On 4 September 2004, following the WNU inaugural ceremonies at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London, the Academic Council convened for its organising session. WNA Director General John Ritch acted as chairman.

The Academic Council had before it a decision agenda with four items.

Before turning to decisions, the Chairman invited comments from each Council participant. This yielded a free-ranging discussion.

1) Overall Concept of Operations.

Goal: Concurrence, in some variation, with the concepts articulated in the WNU Prospectus and the "WNU Concept of Operations" paper.

In light of the Council's lengthy discussion at the meeting's outset, the Chairman suggested that:

• Council members seemed implicitly to accept the diverse purposes of the new organisation as set forth in the two "vision" papers produced to date; and

• Therefore, the Council's views on detailed aspects of the WNU agenda might most efficiently be elicited by the discussion of item #4 of the Agenda, which would flesh out the WNU's work programme.

Outcome: This proposal -- and thus the general content of the "vision" papers -- was accepted.

2) Information Needs.

Goal: Agreement on what information participants should provide for placement on the WNU website (public and members' sections).

Outcome: The Council agreed that each member should, as soon as possible, submit for the WNU website -- in web-usable format -- a full portrayal of its institutional capabilities, as they pertain to WNU participation. Each member will be sovereign over its choice of material. The question of whether these submissions will be displayed on the public or members' section of the website was left open, as members develop the presentations they wish to display.

3) Resource Plan.

Goal: Agreement on specific steps that participating WNU institutions will take to assist the WNA in generating the human and financial resources necessary to form the Core Faculty and equip it with an adequate operational budget.

Outcome: The Council assigned the question of developing the resources necessary to assemble and support a Core Faculty to a Resource Committee, which is described on the WNU website under that heading.

4) WNU Working Groups.

Goal: The mandating of a full array of WNU Working Groups, whose collective work will embody the WNU agenda.

Outcome: The Council discussed a WNU agenda that could be pursued by 10 different Working Groups. The Council decided to mandate nine of these Working Groups - each to begin work under the leadership of one or two Coordinators. The Working Groups are described on the WNU website under that heading.

Discussion:

At such time as the Core Faculty is assembled, the Coordinators will receive secretariat and operational support. Meanwhile, Coordinators will seek to lay a foundation of initial progress.

Participation in all Working Groups is open-ended - meaning that assignments made at the Organising Session are subject to adjustment according to the will of the members.

As a general rule and pursuant to their responsibilities, Country Representatives will seek to orchestrate efficient participation from each country's institutions - but subject to the principle that the WG's remain open to participation by all interested parties.

Academic Council Participants