Approved in College Board
Meeting dated 25-10-2010
Guidelines for Spending Dept share funds
Introduction
Academic staff members in the College of Engineering are doing lot of efforts and
spending lot of time for attracting and bringing funds from external research contracts
and consultancy services to the university. Part of these funds are allocated to the
department to be spent in a flexible way on its various activities, staff development
and other needs generally not spelled out in the university expenditures.
Some
flexible guidelines need to be set to allow the departments to make use of these funds
efficiently. These expenditures need to be spent mainly on staff development, as this
will pay back positively on the quality of teaching and research. Up to now there is
no clear mechanism for spending the departmental share within the departments.
Therefore, the PGSR committee is suggesting setting some guidelines for spending
this. Below are some items on where to spend the departmental share fund.
1. Organize short courses for academic & technical staff by inviting specialized
people to present courses/workshops on subjects highly needed by Dept. The
share might also be used to support academic & technical staff to go for a
short course of interest to Dept.
2. Support some social activities during which few work tasks are to be finalized.
3. Support technical trips for academic & technical staff to visit developed
Industries, Universities and others institutions to benefit the Dept and also to
build links with them.
4. Hiring graders for assignments. This will save time to the faculty member to
spend in developing his current courses & new courses, do research which will
pay back to improve the educational and research process at the department.
5. Hire specialized staff on temporary basis to design and prepare high quality
documents which to improve the image of the Department / College and
publicizing in a professional way its capabilities to industry and other
institutions.
6. Support some students' projects and activities directly related to Dept image
and objectives.
7. Support academic & technical staff development where there is no other
means of support.
8. Purchase computing items and office consumables for academic & technical
staff to support them improving their teaching tasks and educational outcomes.
9. Purchase some urgent equipment in case Dept. / College equipment budget is
significantly insufficient.
10. Any other item the Dept board recommends to improve education and
research that is in line with SQU regulations and approved by Dean of
College.
Expenditure Guidelines:
1. At the beginning of the academic year, the HoD needs to present to the
Departmental board the total amount of fund available from the departmental
share.
2. A committee should be formed at the departmental level to manage the
expenditure of the departmental share fund for the academic year.
3. The HoD should seek the approval of the departmental board before approving
any request involving the use of the departmental share. To make the process
transparent and effective, secret voting will be required to obtain such
approval.
4. At the end of the academic year the HoD should present a summary of the
expenditures to the Departmental and brief the College Boards.
5. Allow petty cash purchase from this share
Budget Distribution
Item
Staff Development
Computing tools and other Supplies
Staff supporting tasks (e.g. 4 & 5 expenditure items)
Equipment
Support of Student’s Activities
Miscellaneous
Share (%)
30 - 40
20 - 30
20 - 30
20 - 40
10 -15
Up to 15%
Equipment: Laboratory equipment supplies including consumables
Computing tools: Includes computers, software programs, backup dsiks, printers,
scanners, plotters, and computer parts.
Other Supplies: Any other supply that is not part of the above two items.
Hiring TAs to help in Teaching / grading
Staff Support
Staff Development: Includes support to attend trainings courses, conferences,
workshops, exhibitions, etc.
Miscellaneous: Includes lunches and dinners organized for industrial partners,
visitors and guests, year presentations day and other departmental needs.