Governance

Academic Departments and other Academic Units

Types of academic structure at Goldsmiths (Departments, Areas, Centres)

Group-based representation

Heads of academic departments

Departmental Boards

Governance framework for the types of academic structure at Goldsmiths

The Academic Departments in the College, and the Academic Areas, are defined by Ordinance.

Council has agreed (9 December 2004: Minute 24) that as a matter of general principle, all new academic units independent of the departmental structure would be designated as "Academic Areas" and listed in Ordinances. Currently there are three Academic Areas, namely the Centre for Cultural Studies, the Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) and the Centre for English Language and Academic Writing (CELAW).

It is also possible to establish academic entities within departments, but these do not appear in Ordinances. They may be:

• Centres: cross-disciplinary but attached to one Department: establishment or closure approved by Academic Board and reported to Council. (All Centres in the College, other than the Centre for Cultural Studies (see above) are now of this type.)
• Research Unit, within a Department: establishment and closure may be approved by Research Committee.

[Download  Guidelines for the establishment of Academic Centres and Units    approved wef 1 September 2010 (pdf)]

Groups of Academic Departments and areas (for Group-based representation)

For the purposes of ensuring balanced representation of the range of academic activity on certain designated College committees (as indicated by the compositions of those committees), the Departments and areas have since September 2005 been assigned to "Groups": these are listed in Ordinances, and are currently as follows:

• Group A: English and Comparative Literature; History; Visual Cultures;  Centre for English Language and Academic Writing
• Group B: Art; Design; Music; Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship; Theatre and Performance (formerly Drama) 
• Group C: Educational Studies; Professional and Community Education (PACE)
• Group D: Anthropology; Media and Communications; Politics; Sociology; Centre for Cultural Studies
• Group E: Computing; Psychology

Academic Board has agreed that members appointed within the Group-based structure should not be required to consult explicitly with the other departments in their Group on specific issues under consideration by their committee. Although there is of course no discouragement from doing this (save where exceptional considerations of confidentiality apply), the expectation is rather that members should contribute from existing expertise. (Academic Board minutes, 2 February 2005   [pdf]: Minute 64.)

It is to be noted that the permanent Groups of Academic Departments in Ordinances are unconnected with the line management relationships between academic departments and Pro-Wardens. This is primarily because the latter relationships are subject to change - for example to avoid new Pro-Wardens becoming managers of departments of which they are themselves members.

Heads of Academic Departments

[List of departments, with their Heads, Heads-designate, Pro-Wardens and Groups] [PDF]

There are currently two official statements concerning the function of Heads of Department:

• The Ordinance for Heads of Academic Department
• The Academic HOD job specification [pdf] agreed by Council in July 2003

The Appointment Panel for Heads of Academic Departments makes recommendations for any new appointments, while re-appointments are proposed to Council by the Warden.

Departmental Boards

The role of Departmental Boards is defined in Ordinances. The Boards are currently part of the central committee structure reporting to Academic Board (with a terms of reference page on the Committee System web pages); however this formal reporting relationship has been identified for review.

The standard composition of Departmental Boards is approved by Academic Board and published on the Committee system website under the provisions of Ordinances for academic departments. Most departments operate Exceptions to this standard composition, which are approved by Academic Board and published separately (also on the Committee system website).