Education Council Members

The College of New Caledonia Education Council has twenty voting members: 10 faculty, 4 students, 4 administrators, and 2 support staff. Each member is elected by his or her constituency except the educational administrators who are appointed by the President. The President is a non-voting member of Education Council and in addition, the Board of Governors may appoint one person to be a non-voting member. Faculty, staff and administrators are elected for two-year terms and students for one year terms.

Power and Duties

The objective of Education Council, a representative body of the College analogous to a university Senate, is to democratically develop and review policy affecting teaching, learning, and the support of teaching and learning in the institution. In furthering those objectives, Education Council fulfills three principal roles and responsibilities as follows:

1. Sole decision-making responsibility in setting policy concerning instruction and student evaluation. Exclusive powers of Education Council relate to such matters as: examinations, academic standing, academic standards, student awards, student appeals, and the setting of curriculum content. [s. 24(2)]
2. Joint decision-making responsibility with the Board, on matters relating to transfer of courses and other matters agreed to by Education Council and the Board. [s. 25(1)]
3. Advisory responsibilities on matters of educational policy. Education Council must advise the Board, and the Board must seek advice from Education Council, in relation to broad institutional issues such as educational goals and strategies, proposals regarding program priorities, evaluation of programs, admission policies, etc. [s. 23(1)].

*paraphrased from the College and Institutes Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 52

Relationship with the Board

The operational relationship between Education Council and the Board is not clearly articulated in the College and Institute Act. In very general terms, the Board is responsible for the financial management of the institution and Education Council is responsible for the educational management of the institution. There is however considerable overlap and interplay between these two roles. While Education Council has final authority on the curriculum content of courses, many other matters of an educational nature come under the "advisory" section of the Act. At the same time, many decisions of Education Council such as the setting of priorities regarding programs, involve budgetary considerations.