Committees: terms of office

The activities of the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC) will be supported by Committees covering the primary areas of interest of the membership, currently defined as:

  • Recruitment and Admissions (including the Mathematics Working Group)
  • Engineering Education, Employability and Skills
  • Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer

The number and remit of these groups will be reviewed periodically.

The working groups will comprise members drawn from the EPC member organisations and  other interested organisations by invitation and include a Chair (normally an EPC Board member) and Vice Chair who (unless already a member) will be co-opted to the EPC Board for the year prior to taking over as Chair). These roles will normally only be open to EPC members.

Chair and Vice Chairs will be appointed by the EPC Board based on recommendations from the Committee.

The roles of Chair and Vice Chair will be of fixed duration (normally three years), with the Vice Chair normally taking on the role of Chair at the conclusion of their term of office. (NB to ensure continuity of EPC operations the initial duration of these posts will be varied to “stagger” the changeovers).

Otherwise, the membership will be reviewed every three years, with the possibility for members to continue beyond the original term (for a maximum of 6 years in total).

The number of members will be at the discretion of the Committee chair, but will be sufficient to ensure representation of a cross section of member organisations and interests and to enable the tasks of the working group to be shared.  Typically this would be in the range 5-15 members.

Each Committee will be expected to propose its own priorities and objectives with these being agreed by the EPC Board, normally on a bi-annual basis.  Additionally, the working groups may be tasked with responding to specific events, consultations, enquiries, calls for information etc within their remit as and when these arise.

Each Committee may form one or more working groups and/or fixed term task and finish duties to support its activities.  These will report to EPC via the relevant working group.  The membership of these working groups will be as required to conduct the relevant activity, but will include a Chair who will be drawn from, or co-opted to, the membership of the relevant EPC  Committee.

Each Committee will produce an annual review of its outputs and findings and present these at the EPC’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).   Additionally, specific outputs, reports or information of interest will be posted on the EPC website and/or disseminated at Congress to ensure these are accessible to the wider EPC membership.

Claiming Expenses

The EPC expense claim form may be downloaded below either as a spread sheet to fill in electronically or a pdf file to print before completing.

Policy on claims for travel and subsistence

Main Committee, sub Committee and working group members will incur expenses as a result of attendance at meetings of those groups and as a result of being asked to attend other events to represent the Engineering Professors’ Council (EPC).  Where Main Committee and sub Committee/working group members are unable to claim these expenses through their own universities, it is the policy of the EPC to contribute to such costs as outlined below.

  1. We endeavour to publish the calendar of meetings for the following year by the end of the preceding academic year to enable members to keep travel costs to a minimum by booking in advance.
  2. The cost of cheapest available advance rail travel or economy air travel may be claimed.  For those choosing to travel by car, the amount claimed should not be more than the cheapest available advance or economy class public transport fare.  The latest mileage rate may be found on the EPC expenses form.  Claims for car mileage in special circumstances (such as where a train journey is un-necessarily time-consuming or complicated) should be approved individually, and in advance, by the Executive Director or Treasurer.  Essentially, colleagues are asked to exercise discretion and reasonability to help manage costs.
  3. The costs for drinks and snacks etc. will not be met other than in exceptional circumstances (such as severely delayed travel).
  4. All expense claims must be submitted to the Engineering Professors’ Council office (details on the expenses form) within 3 months of the date that the expense was incurred for approval and payment.

 

Document Download
Expense Claim (xls)  excel-icon
Expense Claim (pdf)  

Committee Election Rules

The EPC’s Memorandum of Association of January 2009 provides that:

“33. Elections for the following members of the EPC Committee shall be held during the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Council.
b. Ordinary members: Vacancies among the seven ordinary members shall be filled by election at the Annual General Meeting with, normally, at least two members elected each year. Ordinary members shall be Full Members of the Council at the time of election and shall serve for a period of three years and shall not normally be eligible for immediate re-election.”

At its meeting on 12th April 2010, the EPC Committee decided on procedures for conducting elections when there are more candidates than places available; these were accepted by the AGM on 13th April 2010, and put into practice at that meeting.  Candidates should be nominated and seconded by EPC members, by a deadline specified in the invitation to members to attend the AGM; they are invited to submit 100 to 200 word manifestos to be circulated to those attending the AGM.  At the AGM, each EPC member may vote (by secret ballot) for as many candidates as there are vacancies on the Committee; those with the highest number of votes are elected.  The President has a casting vote, to be exercised if there is a tie for the last place available on the Committee.

With effect from the AGM 2011, only individuals from universities which have paid their  subscription for the current academic year, by at least two weeks before the AGM, are  eligible to stand for election and/or vote at the AGM.

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