Delegation provisions for heads of faculty secretariats

[Translate to English:]

The head of faculty secretariat's managerial responsibility and applicable delegation provisions are described here, in addition to what forms of decision-making power the head of faculty secretariat may delegate.

(If the function as head of the faculty secretariat is part of the local organisation. The internal organization of the faculty determines whether the head of the faculty secretariat receives his mandate from the dean or head of administration, and whether the head of the faculty secretariat is placed at level 3 or 4. If the position is placed at level 4, this has the same mandate as institute and center secretariat managers).

A necessary precondition for delegation is regular briefing, coordination and communication between the person who delegates decision-making or signing authority,referred to as the delegator, and the person who receives decision-making or signing authority, referred to as the delegate.

What is delegation?

The following delegation provisions establish the boundaries of decision-making authority and signing authority for managers at all levels at Aarhus University (AU).

  • Decision-making authority should be understood as the power to approve financial transactions and render decisions.
  • Signing authority should be understood as the power to conclude binding agreements on behalf of the university with external parties, either as signatory or by oral or written confirmation, or represent the university in some other way in relation to external parties.

These delegation provisions have been drafted within the framework of the University Act and AU’s by-laws.

  • Delegation refers to the power of managers to delegate decision-making and signing authority to subordinate managers and to selected authorised employees. A manager who delegates decision-making or signing authority transfers this authority to someone else.

The delegation provisions include both mandatory provisions (must) and discretionary provisions (can). The discretionary provisions allow for a degree of discretion or flexibility for the units in deciding whether to delegate from one level to the next.


Finances

Managers exercise financial decision-making authority on the condition that a budget has been delegated to them and that the expense can be incurred within the approved budget. Decision-making authority for each level of management is expressed in terms of approval limits for each level. Financial decision-making authority applies to purchasing decisions that involve a binding purchase or binding agreement for multiple purchases from the same supplier.

Financial transactions outside the approved budget can only be carried out after prior approval by the level of management immediately above. Decision-making authority applies to all financial transactions, regardless of whether they are made with AU’s institutional funding or with funds from an external grant.

The minimum thresholds

Level-three managers can set a de minimus threshold for one-time transactions of up to DKK 2,000 for all employees or a group of selected employees at their own department/school (institut).

 

Transactions that impact costs for one financial year (in DKK excluding VAT)

  • One-time transactions (including transactions related to building operations, including maintenance, furnishing and renovation).
    • One-time purchases that do not fall under the categories in the following columns: Under 6,000,000.

Annual transactions that impact costs over several financial years

  • Capital expenditure
    • External grants: Under 6,000,000 can be delegated to this level by immediate superior.
    • AU institutional funding: Under 6,000,000 can be delegated to this level by immediate superior.
  • Contracts
    • Ongoing contracts for maintenance, licences, services and operating leases with non-cancellable periods of over 12 months: Under 6,000,000.

 Co-financing of external grants with resources from institutional funding

  • Under 6,000,000 can be delegated to this level by immediate superior.

People management

Overall and operational people management must at all times be conducted in accordance with the locally and centrally established guidelines and rules, including the rules in the collaboration agreement, frameworks established in the collective agreements and other relevant legislation in the area.

People management is defined as the decision-making authority to manage, hire, dismiss and take disciplinary action against employees, including decision-making authority to agree on the specific terms and conditions for employment as well as to assign specific tasks to employees.

Involuntary dismissal of employees with special protections against termination (union reps, occupational health and safety reps, members of liaison committees and the occupational health and safety organisation) is subject to the approval of the rector.

The delegation provisions distinguish between overall people management and operational people management.

Decision-making authority

Heads of faculty secretariat have overall people management responsibility for employees at their secretariat (if the function of faculty secretariat manager is part of the faculty’s organisational structure).

Delegation

The heads of the faculty secretariat can delegate overall or operational people management responsibility of the employees in their unit to level-four managers at the secretariat.


Delegation letters

When delegating authority, managers must complete a delegation letter for the delegate(s). It is important that the correct template is used, as the template contains a code that must be registered in mitHR so that it can be used in the administrative support of the provisions.

If you are missing a letter or if you have a question regarding filling out a letter, please send an email to Tove Bæk Jensen, the Rector’s Office, at legal@au.dk.


Delegation letters for heads of faculty secretariats

Template (Word document) for download:

Select the template which describes what the manager has been delegated

  1. Standard delegation without additional discretionary provisions
    Download the template here: Skabelon Fakultetssekretariatsleder TAP3_STD_EN
  2. Can allocate capital expenditure for external grants and institutional funding, and can make decisions on co-financing in connection with external grants
    Download the template here: Skabelon Fakultetssekretariatsleder TAP3_ØEOM_EN