Emergency Promotion Procedures

Page contents > Introduction

Introduction

The Promotions Committee is aware of the pressures created when urgent retention issues arise and seeks to work with Heads of Department to deal with such matters expeditiously, without threatening the integrity and quality of the School's established procedures.

The Promotions Committee has agreed the following criteria for emergency procedures:

Evidence, in the form of an offer letter from a comparator, academic institution. Offers from the commercial sector are not deemed relevant in this context.
The Promotions Committee would expect confirmation from the Head of Department that the candidate would in any event, be put forward in the forthcoming promotion round.

The Appointments Committee has agreed the following two procedures to deal with emergency requests for promotion which arise out of phase. The emergency procedures cannot be used for late applications for promotion.

Procedure (1) [Emergency Promotion Proposals which arise in session]

Procedure (1) is designed to deal with emergency requests for promotion which arise during the session outside of the normal promotion cycle (and including normally, the Michaelmas and Easter vacations). Procedure (1) is identical (except in timing) to the procedures used for the main Promotions exercise but the procedure is accelerated as far as possible so that a decision may be reached at an early opportunity - normally at the next scheduled meeting of the Promotions Committee.

The Director will determine on advice from the VCAC, whether the individual circumstances justify the use of Procedure (1). Heads of Department are advised therefore, to contact the VCAC in the first instance.

Procedure (2) [Emergency Promotion Proposals which arise in the Summer vacation]

The Appointments Committee agreed introduction of procedure (2) in June 2005, specifically to deal with emergency requests for promotion which arise during the long Summer vacation.

Procedure (2) is designed to achieve as far as possible, a procedure which remains comparable to the main Promotions exercise.

As with procedure (1), the Director will determine on advice from the VCAC whether procedure (2) should be triggered. Heads of Department should, therefore, contact the VCAC in the first instance.

Having achieved consent for the case to proceed, the Head of Department should submit the documentation for promotion to Human Resources. Heads of Department are advised that promotion procedures cannot be activated until the complete documentation outlined in 1-6 below is received in Human Resources.

The documentation for promotion consists of the following elements:

1. Departmental Promotion Proposal Form: completed by the Head of Department indicating the candidate's research and teaching activities and administrative contribution. Heads of Department should refer to section 4.10 of the Guidelines for Promotion for the headings to be addressed in their statements.
2. The CV Template for Promotion: completed by the candidate.
3. The Teaching Contribution Form: completed by the candidate.
4. The names of two departmentally sponsored referees capable of giving an informed opinion of the candidate's work (the requirement for candidates' to nominate two referees is removed).
5. Nomination by the Department of at least one External Expert capable of giving an informed opinion of the candidate's work. The Departmental Assessor's opinion will also be sought.
6. Three properly-ordered sets of up to four writings which the candidate believes best represent his/her qualities and three copies of any reviews which have appeared on the candidate's work.

The Promotions Committee will seek opinions from the external referees, External Expert(s) and
Department Assessor.

Heads of Department should refer to the relevant sections of the Guidelines for Promotion for further information on criteria for selection of referees, roles of the Department Assessor and External Experts, and writings.

A Panel comprising members of the Promotions Committee will have authority to consider emergency requests for promotion which arise during the Summer vacation. The Panel's membership will normally comprise the Director, VCAC, and Pro Director (Planning and Resources). If necessary, the Panel may also convene to consider emergency promotion proposals which arise in session [Procedure 1].

Panel members will consider a full set of papers relating to the candidate, comprising:

Promotion Proposal Form
Candidate's CV
Teaching Contribution Form
School student survey results
Reports of two external Referees
Reports of the Departmental Assessor and External Expert(s)
Report of the Internal Reader (Promotions Committee member).

The Panel, having considered all the relevant information as described above, will reach an initial decision on the promotion. The Panel will make a recommendation to the full Promotions Committee which will be asked, by circulation, to endorse it. In the event that any two members of the Promotions Committee raise an objection, the decision will be held over until the first scheduled meeting of the Promotions Committee in the following academic session (the first meeting of 2008-2009 will take place on 29 October 2008).

For promotions dealt with under Procedure (2), the aim will be to reach a decision within four weeks (one month) of a department delivering the completed promotion documentation to Human Resources. Heads of Department should note that this timetable may be affected by factors outside the Promotions Committee's control such as the availability and goodwill of external academic colleagues to act on short notice.

In exceptional circumstances, the Director, on advice from the VCAC, may agree to amend procedure (2) to facilitate a decision on a particular case sooner than the one month period.