Convocation
Next meeting: Saturday 15 June 2013
Enquiries: Please contact us.
Chair: Mr. Antony Jones (BA Politics 1980)
Agenda - Meeting of Convocation 2012 (PDF 18K)
Minutes of the Meeting of Convocation 2012 (PDF)
Document A - Minutes of the Meeting of Convocation 2011 (PDF 78K)
Document B - Development and Alumni Relations Report to Convocation (PDF 112K)
Newcastle University is a large and complex organisation with a large number of stakeholders. Senate is made up of University staff, led by the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Vice-Chancellors. Council and Court are both composed of a mix of staff and representatives from outside the University and chaired by the Pro-Chancellor, Mark I'Anson, and the Chancellor, Sir Liam Donaldson, respectively. Convocation is however a very different type of body.
Every graduate of the University is, by rights, a member of Convocation and entitled to attend the annual meeting, usually during our annual alumni 'Convocation Weekend'. In the annual meeting of Convocation, members receive a report from the Vice-Chancellor on current issues and future challenges facing the University and alumni are invited to put questions to the Vice-Chancellor.
Convocation also provides an opportunity to discuss any proposed changes to University Statutes. Members attending are also able to raise matters of concern to them and if they gain the support of those attending, have those views raised with Senate, Council or Court, as appropriate. The Chair of Convocation, Antony Jones (BA Politics 1980), is also a member of Court.
Convocation, therefore, provides the mechanism through which every graduate is able to hear at first-hand about the challenges being faced by the University; about the ways in which they are being tackled, and to have a voice in the way in which the policies of the University are formulated.
The Annual Meeting of Convocation is followed by the Convocation Lecture, which is a prestigious event in the University calendar. The meeting and lecture coincide with the Alumni Convocation Weekend, and are attracting increasingly high number of graduates. For Convocation is to fulfill its potential for helping the University, it is important that as many graduates as possible attend the meetings, thus ensuring that views expressed are truly representative.
For further information please contact Tracey Readshaw
The Role of the Chair of Convocation
Convocation is a statutory body of the University. All alumni are members. The Statutes state that:
47. Convocation, from its own members, shall elect a chairman and may elect a deputy chairman who shall respectively hold office for five years. Any retiring chairman or deputy chairman shall be eligible for re-election. Neither the chairman nor the deputy chairman shall be a member of the salaried staff of the University.
Convocation meets once a year as the focus of the annual alumni weekend normally held in June. The formal powers of Convocation are limited to the appointment of the Chancellor of the University on the nomination of Court and Senate sitting in joint session but under the Statutes it may discuss, and, if it thinks fit, make representations on any matter whatsoever relating to the University.
The Chair of Convocation is ex officio a member of the Court of the University providing a further formal channel of communication between alumni and the University.
The current Chair of Convocation is businessman and Honorary President of the Union Society, Antony Jones (BA Politics 1980).
