Powers and Authorities of Council and the Vice-Chancellor and President: Delegations

On 1 August 2005, Council approved the Powers and Authorities of Council and the Vice-Chancellor: Delegations. This report affirmed the powers of the Vice-Chancellor and President and that some particular functions of Council shall not be delegated.

Vice-Chancellor and President's Delegations of Authority

Background

The University of Adelaide Act 1971 specifically assigns to the Vice-Chancellor and President responsibility "for the academic standards, management and administration of the University". In exercising this responsibility, the Vice-Chancellor and President is empowered, by virtue of office, to make the decisions and approvals necessary to deliver the objectives of the University. As a consequence, the Vice-Chancellor and President must, in order to carry out these responsibilities, delegate a range of authorities to the University's senior managers and the staff who report to them. The authorities are designed to: be clear and easy to understand; elucidate processes of responsibility and accountability for various administrative functions; and establish decision-making at appropriate levels.

Although the purpose of the database is to list the Vice-Chancellor and President's delegations of authority, the non-delegable functions of Council and those matters of management that have been reserved to the Council for approval have also been included for completeness. These may be viewed by selecting "Council" when viewing by Position.

Authorities Database

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The Database may be viewed by: CATEGORY or POSITION

Procedures for Additions, Amendments and Deletions

Request for Authority Approval Form

Please direct any enquiries regarding the Database to the Council Secretary via email.

Policy Principles

All delegations apply to positions and not to individuals. They are granted to individually identified positions and also to multiple positions holding the same levels of delegation. The grouping of positions is set out in the Category Levels table. These Principles have been approved by the Vice-Chancellor and President and noted by Council at Meeting 5/05 on 26 September 2005.

The following principles will be applied in the exercise of delegations of authority:

1. University staff are required to comply with: any relevant legislation, including the University of Adelaide Act 1971, the University's Statutes, By-Laws and Rules; industrial awards or agreements; and the University's policies and procedures.
2. A delegate must not exercise a delegation in order to approve a recommendation made either wholly or partly by the delegate.
3. A person who has been formally appointed to act in a position can exercise any delegations that attach to that position, subject to any limits or conditions that may be imposed.
4. A delegate cannot sub-delegate. A delegate may appoint a person or group, such as a committee, to advise about the exercise of a delegation, but the delegate remains responsible for making the decision.
5. Staff are not compelled to exercise delegations. The fact that a staff member holds a delegation does not oblige the staff member to exercise the delegation if, in the opinion of the delegate some special or unusual circumstances are involved which make it sensible that the issue should receive consideration at a more senior level.
6. Certain basic approval authorities are provided under human resources delegations to staff who exercise direct supervisory responsibilities. They are able to exercise the delegated authority conferred on them, but may only do so for staff under their authority.
7. The exercise of a delegation must relate to the whole of a transaction not to parts thereof. (For example it is not possible to approve the payment of instalments for the acquisition of an item where the total cost is above the financial limit held by the delegate.)
8. Where there is an increase in the cost of an acquisition from the original commitment, the delegate giving the original approval should also approve the supplementary amount. If the new amount exceeds the delegate's level of delegation then another delegate with the appropriate level of delegation must approve the transaction.
9. Staff who act outside approved delegations including exceeding their position's delegation level may be subject to disciplinary action.