The Governing Body has a membership of 18, including two staff members and two student members. The normal term of office for members is four years but this can be varied at the Board’s discretion. The College Principal, Andrew Miller, is also a serving member of the Board, which is served by a qualified Clerk, who is independent of the management of the college.

The Governing Body (the ‘Board’) is the appointing authority for its members. Where the office of any member becomes vacant the Board shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to appoint a new member to fill the vacancy. The Board will take professional advice from the Clerk on the eligibility of all candidates. A Criminal Records Bureau check will be carried out before members are appointed or re-appointed.

The process will be open and transparent. The Search (‘Nominations’) Committee will utilise the information gleaned from a skills and knowledge audit of existing members to identify any gaps in experience and expertise. Issues such as an appropriate gender and ethnic balance of membership and how well membership reflects the communities served by the College will be taken into account.

The Board makes appointments after the Search Committee, which is a mandatory and formally constituted committee of the Governing Body, submits recommendations, following an interview with an applicant. The Search Committee will then decide which name(s) is to be put forward to the Board for consideration and formal appointment.  The Committee also advises the Board on the re-appointment of Board Members as appropriate.

The Search Committee will consider a candidate’s personal suitability for appointment regardless of ethnic origin, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, religion or disability. In making recommendations to the Board, the Committee will not only consider the personal suitability of candidates, but also the number of vacancies, the balance of skills and expertise on the Board and the need to ensure that the composition of the Board broadly reflects the community that the college serves.

Should you decide to apply, along with your application, we should be grateful if you would complete a Skills and Knowledge Audit Form.

The number of candidates for appointment often exceeds the number of vacancies and it may be the case that although personally suitable, you cannot be recommended for immediate appointment, either because there are no vacancies or there is an over-riding need for the Board to ensure that its composition broadly reflects the community it serves in terms of age, gender, geographical spread, skills and expertise etc. 

Achieving a balance is, however, a secondary consideration to the most important requirement, which is that a candidate must be personally suitable for appointment. If you are not selected on this occasion, with your approval, your name will be added to a database of prospective candidates and you will be contacted from time to time to keep you informed of the latest position on vacancies, both at Board and Committee level, where external co-opted members are also sometimes sought.

You may request to have your details deleted from the database at any time by contacting the Clerk. No information given to, or obtained by, the Search Committee is used for any purpose other than the consideration of candidates for appointment as Board or possibly Committee members. The process itself is, however, not confidential and there is no reason why candidates should not mention to those known to them the fact that they have applied.

A curriculum vitae may be submitted in addition to a completed Application Form, and references may be taken up if you are invited for interview.

The Board will not appoint members who are:

• under the age of 18 years except as a student member
• a member of staff of the institution except as a staff member or in the capacity of Principal
• adjudged bankrupt or are the subject of a bankruptcy restriction order
• with relevant convictions

There is no upper age limit restricting eligibility to membership. Prospective members will be asked to declare their membership of groups which are actually proscribed organisations or groups whose objectives can be shown to be inconsistent with existing policies of the College e.g. on equal opportunities.

The reason for this request will be made clear to prospective governors, namely that the College is concerned to ensure those joining the Governing Body are committed to promoting the best interests of the College and that the College’s particular policies are followed.

A member may resign from office at any time by giving notice in writing to the Clerk. The Board may give notice in writing to a member if at any time the Board is satisfied that any member is unfit or unable to discharge the functions of a member or has been absent from meetings of the Governing Body for a period longer than six consecutive months without permission. This would follow an appropriate resolution being put to and approved by the Board. The reasons would be made clear. The member would be informed in writing of the procedure to be followed. A member would be given the right of reply.