Chapter 1 General Principles

Article 1 Based on the rules & regulations in Higher Education Law of the People's Republic of China, the Academic Committee of Hunan University and its by-laws are set up in order to strengthen and improve the process of building a world-class university; to establish a democratic, rational and efficient management system; to show a relatively independent relationship between the academic power and administrative power which are supportive yet exclusive of each other; to continuously improve the quality of the talent nurtured and the adopt modern scientific research methods to better serve the society.

Article 2 Academic Committee of Hunan University is the supreme academic authority to evaluate, examine, demonstrate and it serves as the primary decision making body on academic affairs under the leadership of Party Committee and administrative leaders of Hunan University.

Chapter 2 Organizational Structure

Article 3: The organizational structure has three main categories; Academic Committee of Hunan University, Academic Committee of Departments, and Academic Committee of Colleges. Academic Committee of Hunan University carries out its responsibilities with the assistance of Academic Committee of Departments and Academic Committee of Colleges.

Article 4 Following the fixed quota seats system, under the recommendation of each college, the members of Academic Committee of Hunan University are selected by all the professors in Hunan University. The Academic Committee of Hunan University has at least one member from each college.

There are no more than 79 members in the Academic Committee of Hunan University with a chairman and several vice-chairmen who are recommended by the Academic Committee of Departments. Each department can recommend a candidate, and the chairman and vice-chairmen are voted and selected by the members of Academic Committee of Hunan University.

Members in Academic Committee of Hunan University cannot take part-time jobs as members in Academic Committee of Colleges.

Famous experts and scholars at home and abroad may be employed as consultants of Academic Committee of Hunan University.

Article 5 Under Academic Committee of Hunan University, there are some sub-committees, such as the Committee of Academic Evaluation and Development, Committee of Degrees Evaluation, Committee of Teaching, and Committee of Academic Discipline and Academic Morality. Provisional working groups can be set up if needed to complete the tasks with the authorization of Academic Committee of Hunan University.

The chairman can hold a meeting to discuss and make decisions about daily jobs of Academic Committee with the chairmen and vice-chairmen as meeting members. The directors' meeting plays a role in guiding the above four special committees. The chairman may also hold provisional meetings for all the members of Academic Committee of Hunan University.

Article 6 There are seven Academic Committees of Departments, namely, Department of Law, Department of Literature, Department of Engineering I, Department of Engineering II, Department of Economics, and Department of Management.

Each Academic Committee of Department consists of 11 to 19 professors, researchers, professor-level senior engineers, and other specialized technical personnel with the senior professional title in the relative fields (professor in short hereinafter) with a chairman and 2 vice-chairmen.

Following the fixed quota seats system, the members of Academic Committee of Departments are recommended by each college. Based on the fixed quota of the members of Academic Committee of Divisions, each college can recommend its own members. Besides the chairman and president of Academic Committee of Hunan University, other candidates for the members of Academic Committee of Divisions can be nominated by Academic Committee of Hunan University, getting the consensus of two third majority of professors of each college.

Under the system of rotating chairman, the chairman and vice-chairmen of Academic Committee of Deoartnebts, elected democratically by Academic Committee of Departments, are in their positions for one year as a term of service.

Article 7 Following the fixed quota seats system, the members of Academic Committee of Departments are recommended democratically. Based on the departments and subjects setting of each college, after considering professors' opinions, the structure of the fixed quota seats are put forward and confirmed in a joint meeting of party and the administrative authority.

Elected by all the professors of each college, the members of Academic Committee of Colleges consist of 5 to 15 professors in each college with a chairman and a vice-chairman.

Article 8 The members of Academic Committee of Hunan University, Academic Committee of Departments and Academic Committee of Colleges should satisfy the following requirements.

A) Great academic achievements, good academic discipline, rigorous academic attitude, and high academic morality;

B) academic leader in the related discipline of study;

C) With the senior professional title;

D) With good health conditions, being able to complete one-turn task in the Academic Committee before the retirement in principle, and taking responsibilities as a member of Academic Committee in general;

E) Willing to take part in the tasks of Academic Committee and strictly obey its by-laws.

Article 9 The members in Academic Committee of Hunan University, Academic Committee of Departments and Academic Committee of Colleges have a term of office for 3 years, with the right to be re-elected. The number of re-elected members should not be more than two third of the previous members of Academic Committee.

Article 10

The structure of each Academic Committee should reflect the

a. widespread participation of experts and scholars

b. diversity of different majors offered in the university

c. rational representation of youth and experience

Article 11 The members of Academic Committee of Hunan University and Academic Committee of Divisions should be approved by Party Committee of Hunan University, and the members of Academic Committee of Colleges should be put on records by Academic Committee Office. No more than 20 percent of deans, administrative departments’ heads of Hunan University and the principals of functional departments become the members in all levels of Academic Committees.

An office is set up to facilitate the working of Academic Committee of Hunan University. The office will look after the day-to-day affairs of the Committee and will also be responsible to look after the Development Project Office affairs. Academic Committee Office of Departments will work under the chairman office of Academic Committee of Departments.

Chapter 3 Job Responsibilities

Article 13 The responsibilities of Academic Committee of Hunan University and its special committees are as follows.

The responsibilities of Academic Committee of Hunan University include decision-making, improvement of current curriculum, introduction of new disciplines, degree program approval, degree evaluation, ensuring teaching quality and supervision, academic evaluation, ensuring academic discipline and academic morality, and other related issues.

Major responsibilities for each special committee are as follows.

A) Academic evaluation and development.

Arbitration and examination of talents introduction and recommendation, the evaluation of research projects and achievements, and professional judgement according to the evaluative views of Academic Committee of Departments and Academic Committee of Colleges.

Decision-making about the academic evaluation mechanism, standards and methods such as professional and technical title evaluation.

Demonstration of "985" Project, "211" Project, introduction of new disciplines, improving current disciplines, development planning, research planning, teaching staff recruitment and improvement plans.

B) Academic degrees evaluation.

Decision-making about awarding the Bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree;

Examination and selection of supervisors for post-graduates;

Recommendation of excellent doctoral thesis;

Examination of some important issues related to academic degrees and post-graduate education.

C) Teaching.

Examination of course outlines, professional nurturing programs and the principles in defining and revising the instructive teaching planning;

Supervision of education methodologies and guidance of teaching evaluation;

Formulating measures for the implementation in teaching projects, teaching achievements evaluation, and the recommendation of excellent materials and outstanding teachers;

Examination and approval of teaching projects, teaching achievements evaluation, and the election of excellent materials and excellent teachers.

D) Devising academic discipline and academic morality guidelines. Take charge to ensure compliance and conduct arbitration and maintenance of academic norms, academic morality and academic discipline.

Article 14 The responsibilities for Academic Committee of Departments are as follows.

A) Academic evaluation and recommendation of talents in each department, examination and recommendation of teaching, research projects and research achievements;

B) Devising course outlines, research planning, and teaching staff management in each department, to serve as the basis for the decision-making of Academic Committee;

C) Examination of lists for master's degree awarded, and other important issues in academic degrees in each department and post-graduate courses;

D) Guidance and supervision of teaching work in each department;

E) Demonstration and consultancy of academic issues in each department, and ensuring the academic morality and academic discipline;

F) Completion of other academic work authorized by Academic Committee.

Article 15 The responsibilities for Academic Committee of Colleges are as follows.

A) Taking charge of academic and teaching evaluation for recruitment and assessing the current staff;

B) Assessing the teaching, research programs and achievements recommended by each college;

C) Assessing and recommending proposed teachers and professional titles;

D) Debriefing and examining the annual report about the academic work in the college by the president, and examining the course, teaching staff management and research planning in each college;

E) Taking charge of instructing the course outlines and curriculum, promoting the improvement of school conditions, and examining talent nurturing program, teaching syllabus and teaching planning;

F) Taking charge of examining academic degrees awarded, academic norms and academic morality in each college;

G) Completing other academic work authorized by Academic Committee of Hunan University and Academic Committee of Departments.

Chapter 4 Operational System

Article 16 Under the system of regular meetings, Academic Committee Office of Hunan University is responsible for holding the meetings. Provisional meetings for members of Academic Committee can also be held, if needed.

Article 17 All-level meetings for members of Academic Committee can be held by chairman or vice-chairman with the authorization of chairman. In principle the attendance should be no less than two third.

Article 18 All-level Academic Committees should fully express academic democracy, with the policy of voting for significant resolutions.

Article 19 Academic Committee plays a superior role in the academic evaluation. The academic appraisal should be conducted by each college with appraisal experts being selected from members in Academic Committee in principle.

Article 20 Members in Academic Committee should not be absent from Academic Committee meetings without reasons. Members absent from the meeting for some reasons should be put on records in Academic Committee Office. Members who are absent from the Academic Committee meeting without reasons are considered automatically withdrawn from the Academic Committee.

Article 21 To ensure the system is impartial, members of Academic Committee should be excluded when discussing, examining or evaluating them or their relatives and students in important issues such as excellence selection, rewards selection, title and promotion, and other academic conflicts.

Article 22 All-level members in Academic Committee should consciously obey and maintain academic morality. They should take the blame and resign if they fail to perform satisfactorily in academic misconduct or other reasons not suitable for taking responsibilities in Academic Committee.

Article 23 All-level members in Academic Committee who cannot fulfill the responsibilities for a long time for various reasons such as getting dismissed or going abroad, should be replaced by other professors in their college under the democratic recommendation of Academic Committee of Colleges. Members in Academic Committee of Departments supplemented should be approved by Academic Committee of Departments, and supplemented members in Academic Committee of Hunan University should be approved by Academic Committee of Hunan University.

Article 24 In the process of discussing some issues for Academic Committee of Hunan University and Academic Committee of Departments, principals in functional departments, as non-voting delegates may attend the meeting if required. With the agreement from more than half of the members, a meeting can be held for the reconsideration of a decision which is made by Academic Committee of Hunan University if there is a disagreement in the demur period. The decision made in this meeting should not be put into reconsideration.

Article 25 Annual assessment for the members of Academic Committee of Hunan University is carried out by the school. Members who fail in the assessment will be disqualified as a member in Academic Committee of Hunan University.

Article 26 Funds and other necessary facilities will be provided to members in Academic Committee of Hunan University to carry out their jobs.

Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions

Article 27 The bylaws will become effective once approved by the two third majority of professors in Hunan university.

Article 28 The by-laws may be revised and improved based on the implementation situation.

Article 29 Academic Committee Office of Hunan University has the right to interpret the by-laws.

Article 30 The by-laws will be complemented once it is printed and distributed.