University Legislation

Statute No. 8 - Interpretation

(approved 19/2/1975, amended 27/4/1999, 7/10/2005 and 20/05/2008)

1.	In any Statute, Regulation or By-law of the University, unless the context otherwise requires:
	Absolute majority	means a majority of all the persons for the time being holding office;
	Act	means the Murdoch University Act 1973 (WA);
	By-law	means a by-law of the University made under the Act;
	Campus	means the lands or premises from time to time designated as a campus by the Senate. There may be more than one campus so designated at any one time;
	Day	means calendar day;
	Examination	means an examination conducted by or within the University or an examination conducted by any other person or body prescribed by the statutes as a person or body authorised to conduct examinations for the University;
	External Student	means a student designated as an external student by the Secretary;
	Faculty	means a unit of university organisation constituted as a Faculty by the Faculty Regulations;
	Faculty Dean	means a Dean of a Faculty appointed under the Faculty Regulations;
	General Staff	means all employees of the University who are not members of the University’s academic staff;
	Graduate	means a graduate of any University;
	Member of the University	means a person who is a member of the Senate, a member of the staff of the University other than a person employed on a casual basis, a graduate of the University or a student;
	Office of the University	means the office of the University as from time to time designated by the Senate;
	Prescribed	means prescribed by the Act, or a Statute, Regulation or By-law as the case may be;
	Part-time Student	means a student designated as a part-time student by the Secretary;
	Regulation	means a Regulation of the University made under the Act;
	School or School of Study	means the unit of university organisation constituted as a School under the Faculty Regulations;
	Secretary	means the person for the time being employed by the University in the position of General Counsel & University Secretary, or such other position as subsumes or replaces it;
	Statute	means a statute of the University made under the Act and the Statutes means all the Statutes for the time being in force;
	Student	means a person enrolled in the University as a student and the Students means the student body for the time being;
	Undergraduate	means a Student enrolled in a unit for a Bachelor’s Degree;
	University	when used to describe a locality means all land and buildings owned or occupied by the University and any other land declared by the Governor in accordance with section 24(2) of the Act to be University lands and all buildings or structures on such land; and
	Working day	means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or other day on which the University is officially closed.
1A.	Effective as of 1 January 2008, where the following terms appear in any Statute, Regulation or by-law, they shall be construed as provided for in this paragraph 1A:
	Division & Divisional	shall be replaced in all instances with the term "Faculty"
	Divisional Board or Board of the Division	shall be replaced in all instances with the term “Faculty Board”
	Executive Dean	shall be replaced in all instances with the term "Faculty Dean"
	Head of School or School Head	shall be replaced in all instances with the term "School Dean"
	Programme Chair	shall be replaced in all instances with the term “Academic Advisor”
2.	Subject to paragraph 3(d), the provisions of the Interpretation Act 1984 (WA) in force from time to time apply in the interpretation and construction of the Statutes, Regulations and By-law.
3.	In any Statute, Regulation or By-law unless the contrary intention appears:

	(a)	a reference to any person holding an office shall be to the person who holds or discharges the duty of that office for the time being, or to the person who is for the time being acting in that office as the case may require;
	(b)	a person appointed as a member of a University body or organisation by virtue of some other office held by him or her whether in the University or elsewhere, and expressed to be appointed ‘ex officio’ shall have the right to nominate any other person to represent him or her on any such body or organisation and from time to time remove and replace any such nominee as he or she shall think fit;
	(c)	a reference to a person who is ‘primarily a student’ is a reference to a person whom the Vice-Chancellor determines is primarily a student.
	(d)	For the purposes of sub-section 61(2) of the Interpretation Act 1984 (WA), “excluded day” means Saturday, Sunday, or other day on which the University is officially closed.
4.	The periods of instruction in each year shall be determined by the Senate.
5.	For the purposes of section 8(2) of the Act, the University shall (inter alia) consist of all members of the academic and general staff of the University other than those employed on a casual basis.

[ Top of page ]

The information contained on this page was correct as at 05/08/2008 but is subject to amendment without notice.