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POLICIES

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POLICIES

In the interests of good governance, every organisation needs policies in place to guide its decision-making. Such policies are not cast in stone, however, and must be reviewed regularly to keep up with best practice and changing circumstances.

 

Eish! spoke to Amanda van der Merwe, the director for corporate and information governance services, about the latest policy changes at the NWU.

Amanda van der Merwe is the director for corporate and information governance services.

Q: The NWU has been busy revising and updating its policies. Why is it important for staff to know about this?

A: A lot of staff members are directly involved in the revision process. But even those who are not directly involved have to know if and how the policies guiding their work environment have changed, so that they can adjust the way they work accordingly.

 

Q: What is the background to this revision process?

A: After the recent restructuring process, it was necessary to review the NWU Statute, which is the founding legislation for the NWU in terms of the Higher Education Act. Part of the transitional arrangements to ensure a smooth changeover to the revised Statute is adapting and adopting policies.

 

Q: Why is it important to revise our policies?

A: Our policies have to be compliant with the revised Statute, and also with the principles of the King IV report on corporate governance in South Africa.

 

Q: How many policies are there in total?

A: We have 50 Council-approved policies, which can be viewed by clicking here.

 

Q: How many of the policies have already been revised?

A: During 2017, six out of the 50 policies were reviewed and formally approved by Council. They are the following:

 

  • SRC Constitution
  • Policy on the generation and approval of rules, policies and procedures
  • Schedule of authorisation levels
  • Rules for the appointment of office bearers
  • Rules for the nomination, election, designation and appointment of Council members
  • General academic rules

 

Q: How does the policy review process work?

A: The Corporate and Information Governance Services department of the NWU drives the administrative side of the policy review. It commenced in 2017, when the university management team started to review those policies in their respective portfolios that required adjustment. They did this in cooperation with their management teams and subject specialists.

 

Here is how the process works: After the first review, each policy is sent to the Refinement Committee to scrutinise and return to the university management team for further input as required.

 

Next, each policy is tabled at the University Management Committee (UMC) for approval, after which it goes through an extensive consultative process. This process involves various governance structures, including Council committees, Senate, Senate committees, the Institutional Forum and faculty boards.

 

After all input have been consolidated, the next step is to table the policy at Council on the recommendation of the UMC or Senate. (Senate recommends all policies in respect of teaching-learning and research matters).

 

Along the way, every policy is also language edited and scrutinised by Legal Services. Once approved by Council, the policy is then translated and published on the NWU web.

 

Q: When do we expect the process to be concluded?

A: The remaining 44 policies must be finally reviewed and re-approved by the last Council meeting of the year in November 2018.

 

Q: Would we have to review our policies again in future?

A: Yes, policies and rules are reviewed on a three-year rolling basis to ensure good corporate governance and responsiveness to strategy development and implementation.