Delegations: glossary
Administrative Manager: In the delegations system, an Administrative Manager is a senior administrator in any University organisational unit. This could mean a School Manager, an Executive Officer, or a Branch or Section Head in an administrative division or office. The Administrative Manager profile can be held by more than one senior administrator in a budget unit.
Budget Unit: A University unit listed on the Academic units and Administrative units web pages.
CAC Act: The Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997. This legislation was enacted to put in place measures to ensure the accountability of Commonwealth Authorities (of which the University is one, by virtue of its enabling Act) and those who govern or manage them.
College Head: The Head of an ANU College.
Course Authority: A person appointed by the Education Dean or the appropriate Delegated Authority to fulfil the role of Course Authority for the purposes of the relevant rules of the University.
Delegate: A person invested with authority to carry out the functions, powers and duties of, or to act on behalf of or represent others.[1] A person who occupies an official position at the University, that position having been assigned authorities or powers by the Vice-Chancellor by way of the University’s delegations system.
Delegated Authority: A person appointed by the Education Dean to fulfil the role of Delegated Authority for the purposes of the relevant rules of the University.
Delegated Authority Coursework: A profile created for a person who has been appointed by the Education Dean to exercise a subset of the Delegated Authority profile, specifically in relation to coursework matters.
Delegated Authority Research: A profile created for a person who has been appointed by the Education Dean to exercise a subset of the Delegated Authority profile, specifically in relation to research matters.
Delegation: A power or authority given to a delegate. A delegation is expressed in and limited by a form of words, and is formally assigned by the holder of the power to the delegate.
Director: A delegation profile given to the head of an ANU College or the head of a level 2 organisational unit in the College. Directors of administrative divisions have their own specific delegations profiles.
Executive: Refers to the most senior officers of the University - the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Pro-Vice-Chancellors.
Finance 1, Finance 2, Finance 3 (formerly Staff 1, 2 & 3): These represent three levels of delegations profile within budget units for staff not occupying the positions of head of budget unit, admin manager or head of department. The head of a budget unit may assign a profile
to any member of the budget unit.
Typically, profiles would be assigned as follows:
Finance 1 To general staff ANU 8 and above
Finance 2 To general staff ANU 5-7
Finance 3 To general staff up to ANU 4
Academic staff may also be assigned any one of the three Finance profiles at the
discretion of the Principal Delegate.
Head of Budget Unit: A Head of Budget Unit is the head of a unit listed on the Academic units and Administrative units web pages. The term is interchangeable with Principal Delegate, in the delegations policy and tables. The term Head of Budget Unit is normally used when referring to the authorities related to the management of that Budget Unit, while Principal Delegate is used when referring to the authority to assign delegations profiles.
Head of Department: A 'Department' is the traditional second-tier organisational unit of a School, Research School or Centre and is variously referred to as a School, Centre, Division, Group or Program as well as a Department. In the delegations system, Department refers to a second or third tier organisational unit within a larger budget unit, whether academic or administrative, and regardless of the operating name of that second- or third-tier unit.
Officer: Within the meaning of Section 5 of the CAC Act, 'officers' include not just members of Council but also other senior University employees such as heads of administrative and budget areas, Deans and Directors and senior managers.
Portfolio: Refers to the broad areas of responsibility of a Deputy Vice-Chancellor or a Pro-Vice-Chancellor. These are set out in the University’s administrative organisation chart.
Principal Delegate: A Principal Delegate is a head of a budget unit who has the authority to assign delegations profiles to other staff within the budget unit. Throughout the delegations policy documents and tables, the term is interchangeable with Head of Budget Unit. The term Head of Budget Unit is normally used when referring to the authorities related to the management of that Budget Unit, while Principal Delegate is used when referring to the authority to assign delegations profiles.
Responsible Officer: A person appointed by the Director of Information Services to exercise powers and perform functions in accordance with the Information Infrastructure and Services Rules.
Supervisor: A staff member assigned to supervise, manage or direct the work of another staff member(s). A Supervisor delegations profile allows a staff member to approve leave of up to six weeks of staff for whom they are responsible.
[1] Butterworths Concise Australian Legal Dictionary (1997)
