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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 27, No. 3. 1964.

Vice-Chancellor, Does He Do?

page 3

Vice-Chancellor, Does He Do?

Most students see little of the Vice-Chancellor of the University, and many may wonder what he finds to do. He does not lecture, he does no examining, he runs no laboratories, he is not directly engaged in "advancing the frontiers of knowledge". For all that can be seen, he may be a vestigial appendage, preserved for ceremonial occasions only.

Actually, however, the Vice-Chancellor works incessantly and arduously in the interests of the University; and although some of what he does is of little concern to students, most of it vitally affects the extent to which the University is successful in achieving its aims, and has a profound impact on student life and welfare. As Deputy Vice-Chancellor I was called upon to take over temporarily from Dr Williams while he was in England attending a conference of Commonwealth Universities, and I am happy to respond to the request for some account of the work of Vice-Chancellor

University administration on the British pattern, as we have it in New Zealand is based on ingenious and delicate devices designed to get the best of both worlds by combined leadership and direction from above with academic democracy. The Vice-Chancellor is the keystone of the structure.

The policies of the University are determined by the Council, which consists predominantly of laymen. That is not to say that they are in no sense academics: on the contrary, all or most of them are university graduates and highly skilled in various professional fields. It merely means that they are not currently engaged in university teaching. The Council not only controls the business and financial aspects of the University (matters of great magnitude, and rapidly increasing in scale) but also settles academic issues. On the latter questions it must always consult the Professorial Board and obtain its advice before making a decision.

The Professorial Board, however, is itself only one part of the academic structure. Questions about degree courses, new subjects, pre-requisites, scholarships and the like commonly arise in the first place within some teaching Department or in the proceedings of a meeting of a Faculty, and recommendations proceed upward through the Professorial Board to the Council. Should they come from elsewhere, e.g. from the Students' Association or the Society of Accountants or the Universities Entrance Board—democratic procedures are used to ensure that the teaching staff (at all levels) have the opportunity to comment and offer advice. As the President of a Canadian University has said, the important decisions are "not made at the top and then passed down through a series of carefully spaced positions on the administrative scale; they are formulated as the result of widespread and intensive discussion and they can only be effective if they represent a consensus of the academic community."

The chief preoccupation of a Vice-Chancellor is to see that the machinery for academic discussion is adequate and effective and at the same time to give that persuasive leadership which clarifies the goals to be sought and the best means to achieve them. Ideally he must he a man of great intellectual power, imaginative and farseeing; yet a man of immense practical good sense, and one who can deal with an incredible mass of unrelated details while preserving the ability to see clearly the major issues, to discern patterns of change, to respond sensitively to new needs.

Thus the Vice-Chancellor Is, in the first place, the principal adviser of Council, and for this purpose he must have at his fingertips information on every conceivable aspect of University affairs—not only the immediate acadamic problems but the whole range of subjects from long-term planning of the building programme to the least important details of internal administration, from staff superannuation schemes to the lighting of playing fields, from student health and counselling services to visits of distinguished scholars from overseas. The Vice-Chancellor is the voice for all members of the administrative staff and the channel through which their recommendations reach the Council. Equally the Vice-Chancellor as Academic Head of the University is the person through whom the Professorial Board and academic staff tender advice to Council.

While membership of the Professorial Board (of which he is Chairman) and of Council are probably his major responsibilities, he is also a member of a host of committees of all kinds. Without attempting to compile a complete list I may mention (1) the Vice-Chancellor's Committee (consisting of the Academic Hoads of all university institutions in New Zealand); (2) the Curriculum Committee; (3) the Scholarships Committee of the University Grants Committee; (4) the Committee of Vice Chancellor and Deans (the principal committee of the Professorial Board); (5) the Student Union Management Committee; (6) the Weir House Council; (7) the V.U.W. Appointments Board.

Of more indirect concern to students, but of great importance to the University, is the Vice-Chancellor's responsibility for the welfare of the staff. Some hundreds of persons are now in the employment of the University, and each of them has from time to time some personal problem which demands the attention of the Vice-Chancellorr.

It is not surprising if a Vice-Chancellor while wishing to mingle with staff and students and to promote good public relations, finds himself tied to his desk. It is not surprising if the incessant succession of meetings and the piles of paper work tend to obscure his vision of those broader issues which should be his main concern. We are fortunate that in Dr. Williams we have a Vice-Chancellor who has been so successful in advancing the interests of Victoria in every sphere while dscharging his multifarious minor duties.

Everyone knows that the success of a stage play owes much to the services of unseen workers, and especially the producer. The wellbeing of university students is to a very great extent dependent on the unseen efforts of the Vice-Chancellor.