The Development of Anglia Polytechnic

A Report for Staff - January 1989

  1. Meetings of the EIHE Corporation and the CCAT nominated Corporation were held on 15 December 1988. The CCAT Corporation will be formed early in the New Year when an order is laid in Parliament. At both meetings Governors heard of City Poly's withdrawal at this stage from the proposed three way merger and decided unanimously to agree to the CCAT/EIHE merger from 1 April 1989. These decisions were reported to and endorsed by a joint meeting of the two Corporations held on 20 December. The Secretary of State has been asked to approve the merger.

  2. Articles of Government for the CCAT and EIHE Higher Education Corporations and for the joint Higher Education Corporation have been prepared and will be submitted by 31 December. They adhere very closely to the Model Articles issued by the DES.

  3. The objective is to have the merged institution designated as Anglia Polytechnic on 1 April 1989, or early thereafter. If we cannot achieve this by 1 April, we shall use the temporary title:

    		Anglia hec
    
    The location of the campus will also be referred to when appropriate, thus:

    	Anglia hec	Anglia hec
    	Cambridge	Essex
    

  4. A management group has been set up to mount the campaign for polytechnic designation, led by Tom Allcock. Ideas and help will be welcome. The initial members of the group are considering a logo for the Corporation and the wording of a phrase such as "A regional polytechnic for the future" to be incorporated into advertising and publicity material.

  5. Negotiations with CNAA will now be focussed on achieving institutional delegated authority for Anglia from 1 April 1989. The objective of institutional accreditation in as short a period as possible after that date will be pursued with vigour.

  6. There will be four Faculties, bringing together the following groupings of existing areas of work:

  7. At first, members of the Directorate will act as Faculty co-ordinators but Deans will be appointed as soon as appropriate. The Co-ordinators will be:

    Initially it is intended that a Dean will be sought from the Heads of the Departments which form each Faculty. These appointments will be made on three year renewable contracts. A Dean will retain his/her Departmental Headship. In the event of it being necessary to appoint a Dean from outside the institution, that person would also be appointed to the Headship of a Department and would assume the Deanship on the same terms as an internal appointee. Each Faculty will have a Faculty Board.

  8. The internal structure of each Faculty will be determined by consultation and could vary from Faculty to Faculty. If a departmental structure is agreed, it is proposed that there should be large departments containing normally at least 30 fte staff. Heads of Department will establish the consultative machinery in Departments in consultation with staff and students. The sub-units in Departments will be known as Divisions.

    There will be an initial directorate of seven in the period following the establishment of the Corporation but this should later be reduced to five. The structures are:

    1. Initial structure

                       Director and Chief Executive (Mike Salmon)
      				|
            Pro Director and Deputy Chief Executive (Ken Swinhoe)
      				|
         -------------------------------------------------------------
         |            |            |                |           |
      Deputy       Deputy      Assistant        Assistant   Assistant
      Director     Director    Director         Director    Director
      (Resources)  (Planning)  (Finance and     (Academic)  (Projects)
      (Tony        (Tom        Administration)  (Robin      (Denis
      Powell)      Allcock)    (Alan Boone)     Smith)      Johnston)
      

    2. Final structure

            Director and Chief Executive
      		 |
        Pro Director and Deputy Chief Executive
      	         |
           --------------------------
           |           |            |
       Assistant   Assistant    Assistant
       Director    Director     Director
      

  9. Proposals for the new Academic Board are currently being drawn up, taking due account of the recommendations of the Joint Academic Boards' Working Party. The proposals will be put to existing Academic Boards at their January meetings. It is intended that the new Academic Board will have been approved by the Governing Body, and be ready to operate from 1 April 1989. The period to 1 April is too short to merit the establishment of a "shadow" Academic Board and existing Academic Boards and other committees will continue to operate, as appropriate, until 1 April.

  10. It will be necessary to submit a corporate plan for Anglia to PCFC by June 1989. This plan will include a mission statement and development plans for courses, finance, buildings, staff and management information. It is intended to press forward with plans for a green field site development in or near Chelmsford and for additional buildings in Cambridge. Meanwhile bids for both small scale and large-scale capital expenditure on buildings in Cambridge and in Chelmsford have already been submitted.

  11. The new Institution intends to become a member of the Polytechnics and Colleges Employers Forum, which will shortly begin to negotiate on pay and conditions of service for staff.

  12. Administration

    The creation of a unified administration is an urgent priority. The following staff have been appointed on an acting basis initially and will report to the appropriate member of the Directorate:

  13. Finance

    It had been assumed that the City Poly financial system would be extended to provide for the needs of Essex and Cambridge. Given the time scale, negotiations are taking place to continue to use the services of the Cambridgeshire and Essex LEAs after 1 April. This will provide the essential minimum service required whilst a more comprehensive system is developed. A working group led by Tony Powell and consisting of Alan Boone, Denis Johnston, Lee Woodward (financial consultant), Chris Hackett and Rod Salmon is giving priority to this area of the administration.

  14. Campus representation

    Tom Allcock will act as Campus President for Cambridge and Tony Powell for Essex.

  15. Mission Statement

    A mission statement for Anglia Polytechnic will now be prepared. While we have given a lot of thought to mission statements recently, it is vital that we get this right, and there will be further consultation in the usual quarters.

M Salmon
K Swinhoe


Order for CCAT Designation
An order in Parliament to approve the Secretary of State's designation of CCAT as a PCFC institution was necessary as the Education Reform Act 1988 did not list CCAT but included EIHE. [Back]
Slogan
"A Polytechnic for the future" was the slogan chosen for car stickers, etc. [Back]

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