University Leadership & Council

This page sets out the leadership posts at Bayan and what each one answers for, so that a reader knows which door a question belongs at. It describes the roles, not the people who currently hold them.

The President

The President leads the university, is accountable to the Board of Trustees for its running, and represents the institution externally. The President chairs the University Council, approves the executive proposals that go to the Board, and carries final internal responsibility for academic standards, for the conduct of the institution, and for the wellbeing of the people in it.

Deputy leadership

Where the university has established deputy posts, they hold delegated responsibility for a defined area — typically academic affairs on one side and administrative and financial affairs on the other. Delegated authority is exactly that: it is exercised in the President's name and reports back to it.

Deans

A dean leads a college. The dean is responsible for the quality of teaching across the college's departments, for the deployment of academic staff, for the conduct of examinations within the college, and for carrying departmental proposals upward or sending them back for more work. A dean is the point of escalation when a matter cannot be settled inside a department.

Heads of department

A head of department is the closest leadership post to the student. The head owns the curriculum, the timetable, the allocation of teaching, the supervision of academic staff, and the first hearing of an academic concern raised by a student. Most questions a student has end here, and most of them should start here.

The University Council

The Council is where academic decisions of university-wide effect are taken collectively rather than by one office. Its membership is set in the university's own regulations and brings together the President, the deans, and the academic and administrative officers whose work an academic decision depends on.

The Council typically:

• Approves and amends the study regulations
• Approves new programmes and substantial curriculum change
• Approves the academic calendar for the year
• Confirms results and graduation on the recommendation of the examination boards
• Considers academic integrity and discipline at university level
• Receives and acts on quality assurance reports

Names and post-holders

Posts change hands, and a stale name is a wrong answer. To reach a post-holder, write through Contact and name the office you need. Academic staff the university publishes appear under Instructors.