Court Report


by University secretary, David Duncan

The University Court meeting on 12 February took place in the boardroom at Ninewells Hospital, and followed tours of various facilities at the hospital organised by Court member Professor Brian Burchell. In his introductory remarks, the chair of Court, Mr Larry Rolland, paid special tribute to the achievements of the faculty of medicine, dentistry & nursing in the recent research assessment exercise.

The complexities of the University's academic structures and their organisation, budgets and appointment making were addressed in a detailed paper presented by administrative secretary Peter Evans. This followed the reorganisation of the various engineering departments last year into a single school of engineering from 1 January 2002.

The new reduced cycle of court and committee meetings and its fit with the proposed semester structure to be introduced in October 2003 was explored in detail. The plan is for four business meetings of court and an additional, special purposes meeting each year, with an ultimate committee cycle of two formal meetings per semester plus one away-day from 2003/4.

In the meantime, following the central services review, several committees will be abolished and others reconstituted to reflect the new structure. The new committee structure begins in April 2002 and will be mapped on to the current three-term year. The full list of court committees is:

The remit and membership structure of the new committees was approved and induction events agreed before inaugural meetings in the summer term. Court also approved the establishment of two new posts in the external relations group, for an external relations director and an alumni affairs officer.

Still on committee cycle and structure, the Court noted that the best approach to risk management issues remained under discussion. The biological services advisory group will remain in existence, as will a standing working group on equal opportunities issues. The latter were addressed in a paper from the secretary on women in senior management, which was approved by Court.

The Court heard a report from the Vice Principal on developments in the University's strategy for learning and teaching and the work of the centre for learning and teaching, and responded positively to progress being made in this area.

A paper presented by the Principal on academic management issues, which had previously been considered by the Senate, was approved. The Court decided to hold off discussion on the work of the remuneration committee and consideration of consultancy activity to a future meeting.

Finally, the Court noted the completion of work on a range of corporate governance issues, which had been underway over the past year.

See organisational chart


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