The UK’s European university
VISITING & HONORARY APPOINTMENTS New policies, procedures and support
Background The University of Kent welcomes prestigious visitors and interacts with honorary academics from across the world whose activities and visits have a positive impact on the research and teaching culture at Kent. New policies have now been devised in order to assist the University and our colleagues in complying with government-led regulations and to update and improve our procedures and support for applications for visiting and honorary status.
New Website and Application Procedure Website
Application Procedure
Website
- Customer focussed.
- Cuts down on paper forms.
- Supportive information (e.g. policy).
- Faster – all done online.
- Centralised documents.
- Allows more transparency.
Guidance for visitors
Guidance for visitors
Page 5
Footer text
Guidance for visitors
Information for staff
Information for staff
Hosting a visitor
Policy – step by step
Visiting and Honorary Application Process (Pilot) This process involves 2 key phases: 1. Applying for an appointment online through the H&V website. 2. Managing the application on SharePoint through the various steps.
Important considerations It is really important that the Academic Host prepares as much as possible for an application and uses the checklist below to prevent delays in the process. If the duration of the appointment is 4 weeks or more then an application must be made through the H&V website. The Academic Host should complete the application form online. Pre-application checklist Has a discussion taken place with the HoS about the appointment? Do you know the name of the visitor as it appears on their passport? Is the visitor from outside the EU? If so – seek advice from website or HR. Do you have a current CV from the visitor? Have you ensured that the start and end date of the visit is on a weekday?
Important considerations (cont.) It is critical that the School Administrator writes notes on the SharePoint record of any changes on each step (e.g. changes to name or date of visit, HoS approved 01/01/18) that are made to the application, for auditing and compliance purposes. Notes should include the details of the change, including the reason and the date that the change was made. If the justification for the purpose of the visit remains the same then a new application is not required. However, if the period of the appointment is to change the justification for the purpose of the visit is different to the original, then a new application must be made, and this also should be recorded within the notes.
Hon/Vis Homepage The Hon/Vis homepage has two sections, one for staff and the other for visitors. Staff need their Kent ID to access the staff pages where they can make an application and find supportive documentation (hon/vis policy, visa information etc.) The homepage is designed to be more customer facing as hon/vis appointees can be directed to this page for support. Kent staff access here Visitor information here
1
Kent staff homepage
All schools will be sent these
training slides with the supportive document ‘V&H Application process map’ once live.
These training slides are numbered to correspond with the steps in the V&H Application Process Map.
Academic host fills out application
form online which can be accessed here
1
Application form The application form should be completed as fully and accurately as possible. Once the form has been completed, it will be automatically populated into SharePoint. If there are mistakes to the form once submitted, the record can be amended by the authorised SharePoint owner in the school.
ďƒź CV and other documents (including
the letter from the employer for Academic Visitors, if applicable) are uploaded here
ďƒź Submission of the online form by the Academic Host triggers an email to School Admin (SA). SA email needs to be entered here.
2
SharePoint
The School Admin will receive a link to SharePoint containing the application information.
Alterations can be made to the
SharePoint file if necessary (e.g. name or title entered incorrectly).
If ‘Professor’ title is selected the SA
liaises with Keith Lampard (KL). If approved, continue. If not approved, new title needs to be discussed and then amended on SharePoint.
Notes are added to SharePoint of KL’s approval with dates.
Once content is satisfactory, the SA will print off the application and CV for Head of School (HoS) approval.
SharePoint owner changes status of application to ‘waiting for HoS approval’.
3
SharePoint
HoS receives the application from
the SA, who could query it with the Academic Host if necessary.
If approval is granted, a statement of approval should be written (e.g. via email) and sent back to the SA.
SA then uploads this to the
SharePoint application and within the notes section types ‘approved by HoS’. The email is uploaded and dated.
SA then changes the status to ‘approved by HoS’.
4
Notify HR
SA emails the HR V&H Admin
informing that approval is met.
hrvandhadmin@kent.ac.uk
HR V&H Admin will check
application and if there are discrepancies will raise this with the SA having changed the application status to ‘delayed’.
Once resolved HR V&H Admin
change application status to ‘waiting for DRN approval’.
6
DRN approval
DRN approves or rejects application and returns to HR V&H Admin.
HR V&H Admin changes status to ‘DRN approved’ or ‘DRN not approved’.
7
HR create a record
Once DRN has approved, HR enters details into Staff Connect to generate an employee number.
HR V&H Admin adds this number to appointee notes on SharePoint.
HR V&H Admin emails the
employee number to the school.
The SA uses the employee number
to organise creation of an IT account and access to the library.
8
Letters are sent out
SA informs Academic Host of the DRN decision.
If approved, the school generates a letter to the applicant.
The letters are templated and
available on the Vis/Hon website.
9
Preparing for the visit
SA notifies the Academic Host a
week before the visitor is due to arrive to remind them that right to work documents must be checked, where applicable.
If the visit is delayed / cancelled, the SA should inform HR V&H Admin.
The SA should also update the
notes on SharePoint and change the status to ‘delayed / cancelled’.
10
Visitor arrives
On the first day the SA (or other
trained verifier) takes a copy of their passport and visa, where applicable, and uploads these to the SharePoint record for appointments of 4 weeks or more. The relevant stamp should be used.
SA updates the notes with the date this is completed.
SA informs HR V&H Admin of arrival and that right to work documents have been checked and uploaded, where applicable.
SA changes the status to ‘arrived – approved’
11
End of the visit
SA notifies the Academic Host a
week before the end of the visit to inform them that the IT login and library access will cease on their final day.
SA writes notes to record that the
visitor has left the University and the date when this occurred.
SA then emails HR V&H Admin so
that the database entry can be closed down and the appointment entry within SharePoint is archived.
12
Renewals
A renewal of the appointment can be arranged by the school.
If a renewal is required, a new
application form will need to be submitted.
1 month prior to an Honorary
appointment ending, the SA emails the Academic Host to remind them that the appointment is coming to an end and asks if the appointment is to be renewed.
The SA makes a note to this effect and the response received with dates.
13
Visitor leaves
If a renewal is not required, the
visitor will leave on the intended end date.
The SA emails HR V&H Admin to confirm that the visitor has left.
HR V&H Admin arranges for the
SharePoint record to be archived and the Staff Connect record to be closed down.
In Summary The new H&V process will place more ownership with the schools to manage their visitors and honorary appointments. It comes with the following benefits:
• • • • •
There will be more control to manage your own appointments closely; The process will be much quicker as many of the steps are managed on SharePoint; There is greater visibility to what stage each application is at; All supportive documentation is centralised and easy to access; There will be ongoing support from various departments to ensure the process is smooth.
Enquiries and support Process / General
Maddy Withers
enquiries
HR
Immigration / visa
Lucy Rymill
enquiries
HR
Payroll / Payments
Lorraine Allen
Enquiries
Payroll
Information for Visitors and
Anthony Manning
Honorary Appointments
Dean for internationalisation
hrvandhadmin@kent.ac.uk
L.Rymill@kent.ac.uk
L.Allen-368@kent.ac.uk
A.Manning@kent.ac.uk
THE UK’S EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY
www.kent.ac.uk