• Section 1 - Purpose and Context
• Section 2 - Definitions
• Section 3 - Policy Statement
• Part A - Eligibility
• Part B - Requirements for Promotion
• Part C - Criteria for Promotion
• Fields of Attainment
• Section 4 - Procedures
• Part D - Application Method
• Part E - Submission of Applications
• Part F - Referees
• Part G - Determination and Notification
• Part H - Promotions Committees
• Part I - Appeals
• Section 5 - Guidelines

Section 1 - Purpose and Context

(1) Nil.

Section 2 - Definitions

(2) Nil.

Section 3 - Policy Statement

(3) The University acknowledges through internal promotion to Professor the contribution of academic staff who demonstrate outstanding achievement at a level normally expected of a Professor in Australian universities. The opportunity of promotion to Professor on the basis of personal merit illustrates that the University values excellence, innovation and achievement in teaching, educational development, research, scholarship, and the advancement of knowledge, and leadership within the University, the region and the wider community, nationally and internationally. The University also expects that all staff promoted to Professor will have, and be able to demonstrate, a high personal standing in terms of ethical behaviour, a collegial approach, and support for the University's values and strategic directions. Unless a successful applicant is exceptionally talented in other ways, significant academic leadership ability will be regarded as an essential attribute. The policy enables recognition of academic staff members' diverse achievements and talents, and supports different pathways for academic excellence.

(4) Promotion to Professor is exceptional and is reserved only for those demonstrating outstanding achievement. Promotion to Professor should therefore not be seen as the usual career progression expectation for all academic staff.

(5) In the promotion process, social justice principles will be observed.

Part A - Eligibility

(6) Any full-time or part-time member of the academic staff of UWS with a continuing appointment may apply for promotion, provided that the staff member has served at least two academic years as an academic staff member at UWS prior to the date on which applications for promotion are invited. Any period of leave without pay or secondment to another institution cannot be included in the two year period. Exemptions from the two-year rule will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and will be at the discretion of the Chair of the University Promotions Committee, to whom a case must be put prior to the close of applications.

(7) Academic staff who take more than a period of 6 months leave without pay are not eligible to apply for promotion in the calendar year (January - December) that the leave commences.

(8) Academic staff employed on the basis of a fixed-term contract are also eligible to apply, but promotion of a person who is employed on a non-renewable contract does not vary the length of the contract.

(9) Academic staff whose employment is externally funded are not eligible to apply for promotion unless the funds include provision for an increase to support the promotion.

(10) Academic staff employed on a casual basis are not eligible to apply for promotion.

(11) An academic staff member may not normally apply for promotion in consecutive years. This provision may only be varied if the Chair of the University Promotions Committee considers a case to be exceptional.

(12) An applicant may make only one application in a promotion round at any level and applications for promotion to Professor will only be considered for that level.

(13) Before a promotion can be confirmed, the applicant must have a current, signed workload agreement and have participated constructively and in good faith in the Academic Performance Planning and Review process.

Part B - Requirements for Promotion

(14) Applications for promotion to Professor will be assessed against the University's general standard for appointment to an advertised Chair, which reflects the Position Classification Standard for Level E in the UWS Academic Staff Agreement 2009 - 2012 and reads as follows:

(15) It is expected that successful applicants will normally be able to demonstrate a minimum of "meritorious" activity in all three of the fields of attainment listed below in Clause 22 and "distinguished" activity in at least two. The fields of attainment claimed as "distinguished" must include either: (1) Research and/or Scholarship, including engaged research or (2) Teaching, including engaged teaching and/or Curriculum Development and/or Educational Leadership.

(16) Allowance will be made for those (e.g. research only staff) who have not had an opportunity to engage in all three fields; however their performance in designated areas would be expected to be of an accordingly high level of distinction.

(17) Where an applicant is of the view that a field of attainment does not apply, the reason must be stated and justified under the relevant criterion in the application template.

(18) In the case of the requirement of "distinguished activity in at least two fields", the College-based Promotions Committees and the University Promotions Committee will consider exceptions, as, for example, in a case where the applicant's outstandingly distinguished work in one field may make it unreasonable to expect a distinguished contribution in another.

(19) The performance of applicants who have had interrupted or non-traditional career paths will be assessed accordingly.

Part C - Criteria for Promotion

(20) When assessing candidates for promotion to Professor, the College-based Promotions Committees and the University Promotions Committee will give regard to the specific fields of attainment in Clause 22. Information relating to the levels of attainment appears in Appendix 1 and examples of evidence appear in the guidelines for completing the application template.

(21) Applications for promotion to Professor should take an all-of-career focus, but with clear delineation of achievements since the applicant's last promotion at UWS or since the applicant's appointment to UWS, whichever is the shorter period. Applications should include a CV with a complete list of qualifications, appointments, honours and awards, publications, grants, units and courses developed and taught, supervision of research students, scholarly activities, committee membership, etc.

Fields of Attainment

(22) The fields of attainment are:

(23) a. Research and/or Scholarship, including engaged research;

(24) Evidence of the initiation, or undertaking, of successful entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the University is admissible to support a case for promotion. While such activities may not fall clearly into any one of the fields of attainment listed above, candidates should include any relevant evidence under the field to which it seems, in the light of the activity involved, most appropriate.

(25) The Office of Research Services's Register of Research Activity should be utilised by all UWS researchers for registration of their outcomes and in cases where other sources are utilised in applications for promotion applicants should explain why alternative sources have been selected. The University Promotions Committee and College-based Promotions Committees may, at their discretion, seek validation of claims relating to research achievements from the Office of Research Services. Only consulting projects that have been approved by, and conducted through, UWS are eligible to be considered in support of an application for promotion.

Section 4 - Procedures

Part D - Application Method

(26) The Vice-Chancellor will invite applications for promotion annually at least two months in advance of the closing date for applications. This invitation will include a timetable for completion of the promotion process.

(27) Works accepted for publication but not published before the closing date for applications may be included in the publications list so long as they are marked as such. Evidence of acceptance by the journal or publisher will need to be provided to the Head of School /Director for endorsement and submission to the Executive Officer, Promotions by the time the College-based Promotions Committee meets.

(28) Where appropriate, the application should include citation data from the relevant citation index for each publication, excluding self-citations. It is acknowledged that citations will only be possible where they are routinely available.

(29) The applicant must provide evidence of information in the application (e.g. publications, research grants, consultancies, etc.) to the Head of School /Director who must verify that the information has been sighted.

(30) Applicants must clearly state the percentage of their contribution to publications, must include numbers of pages in books, page numbers of articles or chapters in books and must use the referencing system recognised as appropriate for their discipline. Publications in alternative media must include an explanation of their content.

(31) Applications must be made on the template provided, which consists of a cover sheet (including personal details, academic qualifications and employment history), the written case for promotion, which should not exceed 10 pages, and evidence of achievements, including details of qualifications, appointments, honours and awards, publications, grants, courses developed and taught, supervision of research students, scholarly activities, governance participation, etc., in tabular form. Publications should be listed under the standard DEEWR categories.

(32) Applicants are required to address all the requirements for promotion as outlined in Parts B and C (i.e. all three fields of attainment), except where not applicable, in which case, the requirements of Clause 17 above will apply; and to specify for each promotion criterion whether their level of attainment is to be considered by the Promotions Committee as distinguished or meritorious. Definitions of these terms can be found in Appendix 1.

(33) Although applicants may refer to achievements across the criteria, they must ensure that they do not duplicate their case in more than one criterion.

(34) For fields of "distinguished" activity, the template includes provision for a short comment about the five best, or most significant, publications, or, where appropriate, about major achievements or other outputs.

(35) Two copies of each cited work must be provided to the Executive Officer Promotions.

(36) All material cited in the application must be available to the Promotions Committees if requested.

(37) Guidelines to assist in completing the application are also available. Applicants are strongly encouraged to use the guidelines when preparing their application for promotion.

(38) Applicants for promotion may provide a brief statement on any equity considerations relevant to their application.

(39) Applicants may provide a one-page supplementary statement where relevant information which was not available at the date of close of applications subsequently becomes available. Supplementary statements must be provided to the Executive Officer Promotions up to one month prior to the scheduled College-based Promotions Committee meeting.

Part E - Submission of Applications

(40) Applicants are required to submit an electronic version of the application to the Executive Officer Promotions (email: promotions@uws.edu.au) by the closing date specified in the notice calling for applications. At the same time, applicants should also submit a copy of their application to their Executive Dean or Director (if not located in a School) and Academic Supervisor. Applicants must provide evidence of their publications, research grants and consultancies, etc., referred to in the application.

(41) All applications for promotion will be acknowledged by the Executive Officer Promotions within one week of receipt of the application.

(42) The Executive Officer Promotions will request a recommendation report from the relevant Executive Dean / Director within seven working days of the closing date for applications. The Report is to be completed by the Executive Dean or Director in consultation with the Academic Supervisor. The recommendation must be co-signed and submitted to the Executive Officer Promotions on the required template within 21 calendar days of the request. The template contains provision for addition or qualification by the Academic Supervisor.

(43) Prior to submission of the recommendation report, the Executive Dean or Director and Academic Supervisor are required to read the application in full. On completion of the recommendation report, the Head of School must give a copy of their recommendation report to the applicant at the same time as they submit the report to the Executive Officer Promotions.

(44) If an applicant disagrees with any aspect of the Executive Dean's /Director's recommendation report, they have a right of reply. The applicant must send their response (no more than one page) to the Executive Officer Promotions within seven working days of the receipt of the copy of the Executive Dean's /Director's report. The Executive Officer Promotions will send a copy of the response to the Executive Dean /Director.

(45) Once the College-based Promotions Committee has met, an applicant cannot normally withdraw his or her application except in the circumstances in Clause 45 below.

(46) An application for promotion is to be withdrawn if the applicant has accepted an offer of redundancy, a position in another institution, or has resigned from the University.

Part F - Referees

(47) All referees' reports will be requested by the Executive Officer Promotions, immediately following receipt of applications. Applicants should try to avoid nominating members of the College-based Promotions Committee or the University Promotions Committee as referees.

(48) Applicants are required to provide the names, addresses (email and postal) and facsimile numbers of three referees of appropriate standing, who have agreed to act in this capacity. Normally, two of the referees should be external to the University and, except where referees of international standing are unobtainable or not relevant because of the nature of the applicant's work, of international standing. At least one referee must be internal. See further under Guidelines. While applicants may provide their nominated referees with relevant supporting documentation the University will make the formal request for written reports from the nominated referees and provide those referees with copies of the application for promotion.

(49) The relevant Executive Dean, without reference to the applicant, should nominate a panel of experts in the discipline to act as independent assessors, of which the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Research may select three. The identity of those nominated is to be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Independent assessors must be experts within the relevant discipline at full professorial level, or if this is not appropriate they should be readily identified as distinguished industry leaders.

(50) The selected assessors are to review the significant works nominated by the applicant, in addition to providing information on the standing of the applicant in the particular discipline. The applicant may inform the relevant Executive Dean of people whom they would not wish the University to approach and those electing to exercise this option will be required to provide a written case to justify any such request. The College-based Promotions Committee may also obtain advice from other internal and external advisors of their own choosing and will inform the applicant where this advice is sought, for what purpose the advice is sought and the identity of the advisor(s).

Part G - Determination and Notification

(51) The Promotions Committee to Level E will be a single University Committee (the University Promotions Committee ) which will consider recommendations from Promotions Committees established in each College.

(52) The College-based Promotions Committees will consider the written applications, any supplementary material and referee and assessor reports and will interview applicants before making recommendations to the University Promotions Committee. The University Promotions Committee will determine the final recommendations to the Vice-Chancellor.

(53) Applicants must not contact a member of the College-based Promotions Committees or the University Promotions Committee or an assessor to discuss their application, except to receive official feedback from the Executive Dean after results have been notified.

(54) Recommendations of the University Promotions Committee to the Vice-Chancellor to promote, must be supported by a minimum of the full complement of the Committee members, excluding the Vice-Chancellor, less two.

(55) Having considered the recommendations of the University Promotions Committee, the Vice-Chancellor will determine which applicants are to be promoted.

(56) Each applicant will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application within 14 working days of the Vice-Chancellor's decision. For unsuccessful applicants, written notifications will indicate the Committee's assessment of each criterion.

(57) All successful applicants will be promoted with effect from 1 January of the year following application, unless the Vice-Chancellor determines an earlier date for all successful applicants.

(58) At the completion of the annual promotions process, the Vice-Chancellor will report to the Academic Senate about the following:

(59) a. the number of applicants in the round;

Part H - Promotions Committees

(60) The composition of the College-based Promotions Committees and the University Promotions Committee will have regard to gender balance, in accordance with University policy, and disciplinary balance. While the Committees should be broadly-based, there is no requirement that all disciplines are represented. The Director, Equity and Diversity may provide advice on the composition of the Committee.

(61) Membership of College-based Promotions Committees will comprise at least:

(62) a. the relevant Executive Dean (Chair);

(63) Membership of the University Promotions Committee will comprise at least:

(64) a. the Vice-Chancellor (Chair),

(65) The Director, Equity and Diversity will be invited to be in attendance, as a non-voting observer. If the Director has any concerns regarding procedural matters in a Committee session, it is expected that he or she will normally raise them with the Chair of the Committee either during the session or, in a written report, immediately afterwards.

(66) Members of the academic staff who are appointed to the College-based Promotions Committees or the University Promotions Committee will normally serve as members for an initial period of two years and are eligible for re-appointment or re-election.

(67) All members are expected to be present for meetings of the College-based Promotions Committee and the University Promotions Committee. The Vice-Chancellor will nominate an appropriate replacement if a committee member is unable to attend or continue to serve once the consideration of applications has commenced (e.g., owing to illness or other unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances).

(68) The Executive Officer Promotions will ensure that Committee members have received appropriate orientation in the procedures and practices of the promotions process.

(69) Each College-based Promotions Committee will provide a clear report to the University Promotions Committee outlining the case made by each applicant and the reasons for the Committee recommendations. The Executive Dean as Chair of each College-based Promotions Committee will be responsible for preparing the report, which will be agreed to by all members. This report, together with the original application, any supplementary material, referees' reports and assessors' reports will be made available to all members of the University Promotions Committee. The Executive Dean will attend the University Promotions Committee when it discusses recommendations from his/her College-based Promotions Committee.

Part I - Appeals

(70) Unsuccessful applicants for promotion who believe that they have been treated unfairly owing to a defect in the process followed during the promotion round, and who consider that defect has materially affected the decision of the Promotions Committees, may lodge a formal appeal. The grounds of any such appeal are limited to:

(71) a. failure by the Promotions Committees to comply with the procedural requirements of the Policy; and/or

(72) All appeals must be submitted in writing to the Executive Director, People and Culture within 20 working days of notification of the decision.

(73) Appeals must refer to the Promotions process and cannot be based on advice received after notification of the result.

(74) A Promotions Appeals Committee will be established on a triennial basis to consider appeals from all levels.

(75) The Promotions Appeals Committee will consist of three members approved by the Vice-Chancellor, being:

(76) a. An independent chairperson, with appropriate knowledge of procedural fairness and administrative justice, nominated by the Vice-Chancellor;

(77) In the case of the staff members in clause 70, each nominee will be a UWS staff member, classified as full-time (being half-time or greater), who has accepted and entered upon duty in a position with duration of one year or more.

(78) The appellant is to be notified of the membership of the Committee and be given the opportunity to present a case for the consideration of the Vice-Chancellor, where there is any perceived conflict of interest.

(79) The Executive Director, People and Culture will appoint a secretary to assist the Committee.

(80) Members of the Committee are entitled to examine all documents relevant to the appeal under consideration, including referees' reports that have been submitted in confidence to the University. The deliberations of the Committee are confidential. Control of documents available to the Committee is the responsibility of the Committee Secretary.

(81) The Committee will advise the Vice-Chancellor in writing of its recommendation to uphold or reject the appeal. The Office of People and Culture will notify the appellant of the decision of the Vice-Chancellor to uphold or reject the appeal.

(82) In the event of a successful appeal, the Committee will furnish an account of its reasons for upholding the appeal to the University Promotions Committee. The University Promotions Committee will then reconvene to reconsider the application while taking every care to avoid the procedural defect that led to the successful appeal.

Section 5 - Guidelines

(83) Refer to the documents on the Associated Information page.