Board of Management Co-Opted Member
Role Description
As a Board Member, your overarching duty is to use your skills, knowledge and time to work as best you can with your Chair, fellow Board members and staff to ensure that the College fulfils its responsibilities. The power to make decisions and hold staff to account in order to deliver these responsibilities lies with the Board as a whole and not any individual member.
The main duties of the role of a member of the Board of Management of UHI Inverness are described below:
1. Governance:
1. to lead the College for the benefit of its students, employees and other stakeholders; and
2. to ensure compliance with all relevant legal and financial requirements.
2. Contribute to the fulfilment of the Board’s duties, roles and responsibilities including those as an employer, which will comprise:
1. Strategy development;
2. Leadership;
3. Efficiency and effectiveness of the use of resources;
4. Financial management oversight;
5. Risk management and control;
6. Stakeholder relationships.
3. Participate in the business of the Board, including:
1. Preparing for and attending Board meetings (normally 6 per annum);
2. Contributing to the making of Board decisions;
3. Chairing or participating in usually two Board committees;
4. Attending and participating in strategic planning, training and other development events;
5. Representing the Board externally where required.
All members should exercise their responsibilities in the interests of the College as a whole rather than as a representative of any constituency.
Members shall seek to promote the best interests of the College wherever possible, be its ambassador, and represent it at meetings, presentations and conferences.
Trustee Role
As UHI Inverness is a registered charity, you will need to be aware of your role as a Charity Trustee. You are referred to the Office of Scottish Charity Regulator’s guidance for charity trustees.
Training and Induction
As a Board member you have a duty to continue to develop your knowledge and skills as appropriate, but you can expect to be supported. If appointed, you will be provided with appropriate training and induction designed to help you perform effectively in your role. You will be required to attend induction training that is provided nationally within 6 months of taking up appointment.
Your Application
The information in your application is important in determining whether you will proceed through the assessment stages conducted by the selection panel. The stages include:
1. shortlisting for interview, following which you will be notified if you will proceed to the next stage or not;
2. the interview itself and, if successful,
3. appointment by the Board with approval from the Regional Strategic Body.
All Board members need to have specific general skills and personal qualities which will enable them to make a good contribution to the Board, but these do not have to have been gained by working at a management post or at a senior/strategic level. You may have gained these skills through being active in your community, in a voluntary capacity or through your personal experience. We are looking for people with enquiring minds and who can communicate ideas and thoughts to others.
CRITERIA SOUGHT
1. Analytical Skills: Ability to analyse complex material and to reach sound conclusions based on this analysis.
2. Question: Ability to question constructively within a team environment.
3. Communication Skills: Ability to communicate effectively with a diverse range of stakeholders and build effective networks.
4. Strategic Planning: Ability to contribute to the development of the board’s strategic thinking.
5. Education landscape: An interest in learning and education.
6. Public Service Reform: An understanding of the Scottish Government’s policy ambitions for public services in general and post 16 education in particular.
7. Corporate Governance: An understanding of corporate governance in public, private or charity sectors and of risk management (prior board experience is not essential).
8. Context: An understanding of the needs of the economy, employers, communities and learners, and the challenges of a political environment, at national, regional and local levels.
9. Specific skills or experience: Any of the following areas would be particularly welcome:
1. Experience in accountancy, finance and audit.
2. A good understanding of Further Education and/or Higher Education.
3. An ability to understand and analyse accounts and other financial documentation.
4. Individuals from a legal background.
5. Experience of Risk Management.
6. Entrepreneurial skills and the ability to ‘think out of the box’.
You are asked to provide a brief CV and a covering letter along with the Equal Opportunity Monitoring form found at the back of the application form. The Equal Opportunity Monitoring Information form is not seen by the selection panel and will not be used to assess your suitability for appointment.
Please review the role description and assessment criteria before completing your application. The application should contain a statement which demonstrates how your skills and experience match the published criteria, set out above, for these appointments, or that you have the ability to achieve these skills with some further development as appropriate.
Selection Panel Evaluation
The Selection Panel must provide sufficient information and evidence to the Regional Strategic Body to enable them to feel confident that the person they are appointing to the Board of Management is suitable to take up the appointment.
In the context of public appointments this is an individual who is suitable for appointment because they meet the requirements of the role and because their past or present activities and/or behaviours do not render them unsuitable for a given appointment. There are various checks built into the stages of the appointment process designed to gather the appropriate information and evidence required.
By virtue of submitting an application you are declaring that the information provided is, to the best of your knowledge and belief, true and complete.
How we will handle your application
Initially your completed application will be assessed against the advertised criteria for these appointments. The selection panel will invite to interview those applicants who most closely meet the criteria, or who can demonstrate their ability to meet these criteria over time given the appropriate support and development opportunities.
Feedback will be offered to all applicants.
Equality and Diversity
UHI Inverness is an Equal Opportunities Employer, and it would be very helpful if you could complete and return the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Information form with your application.
Accessibility to public appointments is a fundamental requirement and the public appointments process promotes, demonstrates and upholds equality of opportunity and treatment to all applicants. If you require any of the application pack documentation in an alternative format, please get in touch.
Interviews/Expenses
We will be conducting interviews via an online panel, with clear joining instructions and guidance provided in advance. Nevertheless, it should be noted that applicants can claim for reasonable expenses incurred in attending for interview, including dependent carer expenses. If invited for interview, you can request a claim form.
Publicising Appointments
Should you be appointed, some of the information that you have provided may be made public in a press announcement of your appointment. We will liaise with you in advance of any such announcement.
Useful Information
The College website provides comprehensive information about the College and Board.
#J-18808-Ljbffr