Governance

White Crane Academy is a limited company formed to run professional Chinese medicine training courses. The company directors have rights and powers under company law to change its constitution, remove directors, receive the annual accounts of the company and attend and vote at company meetings. Company directors may also be involved in the running  of the White Crane Academy but are beholden, in their roles within governing committees, to place the interest of the Academy above any personal financial gain. Meetings will take place monthly either face to face or via teleconferencing. Additional meetings will be convened if required.

Key functional roles in the company are:

• Principal / programme leader
• Academic registrar
• Administrators
• Course tutors
• Online resources and eLearning lead
• Financial lead
• Professional conduct lead
• Educational advisor

Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee advises the WCA directors on issues relating to the management and strategic direction of the company and therefore the White Crane Academy. Advisors focus on strategy development, finance, staffing and development, receiving and reviewing performance. Meetings take place twice a year, and additional meetings will be convened if required.

Course Programme Committee

The Course Programme Committee manages organisational and financial matters pertaining to the WCA and decides its long term aims and objectives. Meetings take place bi-monthly online; additional meetings will be convened if required.

Terms of reference

The remit of the Course Programme Committee is:

• to determine policy issues relating to learning, teaching and courses at the WCA, including criteria for the admission of students;
• to receive and consider the reports of programme validations and/or approval by Professional and Regulatory Bodies;
• to monitor information/comment on previous year's course audits, operation of the course academic standards (i.e. "progress statistics" of enrolled students), progressing, graduating (and withdrawing); aggregated student feedback data, summaries of external examiners' reports; and reports from external bodies which accredit the  course;
• to be responsible for the appointment and removal of internal and external examiners;
• to ensure agreements with accrediting bodies, including professional institutions, are managed;
• to review the procedures for the expulsion of students for academic or professional reasons;
• to promote ethical principles in all aspects of the course activities and developments;
• to receive reports from the Education Committee (and Exam Board);
• to identify good practice and issues for improvement;
• to ensure implementation of the WCA’s regulatory and quality frameworks to assure the attainment of appropriate academic standards;
• to review all elements of delivery to include timetable, student experience in modules and staffing, library resources;
• to prepare responses to quality exercises, (e.g. in relation to professional associations) in accordance with WCA's strategy and policy.

Committee composition

• Programme leader (chair)
• eLearning lead
• Academic registrar (to advise on student issues impacted upon by regulations, e.g. late submissions, mitigation, complaints, grievance, complaints, professional suitability and so forth.)
• Educational Advisor and Chair of Ethics Committee

The Education Committee

The Education Committee attends to the academic content and standard of the course. It will review all elements of delivery to include the curriculum, teaching methods, assessment, student progress and experience in modules etc. Meetings will take place monthly via teleconferencing and additional meetings will be convened if required. A student representative can sit on the Education Committee.

Terms of Reference

The Education Committee aim is to develop the course content and means of assessing WCA students. The remit of the Education Committee is:

• to develop the course content and means of assessing WCA students;
• to review and revise the content of the curriculum;
• to plan, organise and evaluate the process of providing clinical training to WCA students;
• to discuss student progress in the online clinical supervision tutorials;
• to consider educational developments and identify the resource needs to support these;
• to scrutinise and, where appropriate, approve minor and major changes to the provision of course modules;
• to monitor policies and procedures for assessment and examination of the academic performance of students;
• to identify areas where deliberate steps need to be taken to enhance the student learning experience;
• to attend to the academic welfare of students;
• to discuss and respond to student feedback comment on course operation, curriculum content, teaching, study skills, support, assessment, facilities, library, computing support and administrative support.

The Education Committee meeting notes provide part of the evidence base for the annual monitoring exercise conducted each year by the WCA, and the periodic review of the course conducted by the WCA (normally every three years).

Exam Board

The Exam Board is a sub-committee that links directly into the Education Committee. Meetings take place twice a year. The remit of the Exam Board is to:

• examine performance in individual modules, components, etc.;
• make judgments about the student's performance as a whole;
• consider mitigating circumstances;
• make formal recommendations about awards, credits, and progression report to academic board.

Committee composition

• Programme leader (chair)
• Educational Advisor and Chair of Ethics Committee
• External examiner(s)

Fitness to Practice and Professional Suitability Committee

The function of the Fitness to Practice and Professional Suitability Committee is two-fold:

• to act as an advisory body to the WCA in instances where questions have arisen  concerning the suitability of a WCA student to practice as a professional herbalist; this may be due to failing to reach required academic standards or due to inappropriate, unethical or criminal behaviour;
• to advise the WCA in instances where physical or mental health problems of a WCA student makes them unsuitable for professional practice.

Meetings will take place when required either face to face or via teleconferencing.

• Educational Advisor and Chair of Ethics Committee (Chair)
• External advisor(s)
• External Examiner(s)

Ethics Committee

The function of the Ethics Committee is to advise the WCA on any ethical issues that arise during the course. Ethical matters relating to research will be referred to the RCHMs Research Ethics Committee. Meetings will take place when required either face to face or via teleconferencing.

• Educational Advisor and Chair of Ethics Committee (Chair)
• External advisor(s)

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Last updated

25 Aug 2024

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