No 6228
Wednesday 8 June 2011
Vol cxli No 32
pp. 897–932
At present, the Language Centre is an independent (Non-School) institution under the supervision of the General Board. The Director of the Centre is responsible to a Committee of Management (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 641) which oversees the work of the Centre. The General Board have given further consideration to the governance of the Centre in the light of the Review of Teaching and Learning Support Services (Reporter, 2009–10, p. 260) which recommended that the Centre should be integrated with the University Library, and the remarks made at the Discussion on a topic of concern (Reporter, 2008–09, p. 988).
Following consultation with both the Committee of Management and the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities, the Board have now concluded that it would be more appropriate for the Centre to become part of that School. Placing the Centre within the School would strengthen the academic focus of the Centre’s activities, including the needs for non-award-bearing language training, particularly in that School. Nevertheless, the Centre’s University-wide role as a provider of linguistic expertise would not be diminished and would continue to be reflected through the membership of the Committee of Management which would be drawn from across the University.
The General Board have accordingly recommended to the Council that a Grace be submitted to the Regent House to approve the necessary changes to the regulations for the School of Arts and Humanities. Subject to the approval of the Grace, the Board has approved new regulations for the Language Centre as set out in the Schedule below.
The Council has accepted the General Board’s recommendation and is accordingly submitting a Grace (Grace 4, p. 925) for the approval of an amendment to the regulations for the School of Arts and Humanities.
The Language Centre shall be an institution independent of any Faculty or Department and within the School of Arts and Humanities.
1. The Language Centre shall be under the general control of a Committee of Management, which shall consist of:
(a)one person appointed by the General Board who shall be Chairman, provided that the General Board shall have power to appoint as Chairman a person who is already a member of the Committee in one of classes (c), (d), and (f);
(b)the Director of the Language Centre;
(c)two persons appointed by the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities; and five persons appointed by the General Board after consultation with the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, the Council of the School of Clinical Medicine, the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences, and the Council of the School of Technology;
(d)one person appointed by the Senior Tutors’ Committee;
(e)one member of the University in statu pupillari, appointed by Cambridge University Students Union;
(f)not more than two persons co-opted at the discretion of the Committee.
Members in classes (a), (c), (d), and (e) shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for four years from 1 January following their appointment. Members in class (e) shall be appointed in the Easter Term to serve for the academical year following their appointment. Members in class (f) shall serve until 31 December of the year in which they are co-opted.
2. Seven members of the Committee shall form a quorum.
3. Subject to the powers of the Council, the General Board, and the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities, the duties of the Committee of Management shall be:
(a)to determine the general policy of the Centre;
(b)to advise the Director in matters arising from the work of the Centre;
(c)to give guidance to the Director upon request on matters relating to language learning or teaching in the University;
(d)to assist the Director in promoting the teaching of modern languages;
(e)to approve an Annual Report to the Council of the School on the work of the Centre prepared by the Director;
(f)to award certificates of proficiency in subjects approved by the General Board and listed in the Schedule to these regulations to those persons who have followed courses of the Language Centre and whose work on those courses has been assessed by criteria determined by the Language Centre.
4. The provisions of Statute K, 20 concerning reserved business shall apply as if the Committee were a body constituted by Statute and any matter which, if the Committee were a Faculty Board, would be reserved business under Statute C, IV, 13 shall also be reserved.