
Governance, coordination & advisory structures
The Alliance has opted for a strongly participative innovative governance and coordination structure, with interwoven bodies set up at all levels of university decision-making and activity. The Alliance's structure is designed to ensure multi-level coordination and broad-based participation in all institutions, of students, doctoral candidates, teaching and research staff, administrative and support staff, as well as senior management.
Rectors’ Council
The Rectors' Council is composed of the rector or president of each partner university. It is responsible for establishing general policy, long-term and medium-term strategies, and major goals for the Alliance.
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee is composed of two representatives of each partner university, two student representatives elected by the Student Council, plus the project officer appointed by each university to manage the first three-year Work Plan and the overall project manager appointed by the University of Granada to oversee implementation and coordination. The Steering Committee is responsible for overall coordination, implementation and quality assurance of the Work Plan, and for executive decision-making between Rectors’ Council meetings. The project officers and the project manager make up the Project Management Team, responsible for day-to-day management and administrative and financial running of the Work Plan as such, and acting as a sub-group of the Steering Committee. The Arqus Steering Committee at Unipd
Action Line Boards
There is one Action Line Board for each of the six action lines foreseen in the Work Plan 2019-2022. The Action Line Boards are composed of specialists working in each area at all partner universities. They are responsible for ensuring implementation of the Work Plan in the respective area and may set up further task forces or committees as deemed necessary. The Chair is occupied by the representative of the lead institution, who (supported by the local project officer) is responsible for ensuring coordination with the Steering Committee and other Action Line Boards. The Arqus Action Line Boards at Unipd
Local Coordination Committees
The Local Coordination Committees guarantee a broad participation at local level for each partner, including academics, students, doctoral candidates and specialists in each Action Line in the Alliance’s first Work Plan. Steering Committee and Action Line Board members are be ex officio members of these committees, which is normally chaired by a Steering Committee member. They are responsible for internal organization and coordination of local Arqus activities, for ensuring and collecting feedback from local students and staff, together with local dissemination of Alliance activities, events and policies, in coordination with the local communication officer. Local coordinator at Unipd: Veronica Costa.
Student Council
The student council is composed of two student representatives from each partner university. It is responsible for coordinating student involvement, and ensuring student input and feedback to Alliance activities and policies. It elects two of its members to sit on the Steering Committee.
International Advisory Committee
The International Advisory Board is composed of five independent and internationally recognized experts in higher education. Its members are not directly affiliated to any of the Alliance’s universities, ensuring objectivity and impartiality. The International Advisory Board is responsible for monitoring, quality assurance and external advice, including policy advice on the Alliance’s long-term strategy and goals. It provides feedback from an external expert perspective on methodological appropriateness, relevance, integrity, internal coherence and compliance with the established requirements, Work Plan and timelines.