Governance

BCA Corporation

Introduction

Members of the Corporation (also known as Governors) represent the interests of the local and wider community that the College serves. The Corporation is responsible for the quality of service to its students and their welfare, the financial health of the college, the proper use of public funds and for ensuring effective management. They aim to ensure that the College is successful providing a high quality educational service to its students whilst being financially secure. One of the duties of the Corporation is to determine the mission of the college and to ensure that there are effective means of monitoring whether college management is fulfilling the mission.

Mission Statement

Governors reviewed the College’s mission during 2011/12 and in July 2012 adopted a revised mission statement as follows:

“To provide a unique and inspirational educational experience which places students at the heart of what we do, inspiring students and staff to do great things.”

Our Vision:

By 2014, we will be an outstanding College of Further Education, inspiring learners, creating opportunities and changing lives by:

Delivering an outstanding student experience
Demonstrating outstanding leadership and governance
Consolidating our position as an independent, specialist land-based College
Expanding the curriculum, to meet local and national needs
Developing core strategic policies to support the above aims

Our Values:

Our values express what BCA stands for and how we will conduct ourselves as an organisation.

We will provide a SUPPORTIVE and INCLUSIVE approach to learning
We will give everyone the OPPORTUNITY to develop and grow as an individual
We will INSPIRE our students to achieve their ASPIRATIONS and recognise ACHIEVEMENT
We will provide a SAFE and OPEN culture which promotes FRIENDSHIP and FAMILY VALUES

Nolan Committee

The Committee on Standards in Public Life, chaired by Lord Nolan, published a report in May 1996 that identified seven key principles for those serving in public life. These are:

Selflessness
Integrity
Objectivity
Accountability
Openness
Honesty
Leadership

All governors must uphold high standards of public conduct. Governors must ensure that there are no conflicts of interest on any matters being considered by the governing body where a governor’s independent judgement could be affected in any way.

Click here for the Code of Conduct of the Corporation

Membership of the Corporation

The Corporation at BCA has 18 members, who were recruited under different categories of membership. The aim of the membership categories was to ensure that the governing body includes people from a range of backgrounds reflecting the community that the college serves. From January 2008, the four categories of ‘external’ membership (ie business, local authority, co-opted and community) were merged into one to give Corporations more flexibility in appointing suitable members. New appointees from 1 January 2008 were classified simply as External Members.

The Corporation at BCA is made up of members within the following categories of membership:

12 External governors
2 Staff governors
2 Student governors
The Principal

There are currently no vacancies on the Corporation.

Click here for Current Corporation Members

Committees

The Corporation has the following committees which meet to focus on specialist areas and make recommendations to the Corporation:

Finance & General Purposes (F&GP)
Teaching and Learning (T&L)
Audit
Search
Remuneration
Employment and Personnel (E&P)

Click here for Committee Structure and Membership

The Search Committee

The search committee advises the governing board on the appointment of governors – and on any other matters relating to membership and appointment that the governing board delegates to it. The committee consists of relevant members of the governing board and also includes an external representative from the local community who can supplement the governors’ knowledge and bring an objective view to the membership. Governors cannot be appointed by the governing board until the advice of the search committee has been sought – except in the case of the principal or chief executive and elected governors (staff and student governors). Each governing board is expected to produce terms of reference and to make rules for the conduct of its search committee, and to publish the search committee’s advice to the governing board, (see link to Search Committee minutes below).

Click here for Search Committee Terms of Reference

Access to Governing Body Business

Minutes of every meeting of the Corporation and any document, report or other paper considered at these meetings with the exception of confidential items* are available to the public. For full details see Publication Scheme section of website, Section 1 -Governance.

A link to recent minutes from Corporation and Committee meetings is included below. Copies of minutes from earlier meetings can be obtained by contacting the Clerk to the Corporation, Tracy Reeve.

(* In some instances information from Corporation and committee meetings will be exempt from disclosure where it contains personal information; information that may damage the commercial interests of the college or that may threaten the health and safety of specific individuals.)

Public Access to Meetings

The Corporation, or the Chair on its behalf, may at its discretion invite persons who are not members of the Corporation or the Clerk to attend Corporation meetings, Committee meetings or parts of meetings. Any such invitations will be issued through the Clerk who shall stipulate the portion of the meeting which the person may attend. Such persons may only speak if invited to do so by the Chair of the Corporation or the Committee. The presence of such persons, and the point in the meeting at which they left, shall be recorded in the minutes.

Click here for the Policy on Access to Governing Body Business

Minutes from Corporation Meetings

28 September 2011, Part 1

7 December 2011, Part 1

21 March 2012, Part 1

10 October 2012, Part 1

5 December 2012 (to follow)

Minutes from Committee Meetings

Finance and General Purposes

22 November 2011

14 March 2012, Part 1

10 May 2012

4 July 2012

29 November 2012 (to follow)

Teaching and Learning

Audit

Timetable of Corporation & Committee Meetings 2012/13 Academic Year

The full Corporation will meet on the following dates during 2012/13:

Wednesday, 10th October 2012 at 4.30pm
Wednesday, 5th December 2012 at 4.30pm
Wednesday, 20th March 2013 at 4.30pm
Wednesday, 22nd May 2013 at 4.30pm
Wednesday, 10th July 2013 at 4.30pm

Click here for the Full Timetable of Corporation and Committee meetings 2012/13

Tracy Reeve
Clerk to the Corporation
Contact: 01628 827441
treeve@bca.ac.uk

Governance

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