Senate is the senior academic governing body at Kwantlen Polytechnic University constituted under the University Act. 

The Act provides for establishment of special purpose teaching universities with bicameral governance. The academic branch is known as Senate and has powers and duties including:

• setting criteria for awarding certificates, diplomas and degrees, including honorary degrees;
• setting curriculum content for programs;
• setting qualifications for admission;
• setting criteria for academic standing, academic standards and the grading system;
• setting policies and procedures for appeals by students on academic matters and establishing a final appeal tribunal for these appeals.

Additionally, Senate has the mandate to advise the Board of Governors on matters including:

• educational goals, objectives, strategies and priorities of the University;
• establishment, revision or discontinuance of courses and programs;
• priorities for implementation of new programs;
• establishment or discontinuance of Faculties;
• evaluation of programs and educational services;
• library and resource centres;
• setting of the academic schedule;
• qualifications for faculty members.

Senate Bylaws

The composition of Senate is defined by the University Act.

Chair: President and Vice-Chancellor

Voting Members

• Chancellor
• President and Vice-Chancellor
• Vice-President, Academic
• Deans of Faculties
• Chief Librarian
• Two faculty members from each Faculty
• Four students
• Alumni member
• Two support staff

Non-Voting Members

• Registrar
• Board appointee

Election Procedures

• Members of a Faculty elect faculty members.
• Students elect student members.
• The alumni association nominates an alumni member, who is not a faculty member, to the President.
  The President appoints the alumni member.
• Support staff elect support staff members. Support staff are employees of the special purpose, teaching university
  who are not officers, deans or faculty members of the university.

Terms of Office

• Students: one year
• Faculty and support staff: three years
• Alumni senator: three years

• KPU Governance Retreat, December 10, 2020

How We Got Here

1972: Our journey starts with Douglas College

1981: Kwantlen College splits from Douglas

1995: Kwantlen becomes the last of the University Colleges established with degree granting status

2008: Kwantlen Polytechnic University begins

In April 2007, Geoff Plant, Q.C., recommended in his Campus 2020 publication that BC's remaining university colleges be designated as regional universities and that they adopt the governance structure of Thompson Rivers University (TRU). Following this announcement, Kwantlen, Malaspina and UCFV undertook to study the TRU governance structure.

During the fall of 2007, a working group was established within Education Council to explore changes to the governance structure in anticipation of this transition. Membership of the working group:

• Dianne Crisp
• Dana Cserepes
• Jody Gordon
• Carolyn Robertson
• Takashi Sato
• Newton Wainman

In April 2008, Premier Gordon Campbell visited Surrey campus and announced that Kwantlen was now officially a Polytechnic University. A week later, the University Amendment Act was introduced in the legislature. It described a bicameral governance structure, more or less in the form anticipated.

Once the legislation was adopted, the group was expanded to include:

• David Atkinson
• Rebecca Darnell
• Dana Goedbloed
• Sandi Klassen
• Ken McIntyre
• Judith McGillivray
• Karen Metzger
• Scott Nicoll

This working group's task was to interpret the legislation and develop ways to implement its requirements within the Kwantlen context. It worked through the summer and produced a series of recommendations brought to Education Council on September 8, 2008. In the transition, Education Council acted as the Senate and worked to establish the foundations of the full Senate. During the fall 2008 semester, elections were called to fill the newly established Senate seats. Senate held its first meeting in January 2009.

Governance Documents

• Academic Governance Transition Background (Aug 2008)
• Resolutions Approved on October 6, 2008
• Powers of Senate, Board of Governors, and Faculties(excerpts from University Act)
• Powers of Board of Governors(excerpts from University Act)
• University Act
• Robert's Rules of Order- summary chart
• Principles to Guide Bi-Cameral Governance at KPU

Reference

Presentation  - University Governance and the Senate by Dr. Ross Paul (Aug 2, 14)

Presentation - Senate and Legislation by Patrick Gilligan Hackett (Feb 2012) | Part 1 of 2 | Part 2 of 2

Discussion - On the Possible Amalgamation of the Faculties of Humanities & Social Sciences(Jan 2011)