Background and Rationale
The purpose of this policy is to ensure that College of Health Professions policies are well-developed and understandable; approved by individuals or bodies with authority to do so; are accessible for faculty, staff, students; and to do the following:
- Support the mission of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas System.
- Comply with policies, requirements, and regulations of the university and university system.
- Promote accountability by identifying the individuals or offices responsible for policies.
- Provide faculty, staff, and students with clear, concise guidance.
- Document how the college conducts business.
Scope
This policy addresses the process for developing, disseminating, and maintaining all College of Health Professions policies and applies to all college departments, programs, faculty, staff and students. College of Health Professions policies will be:
- Provided in a common format.
- Formally approved by the College of Health Professions Executive Committee.
- Maintained centrally and accessible to all interested parties.
- Linked electronically to procedures for implementing the policy.
- Kept current within the framework of an organized system for change accountability.
Policies will be clearly distinguished from related procedures according to the definitions in “Definitions,” below. Individuals who are responsible for writing, updating, and disseminating college-wide policies must comply with this policy.
Policies and procedures developed by departments and programs within the college may not conflict with college-wide policies. They may, however, be more restrictive.
Definitions
Policy
A policy is a statement of management philosophy and direction, established to provide guidance and assistance to the college and its departments, programs, faculty, staff, and students in the conduct of college affairs. A college policy:
- is a governing policy that mandates or constrains actions;
- has college-wide implications;
- changes infrequently and sets a course for the foreseeable future;
- helps insure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies;
- reduces institutional risk; and
- is approved by the College of Health Professions Executive Committee and, when applicable, by senior university officials (provost, chancellor or president), or University of Arkansas Board of Trustees.
Academic Policies
Policies that directly affect the teaching and research missions of the college
Student Policies
Policies that directly affect student life and status within the college
Business Policies
Policies that define and govern how business is conducted within the college, e.g., budget, program review and evaluation, etc.
Personnel Policies
Policies that define and govern how operations that relate to faculty and staff are conducted within the college
Procedure
A guideline or series of related steps taken to help implement the policy. College procedures:
- should identify and link to the applicable college, university, or system policy;
- should be written in a format this is easy to understand, using numbers or bullets to describe steps to be followed;
- should be reviewed and updated as necessary to ensure that they are in agreement with the most recent revisions to policies; and
- generally do not require formal approval by the Executive Committee or senior university officials.
Policy Initiator
Any faculty, staff member, or student who identifies a college-level issue and develops a policy proposal to address the issue
Policy Owner
The appropriate college officer (dean, associate or assistant dean, department chair, etc.) who jurisdiction covers the subject matter of the policy
Stakeholder
Individuals or groups of individuals who are affected by the college policy being developed
Policy
Policy Development
The Policy Initiator may identify a college-wide policy issue and develop it into a policy proposal. The Policy Initiator will submit the policy proposal for review and endorsement of the Executive Committee. If the policy is endorsed, a draft policy is written following the format outlined in the “Policy Format” section, below.
The Policy Owner will review the draft policy and consult with various stakeholders regarding the policy’s likely impact on them or operations of the college, departments and programs. After review and input, the policy will be formally proposed to the Executive Committee and, if acceptable, will be formally approved.
The dean will maintain approved copies of policies and disseminate them by appropriate means, e.g., college’s website, memoranda, etc. The dean will also notify responsible parties when particular policies are scheduled for review or revision and will be available to work with the responsible parties during any phase of policy development process, including, if applicable, implementation of a training schedule.
As identified in the particular policy, the responsible individual or office will monitor compliance and facilitate remedies for noncompliance as directed by the policy.
Policy Review and Revision
Following a review cycle established by the dean, each policy will be reviewed at least once every five years to ascertain whether the policy is necessary, current, understandable, in agreement with other policies and regulations and effective for achieving its original purposes. Policies may be reviewed “off-cycle” if evidence or experience suggests that revisions are required. If indicated, revisions will be made to the policy and will be submitted to the same review and approval process as the original policy.
Policy Format
A standard format for policies ensures clarity and consistency. Although not all polices will contain all the format elements, college policies should be written and maintained following the format described below.
Header Information (required element)
- Policy name
- Policy number (see description below)
- Policy category (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Business Affairs or Personnel)
- Subject
- Related college, university, or university system policies, if applicable
Scope (required element)
Identification of parties or activities governed by the policy
Policy Rationale and Background (required element)
Purpose of the policy – may include statement of philosophy, position, rule, regulation or direction; or explanation of origin or impetus for the development of the policy
Definitions (optional element)
Meaning and interpretation of terms used in the policy
Policy (required element)
Description of the actual policy covering topics which include: duties assigned to responsible parties and other parties as necessary; other information specific to a particular policy subject as needed; and a description of the compliance review process and specific authority to impose penalties or other remedies when noncompliance occurs, if applicable
Effective Date(s) (required element)
Initial effective date of policy, and latest revision date, if applicable
Approval (required element)
Statement of the date the policy was originally approved by the Executive Committee, e.g., “This policy was approved by the College of Health Professions Executive Committee on [DATE].”
Policy Number
Each policy will be assigned a six-digit number (e.g., 02.13.04) for identification and retrieval using the following format:
Digits one and two
The policy’s general category:
- 01: Academic Affairs
- 02: Student Affairs
- 03: Business Affairs
- 04: Personnel
Digits three and four
The calendar year during which the policy was originally approved, e.g, 15 for 2015, 16 for 2016, etc.
Note: For some older college policies, information about their original approval is not available and the year designation has been arbitrarily assigned as “00.”
Digits five and six
The order of approval in the calendar year, i.e., the first policy approved during the year is numbered “01,” the second approved is number “02,” etc.
Location of Policies
To ensure ready access to college policies, the Office of the Dean will maintain an official webpage with the most current, approved version of college policies with links to applicable procedures, forms, or supplemental guidance. This webpage constitutes the official electronic repository for college-wide policies.
To maintain an organized system of change accountability and to ensure consistency throughout the college, individual department or program web sites should not contain separate copies or versions of college policies or applicable procedures, forms, or supplemental guidance. Instead, department or program web sites that refer to college (or university or system) policies must use hyperlinks to the documents on the official webpages of the college, university, or university system. This does not preclude departments or programs from maintaining their own internal policies and procedures on their web sites, provided that the internal department policies and procedures are not identified as official college-wide policies and procedures and do not conflict with college, university, or university system policies.
Approval
This policy was approved by the College of Health Professions Executive Committee on June 16, 2016.
Effective Date
This policy was effective immediately on approval by the College of Health Professions Executive Committee.
Acknowledgement
This policy was copied or adapted from American University’s Policy on Formulation and Issuance of University Policies. Permission for use granted May 18, 2016 by Kathleen Murray, Office of Finance and Treasurer, American University, Washington, DC.