This Act may be cited as the New Zealand University Amendment Act 1954, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the New Zealand University Act 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

In this Act and in the principal Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

Where authority to make regulations is given by or under this Act or the principal Act to the Senate or to any Council or Board of Governors, the regulations may be made by resolution duly passed at any meeting thereof, and nothing in section nine of the New Zealand University Amendment Act 1926 shall require the approval of the Governor-General in Council to any such regulations. A copy of any such regulations under the seal of the University or college, as the case may be, shall be sufficient evidence of the authenticity of the same in all Courts of Justice.

The Senate shall have, and shall be deemed always to have had, power—

There shall be a Curriculum Committee for the University.

The Curriculum Committee shall consist of—

In the exercise in connection with any agricultural college of any powers which may be delegated by the Senate to the Curriculum Committee, the academic head of each agricultural college shall be deemed to be a member of the Curriculum Committee.

In the absence from any meeting of the Curriculum Committee of the Director of Education, the Assistant Director of Education may attend the meeting, and while so attending shall be deemed to be a member of the Curriculum Committee.

The professor from each constituent college to be appointed by the Senate under paragraph (d) of subsection two of this section shall be so appointed on the recommendation of the Academic Board:

Provided that any such appointment may be made without any such recommendation if the Academic Board has been given a reasonable opportunity to make the recommendation and has failed to do so.

The powers of the Curriculum Committee shall not be affected by any vacancy in the membership thereof.

Except in the case of members of the Curriculum Committee appointed to fill casual vacancies, every member appointed to the Curriculum Committee shall be appointed for a term of three years.

Unless he vacates his office in accordance with subsection four of this section, every member of the Curriculum Committee Shall continue in office until his successor comes into office, notwithstanding that the term for which he was appointed may have expired.

Every retiring member of the Curriculum Committee shall be eligible for reappointment.

All the provisions of section five of the New Zealand University Amendment Act 1926, which relates to casual vacancies in the Senate, shall apply to the Curriculum Committee and its members as if the Curriculum Committee was the Senate and members of the Curriculum Committee were members of the Senate.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University shall be the chairman of the Curriculum Committee.

The Curriculum Committee may from time to time appoint one of its members to be deputy chairman of the Curriculum Committee.

At any meeting of the Curriculum Committee seven members shall form a quorum.

The chairman shall preside at every meeting of the Curriculum Committee at which he is present. If at any meeting of the Curriculum Committee the chairman for the time being is not present or there is no chairman, the deputy chairman of the Curriculum Committee shall preside at the meeting; and if the deputy chairman also is not present at the meeting or there is no deputy chairman, the Curriculum Committee shall appoint some member present to act as chairman in respect of that meeting. The deputy chairman or person so appointed shall have and may exercise in any such case all the powers and functions of the chairman for the purposes of the meeting.

At any meeting of the Curriculum Committee the chairman shall have a deliberative vote, and in the case of an equality of votes shall also have a casting vote.

The functions and duties of the Curriculum Committee shall be—

The Senate may from time to time, by regulation and subject to the provisions of this Act and to such terms and conditions as the Senate may impose,—

Provided that any power delegated under this paragraph to any such Council or Board shall be exercised by it by course regulations approved by resolution of the Senate (or by resolution of the Curriculum Committee in accordance with powers delegated to it by the Senate under paragraph (c) of this subsection) and published in the Calendar of the college, and shall not be exercised in any other manner:

The Council of any constituent college or the Council or Board of Governors of any agricultural college shall not submit to the Senate or the Curriculum Committee any general course of study, and shall not prescribe the prescription for any subject for any degree or diploma, unless the Council or Board of Governors has first received and considered any recommendation that the Professorial Board of the college may make in that behalf, unless that Board, having had a reasonable opportunity to make such a recommendation, has failed to do so.

The Curriculum Committee, and any Council or Board, may exercise any such powers delegated to it as aforesaid with the same effect as if the powers had been conferred on it directly by this section and not by delegation.

Where the Curriculum Committee, or any Council or Board, purports to act pursuant to any delegation under this section, it shall be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation in the absence of proof to the contrary.

Every such delegation shall be revocable at will, and no such delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power by the maker of the delegation.

Unless and until any such delegation is revoked, it shall continue in force according to its tenor.

The Senate may at any time by resolution—

Where any question arises before the Curriculum Committee as to whether any course of study should be approved by the Committee, any three members of the Committee may require the question to be referred to the Senate for determination.

Where the Curriculum Committee has refused or failed within a reasonable time to approve any course of study submitted to it by the Council of any constituent college or by the Council or Board of Governors of any agricultural college, that Council or Board may submit the course of study to the Senate for its approval.

The Senate shall not make any decision in relation to any course of study referred to it for approval, or in relation to any question referred to it by the Curriculum Committee under subsection one of section nine of this Act, until it has first received and considered any recommendation that the Academic Board may make in that behalf, unless that Board, having had reasonable opportunity to make such a recommendation, has failed to do so.

Where any course of study is prescribed by course regulations which are made by the Council of any constituent college or by the Council or Board of Governors of any agricultural college and which are approved by the Curriculum Committee and published in the Calendar of the college, or where any personal course of study is approved by the Curriculum Committee or by any such Council or Board of Governors or Professorial Board it shall not be necessary at any stage before or after the course is so prescribed or approved, for the Curriculum Committee or the Council or Board to refer it to the Academic Board or to receive any recommendation of the Academic Board in connection therewith.

Neither the Senate nor the Curriculum Committee shall make any decision in relation to any course of study which relates to legal education and requires the approval of one of them until it has first referred the course to the Council of Legal Education constituted by section two of the New Zealand University Amendment Act 1930 and has received and considered any recommendations that the Council of Legal Education may make in that behalf:

Provided that it shall not be necessary for the Senate or the Curriculum Committee to receive and consider any recommendations of the Council of Legal Education if that Council, having had reasonable opportunity to make such recommendations, has failed to do so.

The Council of Legal Education shall have power to make recommendations to the Senate or the Curriculum Committee of its own motion or upon any reference by the Senate or the Curriculum Committee to that Council of any course of study.

Where any course of study in any constituent college or agricultural college involves the establishment of a new chair, and where (under section three of the New Zealand University Amendment Act 1928) the establishment of that chair requires the prior consent of the Senate and the Minister of Education, course regulations in respect of the course of study shall not be published in the Calendar of the college until those consents have been given.