The Regulation is established on the basis of clause 21 of § 9 of the Statutes of Tallinn University of Technology.
1. General provisions
(1) The Senate of Tallinn University of Technology (hereinafter referred to as “the Senate”) is the academic decision-making body of the university which shall be responsible for the education, research and development activities of the university and for ensuring high academic quality.
(2) The Rector is the Chairman of the Senate. In the absence of the Rector, the Vice-Rector appointed by the Rector shall substitute for him.
(3) The Secretary of the Senate shall arrange administrative procedures of the Senate.
2. Referring matters to the Senate for discussion
(1) The Council and the members of the Senate have the right to refer matters to the Senate for discussion.
(2) The Rector or the area director appointed by the Rector shall arrange preparation of the Senate’s draft legislation.
(3) In order to put an item on the agenda, the drafts and explanatory memoranda meeting the formal requirements and approved by the Chief Legal Officer, as well as other required materials shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Senate no later than 8 days before the meeting. When amending general legislative acts, the full text with highlighted amendments shall be attached to the draft. An explanatory memorandum shall explain the need for the draft, state the main views and indicate the name of the author of the explanatory memorandum and the date.
3. Agenda
(1) The Chairman of the Senate shall decide on inclusion of items on the agenda based on the Senate’s work plan and the requests submitted to the Senate.
(2) The members of the Senate shall be informed of the agenda and the submitted materials one week before the meeting. A request for an on-the-spot initiated item to be discussed shall be submitted to the Secretary of the Senate not later than on the day before the meeting or to the Chairman of the Senate before approval of the agenda in the Senate.
(3) The agenda, including the list of items initiated on the spot, shall be approved at the beginning of the meeting.
4. Meeting of the Senate
(1) The Senate holds regular and extraordinary meetings. Regular meetings shall be called by the Chairman of the Senate at the times set out in the work plan of the Senate. An extraordinary meeting shall be called by the Chairman of the Senate or by at least one third of the members of the Senate in order to take decisions on the issues raised by the latter.
(2) To take a decision on urgent issues, electronic voting may be conducted in the manner and at the time notified to the members of the Senate.
(3) The schedule of the meetings of the Senate and the Senate’s standing committees shall be prepared for an academic year and shall be published on the intranet.
(4) A meeting shall be chaired by the Chairman of the Senate. Participation in a meeting is mandatory for members of the Senate. In justified cases, one can participate in a meeting via technical means. If, for any valid reason, a member of the Senate is unable to attend a meeting, is late or has to leave earlier, the member shall inform the Secretary of the Senate thereof before the meeting.
5. Discussion procedure
(1) To discuss an item on the agenda, first the floor is given to the rapporteur. Thereafter the members of the Senate have the opportunity to ask questions or to express their opinion. The floor is given in the order the requests were submitted.
(2) The chairman of the meeting may set a time limit for speaking and for asking questions. If the speaker does not adhere to the time limit or departs from the subject, the chairman of the meeting may give a warning to the speaker or end his or her speech.
(3) If the chairman of the meeting finds that a matter has been adequately discussed, he or she shall close the discussion and make a proposal to put the matter to the vote. If a member of the Senate wants to continue the discussion, the Senate shall decide continuation of the discussion by majority vote. The rapporteur has the right to present closing remarks before voting.
(4) If disagreements arise during discussion of an agenda item or the draft legislation needs to be substantially amended, the discussion may be suspended or the draft may be excluded from the proceeding. The Senate shall decide it by majority vote.
6. Decision-making and voting
(1) A meeting of the Senate has quorum if more than fifty per cent of the members of the Senate participate in the meeting. The regulations and decisions of the Senate shall be adopted by a simple majority of votes of the membership, except in case of the decisions specified in clause 5 (3) 2) of the Tallinn University of Technology Act and clause 9 4) of the Statutes which shall be adopted by a two-third majority of votes of the membership of the Senate.
(2) Voting shall be open, except in case of elections of the persons laid down in the Rules for Elections or unless otherwise provided for by legislation or decided by the Senate.
(3) A member of the Senate shall not participate in voting if a decision is made on performing an act or carrying out a transaction with respect to the member or a person connected to him or her within the meaning of the Anti-corruption Act.
(4) Draft legislation may be put to the vote as a whole, in parts, by amendments or by several drafts at a time. If a draft is voted by parts or amendments, it must also be put to the vote as a whole.
(5) Open voting shall be conducted by the chairman of the meeting. One can vote in favour or against a decision or remain undecided.
(6) Secret ballots shall be conducted in accordance with the Rules for Election.
7. Senate’s documents
(1) The Senate issues regulations and adopts decisions within its competence. A Senate’s decision containing general rules shall be prepared as a regulation and a Senate’s decision on a specific issue shall be prepared as a resolution.
(2) The regulations and resolutions of the Senate enter into force upon signing unless a later term has been established therein. The regulations and resolutions shall be signed by the Chairman of the Senate and the Secretary of the Senate.
(3) Regulations and resolutions shall be published on the intranet in the document management system.
(4) Minutes shall be taken of the meetings of the Senate. The minutes shall include a summary of each item on the agenda, the adopted positions and decisions, the voting results and dissenting opinions. The materials submitted to the Senate shall be appended to the minutes.
(5) The members of the Senate shall be informed of the minutes within one week after the meeting. The members of the Senate have the right to make adjustments to the minutes within five working days.
(6) The meetings of the Senate shall be recorded and the recordings shall be preserved for six months. The members of the Senate have the right to access the recordings.
8. Senate’s committees
(1) The Senate can establish standing and ad hoc committees to prepare matters subject to discussion. The composition, chairman, field of activity, tasks and the term of action of a committee shall be laid down in the decision on establishment of the committee.
(2) The chairman of a committee shall be appointed from among the members of the Senate. For appointment of members of the committee, their consent is required.
(3) The work format of a committee is a meeting. A meeting has quorum if more than fifty per cent of the members of the committee participate in the meeting. Decisions shall be taken by majority vote. The chairman of the committee shall establish the rules of procedure of the committee.
(4) The secretary of the committee appointed by the area director shall arrange administrative procedures of the committee. Minutes shall be taken of the meetings of the committee. The materials submitted for discussing an item on the agenda shall be appended to the minutes.
9. Repeal of Regulation
The TTÜ Council Regulation No 2 of 7 February 2017 “TTÜ Council’s Rules of Procedure” is repealed.
10. Entry into force of the Regulation
The Regulation shall enter into force upon signature.