Committees have always played a key role in the University's governance, as would be expected in an organisation which attaches great value to maintaining a strongly participative culture.
By and large, its committees have served UWA very well. However, by the start of the century, following a period of extraordinary and far-reaching change in the higher education sector, the University's committee system had burgeoned, and the resultant stresses on staff, both academic and administrative, were becoming intolerable.
It was clear that there was an urgent need for a revised approach to the use and operation of committees, which would better suit the University in the 21st century. It was imperative to make the committee system as streamlined and effective as possible.
In 2002, the then Deputy Vice Chancellor and Chair of the Academic Board established a working party to review the efficiency and effectiveness of committees in the University. Briefly summarised, the tasks of the Working Party were to:
In its Report, the Working Party affirmed the value of a committee system in achieving the University's goals. It recognised that committees remain an essential part of a shared governance system within the modern University's community.
It was very clear from the many interviews which members of the Working Party conducted in the course of the Review that the University community continued to place significant value on the committee system as a key means of participating in University decision-making. Some of the Report's statements about the perceived value of committees included the following:
While noting the community's clear support for the place of the committee system in the University's shared governance system, the Working Party also reported that there was broad acceptance of the urgent need to reduce the time consumed by committee work, mainly through making all University committees as efficient and effective as possible.
The Report emphasised the University's commitment to maintaining collegiality as fundamental to University governance. It notes that a "collegial system is one which is transparent, consultative and allows staff to contribute to decision-making, whilst also capturing the diverse inputs and perspectives of a wide range of men and women."
The Report also notes that individual managers at all levels can be collegial in their decision-making "through being open to the views of staff and students and accepting debates on various issues."
The Review's recommendations led to a number of changes to the Vice Chancellery and Academic Board committee systems, and also resulted in the adoption of the following key documents:
The Principles apply to the operation of all University committees and are intended to enhance efficiency and effectiveness throughout the University's committee system.