in accordance with the criteria set out in Stage 2. (26) Administrative changes to existing documents and some minor amendments do not require University-wide consultation unless they are the result of a review. (27) All policy documents must be made available for feedback on the Policy Bulletin Board unless otherwise approved by the Chief Governance Officer and University Secretary. (28) As a minimum, a policy document must be made available on the Policy Bulletin Board for University wide consultation for a two-week period. Responsible Officers should consider key holiday periods when seeking University wide feedback. Any exceptions to this clause due to extraordinary circumstances must be discussed with the Chief Governance Officer and University Secretary. (29) If University-wide feedback results in significant changes to a policy document or there is a delay of more than two months between the feedback closing period and endorsement/approval the Governance and Policy Division may recommend that the policy document be made available on the Policy Bulletin Board for a further one-week period. (30) Where feedback is invited from students the Responsible Officer should work with the relevant student representative bodies to identify an appropriate consultation pathway. (31) The Governance and Policy Division are considered key stakeholders for all policy documents. (32) The Academic Quality and Standards Division are considered key stakeholders for policy documents that have an impact on education or students. AQS should be consulted to provide advice on relevant Commonwealth Government legislation and regulation, and the requirements, expectations, and advisory documents of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). (33) Where relevant Responsible Officers should seek advice on legal obligations from the Office of General Counsel when developing or amending policy documents. (34) Consultation should: (35) An initial draft of the policy document should be shared with key stakeholders for feedback. Feedback must be recorded in an appropriate consultation log and must be provided when the policy document is submitted for endorsement and approval. (36) All submissions for posting to the Policy Bulletin Board should be provided to the Governance and Policy Division at least two weeks prior to posting with a completed Bulletin Board Submission Form and if required an Implementation and Communication Plan. The Governance and Policy Division will upload the policy document to the Policy Directory and review for consistency with the Policy Management Framework prior to posting. (37) The Responsible Officer is responsible for submitting an article to Universe to notify the University community that the policy document is open for feedback. (38) The Governance and Policy Division will provide the Responsible Officer with a consolidated feedback report on conclusion of the University wide consultation period. This report should form part of the consultation log. (39) Responsible Officers must consider any feedback before submitting the final version to the Governance and Policy Division for endorsement and approval. (40) Before a policy document is submitted to a Committee or Senior Executive for approval it must be endorsed by the relevant authority as set out in the Delegations of Authority Policy and this Procedure. (41) This may include endorsement by: (42) All new policy documents and all amendments to existing policy documents that are likely to have resource implications must be endorsed by the University Executive. (43) Amendments to academic policy documents will, in most instances, progress through the Academic Senate Subcommittees and on to Academic Senate for endorsement. All major amendments to academic policy documents must be endorsed by Academic Senate. (44) The final draft track change version of the policy document should be provided to the Governance and Policy Division to review and upload to the Policy Directory before being submitted for endorsement. Policy documents that have not been submitted for University-wide consultation at Stage 3 must be provided at least two weeks prior to endorsement/approval. (45) The submission must include: (46) The Policy Approval Submission Form must include: (47) Within 21 days of the committee meeting, the Executive Officer of the endorsing committee will provide the Responsible Officer and the Institutional Policy Manager a confirmation of the committee resolution to notify them that the policy document can progress for further endorsement and/or approval. (48) The process outlined above applies to submission of policy documents for approval. (49) Within 21 days of the committee meeting, the Executive Officer of the approving committee will provide the Responsible Officer and the Institutional Policy Manager with confirmation of the committee resolution to notify them that the policy document has been approved and can be published on the University’s Policy Directory. (50) If Senior Executive approval is required following endorsement the Governance and Policy Division will prepare the approval memo. (51) The Governance and Policy Division will publish all approved policy documents on the University’s Policy Directory and notify the Responsible Officer. (52) The Responsible Officer is responsible for notifying the University community of any new or amended policy documents and for managing the implementation process in accordance with the Implementation and Communication plan. (53) The Responsible Officer will monitor the effectiveness of the policy document and manage feedback using a policy issues log, which is a record of: (54) The approval of all new academic codes and policies shall be reported twice yearly to the University Council. (55) Urgent amendments to University policy documents (excluding Rules) will be reported to the next University Council meeting and, in the case of academic policies, to the next meeting of the Academic Senate. (56) Minor amendments to operational codes, policies shall be reported twice yearly to the Finance and Infrastructure Committee. (57) Minor amendments to academic codes and policies shall be reported twice yearly to the Academic Senate. (58) No Change Reviews to operational policy documents shall be reported to the next Finance and Infrastructure Committee meeting occurring after the approval of the No Change Memorandum. (59) A No Change Review for an academic policy document shall be reported at the next Academic Senate meeting occurring after the approval of the No Change Memorandum. (60) The rescission of academic codes and policies will be reported to the University Council. (61) All policy documents must be reviewed in accordance with the assigned review date. (62) The Governance and Policy Division will provide the University Executive and the Responsible Officer with an annual report detailing policies due and overdue for review. (63) Responsible Officers must ensure that all policy documents within their area of responsibility are monitored, accurate, consistent with all relevant University policy documents and with relevant external legislation. (64) On completion of a review the scheduled review date will be updated. The scheduled review date will not be updated where changes to a policy document have been made without a full review. (65) Policy document reviews should be undertaken in accordance with section 4 of this Procedure. (66) Reviews may be scheduled or in cycle. (67) Reviews may result in: (68) Policy documents overdue for review remain current and enforceable unless rescinded. (69) Extraordinary circumstances may necessitate urgent amendment (either temporary or permanent) to University policy documents. (70) Requests for urgent amendments will only be approved where urgent action is required to mitigate significant risk to the University and must be directed to the Chief Governance Officer and University Secretary. (71) The Chief Governance Officer and University Secretary will provide advice to the Governance and Policy Division who will draft the relevant approval memo in consultation with the Responsible Officer and Senior Executive. (72) For all temporary changes to the policy documents, the approval memo must specify the period during which the amendment is to be effective. The amendments shall cease to have effect at the end of the specified temporary period and the previous provisions of the policy document will resume operation. (73) An Urgent Amendment does not constitute a review. (74) Where there has been an urgent amendment to a policy document a full review of that document should be undertaken within 12 months of the urgent approval being approved. (75) Roles and Responsibilities are consistent with the Policy Management Policy. (76) Definitions are consistent with the Policy Management Policy.Policy Management Procedure
Section 1 - Purpose
Section 2 - Application and Scope
Section 3 - Procedure
Document Categories
Amendment Categories
Policy Review Cycle
Section 4 - Stages of Policy Development and Review
Stage 1 Development, Review and Amendment
New Policy
All Policy
Stage 2 Research and Benchmarking
Stage 3 Consultation
University-wide Consultation
Stage 4 Endorsement and Approval
Endorsement
Approval
Stage 5 – Communication and Implementation
Stage 6 – Monitoring and Reporting
Monitoring
Reporting
Section 5 - Review
Section 6 - Urgent Amendments
Section 7 - Roles and Responsibilities
Section 8 - Definitions
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