In early 2013, the president directed the Secretariat to undertake a thorough review of university policies and the framework within which university policies are managed. The Policy Renewal Project, which was formally approved in the summer of 2013, was designed to achieve these objectives. The project was originally intended to run from 1 September 2013 to 30 September 2018. However, the first two years of the project has demonstrated that more time is needed in order to enable careful consideration and meaningful consultation. So the project end date will be extended by two years to 30 September 2020.
The Policy Renewal Project has two overarching goals:
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To review the framework within which university policies are managed and to make improvements where necessary; and
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To review and update the existing policy library with the intention of improving the clarity, consistency and relevance of university policies.
The processes at the centre of the policy management framework are contained in Policy 1, which governs the initiation and review of university policies. The framework also includes the people and processes supporting policy initiation and review, communicating changes to university policies, providing policy interpretation, and managing the library of current and prior versions of policies. Each of these pieces of the framework will be examined in order to identify opportunities for improvement.
In addition to the policy management framework, the Secretariat will facilitate the review of the library of existing university policies. Changes which will be considered include:
- “housekeeping” updates, such as changes to formatting, position titles, names of units or legislative references;
- in-depth review and substantive revisions to content;
- addition of new policies;
- cancellation of policies which are no longer relevant; and
- amalgamation of policies with similar subject matter.
Please note, guidelines and procedures will also be reviewed to the extent necessary to maintain consistency with revised policies; however, a thorough review is not currently within the scope of this project.
For information on how to participate in this process, please see below.
