General Staff Training and Development Fund
(i) Introduction
UNE’s Budget and Resource Distribution Principles 1998-2000 nominate a range of desired outcomes of the budget process, including a responsibility for cost centres to identify and set aside funds for staff development. This policy actions that requirement for general staff in the Faculty of Economics, Business and Law and governs the operation of the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund.
The policy will be reviewed by the Dean of the Faculty in consultation with the Organisational Development Manager in Personnel Services by March 2001.
(ii) Objective
The Faculty is committed to the professional development of general staff. The training and education of general staff is viewed as a high priority by the Faculty and is designed to
- broaden the career paths of general staff
- enhance and upgrade the administrative skills base in the Faculty
- provide a platform for efficiency gains coupled with job enhancement
- support the achievement of the Faculty’s planning objectives
- deliver cost savings to academic areas
- improve client service and communication
- enhance supervisory skills and team building capacities
- support a satisfied and efficient workforce
(iii) Approaches
The Faculty supports two primary approaches to general staff training and development in accordance with its strategic plan. First, organisational development focuses on the Faculty’s operational needs and normally entails team-based training. Second, staff development focuses on the employee’s particular needs and normally entails individual training.
(iv) Funding
a. Organisational Development
Training related to organisational development is usually provided internally by the University and/or is supported by the Faculty’s discretionary funding. Funds for training related to organisational development in the Faculty may also be sourced from the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund.
b. Staff Development
The Dean will allocate a sum annually to the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund. All eligible general staff in the Faculty (see section v below) can seek financial support for their professional development and career enhancement through the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund. The fund provides direct support for general staff members to undertake agreed training programs. Funds will be distributed in a fair and equitable way and the Faculty’s Equity Committee will review fund distribution on an annual basis. Funds not committed within the allocated year can not be carried forward.
Departmental/section heads may agree to subsidise the cost of approved professional development activities from departmental/section funds where there are insufficient funds in the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund to cover the full amount of the activity. Departmental/section heads may also agree to fund the full cost of approved professional development activities from departmental/section funds where appropriate.
(v) Eligibility
The following categories of general staff are eligible for support under the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund on a case by case basis:
- Full-time, permanent appointments
- Full-time, contract appointments – 12 months minimum
- Part-time, permanent appointments
- Part-time, contract appointments – 12 months minimum
Staff on casual appointments are not eligible for support under the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund.
(vi) Purpose
The Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund can be used for approved professional development activities.
Approved professional development activities are defined as:
Forms of training and/or education that directly support skills acquisition and/or career enhancement relevant to the staff member’s duty statement, and/or the operational needs of the work unit, and/or the achievement of goals within the Faculty’s Strategic Plan and the operational plans of the Faculty.
Such activities might include:
- attendance at external training opportunities
- attendance at internal training opportunities (fee-liable only)
- membership of professional associations
- enrolment in educational courses
- enrolment in professional development programs
- short-term secondments at other institutions
- subscriptions to appropriate journals/trade magazines
- other approved activities
(vii) Annual Planning/Reporting
At the beginning of each year staff members should prepare a professional development plan, in consultation with their supervisor, which sets out their training priorities for the year (this short statement may include specific activities if these are known at the time and they respond to the identified training priorities). Staff members’ annual PD plans form the basis on which they can seek support from the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund for particular training opportunities which arise during the remainder of the year and which address the identified training priorities. Copies of each staff member’s professional development plan for the ensuing year must be lodged with the supervisor by not later than 28 February.
Staff members who receive support from the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund must complete an annual report on the professional development program undertaken which includes, in summary form, a record of the activities completed, the benefits gained, and the training and development objectives achieved. The annual report must be submitted to the relevant supervisor by not later than 28 February for the previous year. Copies of Professional Development Plans and Annual Reports will be lodged with Personnel Services for inclusion on the relevant file.
(viii) Activity Reporting
Staff members who attend an individual training activity with support from the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund must deliver an appropriate report (written report, staff meeting presentation, workshop, and/or other form of information dissemination) not less than two (2) weeks after the conclusion of the activity.
(ix) Application and Approval
Applications for funding under the Dean's General Staff Training and Development Fund must be submitted in writing to the Dean’s Office and must be made through the immediate supervisor, who will be required to indicate his/her degree of support for the application.
The Dean must approve professional development activities under this policy.
(x) Review
The Faculty’s Equity Committee must review the distribution of funds and examine the reports from the Dean’s General Staff Training and Development Fund at its first yearly meeting for funds committed during the preceding year.
(xi) Internal Training
General staff in the Faculty are encouraged to access training opportunities provided internally by Personnel Services which involve no direct cost to the Faculty other than time release. Participation in these activities should be pursued in line with staff members’ Professional Development Plans and recorded in Annual Reports (see Section (vii) above).
The Faculty will consider temporary job exchanges/secondments within the Faculty as a mechanism for general staff training and development. An additional statement in this regard will be developed by the Faculty’s Equity Committee in 1999 to operate as an addendum to this policy.
(xii) Grievance Procedure
Any staff grievances regarding the operation of this policy are to be notified, reviewed and resolved in accordance with the UNE Grievance Mediation Policy and Procedure.
Approved:
Professor Patrick Hutchinson
Dean, Faculty of Economics, Business and Law
December 1998
DA/12-98