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The Senate is the Board of Directors of Australian Catholic University Limited and is the governing body of the university. As such, the university recognises the need for senators to be informed of their responsibilities, and senators also have legal obligations that need to be completed as part of the onboarding process. Senator induction therefore comprises two significant elements: education and information collection. Each of these is detailed below, along with links to appropriate information and forms. Please direct any inquiries regarding Senate induction to senate@acu.edu.au.
ACU and its related entities collect personal information from members of Senate (Company Directors) for administrative activities and regulatory purposes associated with Senator directorship and the university's corporate status. The Privacy Act 1988 requires the university to inform you how your personal information is collected and used, and the circumstances in which it will be disclosed.
All personal information is collected in accordance with ACU’s Privacy Policy. and the Privacy Collection Notice – ACU Senators and External Committee Chairs.
Shortly after appointment, senators will receive a Letter of Appointment confirming the clause of the ACU Constitution under which they have been appointed (categories of appointment are detailed in Clause 13.2). Once a term of office on Senate commences, the senator also becomes a Director of ACU Limited ACN 50192660 under the Corporations Act 2001 and needs to be registered as such.
To enable registration and ensure that senators have access to appropriate resources, the following forms need to be completed and returned to senate@acu.edu.au.
For external senators including the Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, Chapter and Panel senators, as well as External Chairs of a Senate Sub-Committee, remuneration is detailed in the Senate and Senate Sub-Committee Remuneration Policy. To enable remuneration to be processed, the following Senator remuneration forms must be completed and returned to senate@acu.edu.au:
For academic and professional staff members of Senate, the university recognises the demands of being a senator and makes appropriate recognition of this in its work allocation processes in the Senator Workload and Recognition Policy. The Governance Directorate will contact a senator's executive dean or line manager to advise of appointment and the need to accommodate Senate activities into workload allocation.
For student senators, the university acknowledges the commitment needed to be a member of Senate, and that the time taken up by Senate duties may limit remuneration opportunities. The university has accordingly established a stipend for the student senator (see the Senate and Senate Sub-Committee Remuneration Policy and the Student Members Workload and Recognition Policy). To enable remuneration to be processed, the following remuneration forms must be completed and returned to senate@acu.edu.au:
All ACU senators need to apply for an individual DIN as directors of a registered Australian body under the Corporations Act 2001. If you are also a director of another company, you only need to apply for one DIN which will cover all directorships currently held, and those that may be held in the future. (It is an offence to have more than one DIN).
Senators must personally and directly apply for a DIN. No one can apply on your behalf.
Apply for a DIN via the Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) website. The simplest way of applying online is by using the myGovID app to verify your identity. If you have not yet set this up, instructions are online.
Note that myGovID is different from myGov:
If you are unable to set up myGovID, advice about other methods of applying for a DIN is available on the ABRS website.
As this is a personal process that each ACU senator needs to complete, ACU will not request any personal or sensitive personal information from you in relation to registering for a DIN. However, once you have completed your registration, please advise senate@acu.edu.au that you have done so and we will record this completion in our records.
We will not request you to provide your individual DIN unless there is a requirement for the university to do so.
There is a TEQSA requirement for completion by key ACU personnel of a TEQSA Fit and Proper Person Requirements Declaration by 30 June each year. TEQSA has published a Guide to determining the fitness and propriety of a person which provides guidance on the relevant requirements.
ACU has concluded that 'key personnel' include:
As a Senator you are required to complete and return the TEQSA Fit and Proper Person Requirements Declaration. Please print, complete and sign in the presence of a witness (who must also sign). Completed declarations are to be returned to senate@acu.edu.au.
As part of Senator induction, the Governance Directorate will contact you to arrange meetings with key university personnel, including:
The Governance Officer for Senate and Senate committees will send you calendar invitations to meetings as appropriate, and will send reminders throughout the year of upcoming meetings and availability of agenda papers.
To view a complete list of Senate and Senate Committee meetings, submission close-off dates and agenda distribution dates, please refer the Governance Committee Calendar administered by the Governance Directorate. In accordance with Statute 2, majority of senators will also be a member of a Senate Sub-Committee. Allocation will be advised on commencement.
Brief senator biographies and photographs are available on the Senate membership list website. A biography and photo (as well as any future updates) are to be submitted to senate@acu.edu.au as part of the induction process.
Diligent is an online platform used to provide Governance Committee meeting papers, for online voting and to access information and resources. A user account is set up for all senators as part of the induction process.
Training on how to use Diligent is available in two forms:
Once training has been completed, senators will need to provide a signature for use in Diligent when voting on circular resolutions and other matters. Note that this signature is secure and cannot be extracted and used outside Diligent.
From time-to-time organisations such as Governance Institute and Australian Institute of Company Directors offer courses specific to universities. We recommend participation in the courses and will circulate dates as they become available.
Delegations of Authority Policy and Register
Senate and Corporation Travel Protocol
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