Policy Title
Policy of Making University Policies
Policy Number
10-01
Functional Field
Others
Related Policies
All Policies
Responsibility of
The Academic Council
Issuing Office
Status
Quality Assurance Office
 Active
Approved By
In-revision
Draft #
Proposed
Draft #
1
Academic Council and University Council
Approved by AC on 21 May 2012
Ref/doc. no. No. AC/2011-12/5/7)
Approval Date
Approved by UC on 1st meeting 2014-15,19/10/2014
Resolution No. (46 / 2014-2015)
Effective Date
Revision History
Number
Revision # 1
Revision # 2
Revision # 3
Revision # 4
Contact Office
Date
By
Curriculum and Academic
06/12/2011
Policies Committee
21/5/2012
Academic Council
Main Changes
Overall
Title
Policy of Making University Policies
Sultan Qaboos University
e-mail address
Phone Number
1 POLICY TITLE
The title is an informative heading describing the specific domain of the policy. The title has a domain
descriptor. For easy reference, the title conventionally starts with the descriptor(s) followed by the word
policy.
Sample:
Academic Program Review Policy
2 DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Provide in an alphabetical order the definition of unfamiliar terms or terms that have specialized
meaning in the policy.
2.1
Policy: a formal University document that regulates, governs, guides and coordinates activities,
processes and actions. It ensures compliance with standards and helps achieve university
mission and goals in a systematic manner and with reduced risks.
2.2 Principle: an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct
2.3
Stakeholders: individuals and/or entities who should adhere to the policy or who may be affected
or governed by this policy
2.4 Statement: a declaration
2.5 UCAPC: University Curriculum and Academic Policies Committee
3 POLICY STATEMENT
Is a declaration that outlines core provisions of the policy. The statement must be clear, and concise to
guide decision making within its scope of no more than one or two sentences. The statement must not
get mixed up with or describe procedures: ‘operational issues’. Policy statement should conform to
SQU Charter and its Executive Regulations and may be amended as needs change.
Sample:
All SQU policies must be developed, approved, revised, issued, withdrawn and maintained in
accordance with the requirements outlined in this document.
4 PURPOSE/ REASONS FOR POLICY
A statement that sums up the rationale for the policy; i.e. why it exists, why it is needed or what problem
or conflict it will resolve. Identifies any legal or regulatory requirements the policy will address.
Sample:
This Policy is required for the effective communication of University Policies and for the ease of use
and identification of approved University Policies.
5 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
This section highlights the fundamental requirements and conditions necessary for the successful
understanding and deployment of the policy.
Sample:
5.1 All policies developed by any college, department, committee or a unit must use the official
standard format and requirements outlined in this policy, otherwise these are considered
unofficial.
5.2 It is the responsibility of line-managers to provide staff with guideline information on this
policy
5.3 All colleges and university units are expected to adhere to this policy.
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Policy of Making University Policies
Sultan Qaboos University
6 SCOPE OF APPLICATION
Scope of application is a statement indicating individuals and/or entities who should adhere to the
policy or who may be affected or governed by this policy i.e. stakeholders.
Sample:
6.1 All Departments and Service Units
6.2 All staff
7 POLICY OWNER
The policy owner is a staff member(s) or body(s) within SQU responsible for developing, overseeing,
reviewing and updating the policy under consideration.
Sample:
The Secretary of the Academic Council is the owner of this Policy.
8 APPROVAL BODY
This section designates the body responsible for approving the policy.
Sample:
Academic Council
9 PROCEDURES
The procedure should outline the steps and methods required to implement a policy. A procedure
specifies who does what and when; indicates tasks. A procedure should conform to SQU Charter and
its Executive Regulations.
A flowchart depicting the main steps of the procedure for policy-making policy
Originator
Department*
College*
Policy Owner
UCAPC**
Academic Council
University Council
Vice Chancellor’s Qarar
* or equivalent line of management
**or the appropriate SQU committee
2
Stakeholders
Policy of Making University Policies
Sultan Qaboos University
The following stages are to be followed in proposing or modifying policies:
Stage 1– Any university staff member, committee or department, etc. (the Originator) may propose a
new policy or suggest an amendment to an existing one. A Policy Proposal/Amendment
Form (attached) must be duly completed. For amending an existing policy, this is adequate
for initiating the procedure. However, for newly proposed policies, in addition to the duly
completed form, the Originator should also provide all other relevant information appearing
in this document. In both cases, the proposal is considered as Draft 1.
Stage 2 – The Originator may forward Draft 1 to its own department board and then to college board
(or equivalent line of management) for discussion/revision; or alternatively, the Originator
may decide to send the proposal directly to the Policy Owner or Owner-to-be (this may be
identified by the Quality Assurance Office) for sponsorship/adoption and annotation. After
completing this step, the proposal is called Draft 2.
Stage 3 – Draft 2 should be forwarded to the Academic Council. The Academic Council may (or may
not) consult with the stakeholders, and the appropriate university committee and/or
university office. Thereafter, the Academic Council should discuss the proposal and may
recommend it (with or without further amendment) to the University Council or it may decide
to withhold it. Both the Originator and Policy Owner should be informed with the reasoned
Academic Council decision. If the Academic Council accepts the proposal, the Draft after
this stage is called Final Draft.
Stage 4 – The Final Draft should be forwarded to the University Council for approval or rejection.
Stage 5 – After the approval of the Final Draft by the University Council, the Vice Chancellor should
issue a “Qarar” with the effective date and the responsible body of implementation.
Stage 6 – The final version should be deposited with the Quality Assurance Office which shall update
the Standards and Quality Handbook in accordance.
Notes:

The Owner, the Academic Council or the University Council may require revision/amendment
of the submitted draft once or more than once. In this case, the number of the draft in question
should change in accordance to the number of completed revision/amendment cycles by
adding a small alphabet as a parameter to its original number. For example, Draft 1 after first
revision/amendment will be called 1.a, after second revision/amendment will be called Draft
1.b and Draft 2 after third revision/amendment will be called 2.c and so on.

The procedure is reviewed whenever need arises by the concerned committee.
10 RELATED POLICIES
List any other policy relevant to this policy, if any.
Sample:
Communication Policy
11 RESPONSIBILITY FOR IMPLEMENTATION
This section outlines the university unit, department or section, executive positions and individuals
responsible for implementing the University Policy.
Sample:
All academic Departments
12 ISSUING OFFICE
Indicate the University office in charge of issuing and effectively communicating new or modified
policies to university community.
Sample:
University Policies’ Office
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Policy of Making University Policies
Sultan Qaboos University
13 REVIEW
This section should indicate the review cycle of the policy as decided by the Policy Owner. The date of
last review/update should be indicated.
Sample:
The policy is reviewed every 3 years
14 KEY RISKS
Identifying potential risks associated with the introduction of policies, in particular new ones, is
considered a good practice. Line managers have the responsibility to embed risk management
practices in their day-to-day operations. This may include taking the necessary measures to eliminate
or control such risks. Main risks associated with this policy are listed below:
Sample:
15.1 There is no university office in charge of issuing and effectively communicating new or modified
policies to university community.
15.2 Possible inconsistent application of the policy by staff in the same department, different
departments or in different colleges.
15 APPENDICES
List of the appendices to the policy.
Sample:
Appendix I: Policy Proposal/Amendment Form.
16 STANDARD POLICY TEMPLATE
To ensure consistency and full coverage of essential elements, university community is required to
adhere to a standard policy template. The template contains fixed headings some of which are not
applicable to all subject matters. If any section is not applicable to the policy under consideration a
“N/A” is entered.
All university policies must be written in a standard format.
Sample:
See the 20 headings of this policy
17 POLICY INDEXING
A number is assigned to each policy; one (1) to ten (10) representing field areas by which University
Polices are grouped followed by a hyphen and then two digits representing the document number.
Fields:
1. Governance and Management
2. Student Learning by Coursework
3. Student Learning by Research Work
4. Staff Research and Consultancy
5. Industry and Community Engagement
6. Academic Support Services
7. Student and Student Support Services
8. Staff and Staff Support Services
9. General Support Services and Facilities
10. Others
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Policy of Making University Policies
Sultan Qaboos University
Sample:
Policy index 8-01 (number 8 indicates the field area, Staff and Staff Support Services, while 01 refers to
the document number)
18 EFFECTIVE DATE
The date is a formal indication that a Policy is official and in effect. This date must be noted in the box
on the front page.
Sample:
Effective Date: 15 January 2010
19 AMENDMENT/REVISION HISTORY
The revision history, date, people or body responsible and description of main changes, is a formal
indication that a Policy has been amended/ revised, approved and in effect. This history must be noted
in the box on the front page.
Sample:
Revision: # 1
Date: 15 December 2011
By: UCAPC
Main Amendment/s: One more step was added to the procedure to account for risk
management and impact of introducing the new policy. Also, the
review cycle of policies is reduced to 2 years in response to
feedback received from various colleges.
20 FRONT PAGE
Each policy must have a front page following the format in this document front page. All relevant
information must be entered.
Sample:
See front page
21 OTHER INFORMATION
At any stage of the procedure, information in the form of preamble, introduction, background, appendix
etc., may be inserted, as appropriate, into the draft to guide stakeholders on how to better implement the
policy in question.
22 REFERENCES
It is hereby acknowledged that it is useful while developing policies to consider policy documents and
good practices of other higher education institutions. The development of this policy has, in a
contextualized manner, benefited from the following documents or some ideas thereof:
1. Writing University Policy, Monash University, Australia,
http://www.policy.monash.edu/processes/writing-policy.html
2.
Formulation and Issuance of University Policies, Cornell University, USA,
http://www.dfa.cornell.edu/treasurer/policyoffice/policies/volumes/governance/policies.cfm,
3.
Auburn University’s “Policy on Policies” , USA,
http://www.auburn.edu/administration/general_counsel/policiesPolicy.pdf,
4. University policy development and publication, Northwestern University,
http://www.auburn.edu/administration/general_counsel/policiesPolicy.pdf
5. Policy template, university of California, USA,
http://campuspol.chance.berkeley.edu/PolicyTemplate.dot,
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Policy of Making University Policies
6.
Sultan Qaboos University
Purdue university system-wide policy template,
http://www.purdue.edu/policies/documents/Policy_Template.docx,
7. Policy Template, The University of Adelaide,
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/604,
8. Purdue University System-Wide Policy Template,
www.purdue.edu/policies/documents/Policy_Template.docx
9. Policy Document Development And Review Procedures, Central Queensland University, Australia,
pdf
http://policy.cqu.edu.au/Policy/policy_file.do?policyid=1166
10. Sample Policy Template, Cornell University,
http://www.dfa.cornell.edu/cms/treasurer/policyoffice/development/upload/SamplePolicyTemplate.pdf
11. Policies And Policy Making, Portland State University,
http://www.pdx.edu/fadm/policies-and-policy-making
12. Guide to Writing Policy and Procedure Documents, UC Santa Cruz,
http://policy.ucsc.edu/pdf/guide.pdf
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Policy of Making University Policies
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Appendix I. POLICY PROPOSAL/AMENDMENT FORM
Please tick  in the appropriate box:
Newly proposed policy
Amendment to an existing policy
Body responsible for implementing the policy:
Name of the staff/body submitting this form:
A. Title of the Policy:
B. Policy Statement OR proposed Amendment of Statement:
C. List the reasons for the proposal/amendment:
1.
2.
3.
D. Briefly outline the impacts of introducing or of modifying the policy:
E. List of the University stakeholders to be consulted:
1.
2.
3.
F. Decision by Academic Council:
Proposal recommened
Proposal withheld
Justification for the decision:
Name/Position of authorized signatory:
Signature:
Date:
G. Decision by University Council:
Proposal approved
Proposal rejected
H. Annotation by Policy Owner
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