Meeting No 3/2001 of the Academic Board will be held on Wednesday, 6 June 2001 in the Council Room of the University, commencing at 2:15 pm.

The Agenda papers have been circulated. The Index of Recommendations is set out below and supplementary and replacement papers are attached. New items, or items with new / revised attachments, are indicated in the Index of Recommendations by a vertical line on the left-hand side of the page.

Meetings of the Academic Board are attended by ex officio and elected members. A current list of members may be obtained from the Secretary. A non-member may request permission to attend a meeting of the Board as an observer, by telephoning extension 59063. Observers have no speaking or voting rights.

Tony Calder

Secretary

V:\ACADEMIC\AGENDA\2001\abrecss01-03.doc

Any confidential items will be resolved at this point.

The Minutes for Meeting 2/2001 were circulated.

A document is attached.

Professor M Evans, Director – Planning and Academic Affairs, will speak to this item.

A document is attached.

Professor G Webb, Director – Centre for Higher Education Quality, will speak to this item.

A document is attached.

Professor G Webb, Director – Centre for Higher Education Quality, will speak to this item.

A document is attached.

Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) will speak to this item.

This paper provides the second of the overviews of the course portfolio as outlined in the paper on Integrated Academic and Resource Planning endorsed by Academic Board at meeting 4/2000.

A series of three papers was agreed for 2001. The first, Development of the Curriculum: Engagement with Stakeholders was presented to Academic Board at meeting 1/2001. Course Structures for Professional and Employment Needs is the second paper and will be followed by The Use of On-line Technologies to Support Flexible Learning at meeting 6/2001.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for discussion of the expansion and diversification of courses and qualifications that has taken place in recent years in response to changing community and labour market needs.

A document is attached.

Professor S Parker, Chair of the London Steering Group and Professor H Le Grand, Chair of the Prato Steering Group are invited to speak to the report.

The Learning and Teaching Plan – Performance Report 2000, presented by the offices of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) and Planning and Academic Affairs, is attached ( pages 61 – 74 ).

Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) and Professor M Evans, Director - Planning and Academic Affairs will speak to this item.

A recent case in which a student had sought a transfer from a PhD (while under examination) to the MD had raised the issue of the relationship between the university’s PhD program and the various higher and other doctorates offered by faculties. The latter fall within the authority of Academic Board.

Following discussion at Steering Committee of Academic Board, it was proposed that a Review Group consisting of;

• Professor P Darvall Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Development

• A Dean of a Faculty

• Professor R Gunstone Faculty of Education and

• Professor M King Director, Monash Research Graduate School

and assisted by Ms P Herman, be formed. The review group is to develop appropriate terms of reference for a review of the regulations and authority pertaining to all non PhD/professional doctoral degrees, report the terms of reference to the next meeting of the Academic Board and submit a final report to meeting 5/2001 (5 September 2001) of Academic Board

That Academic Board approve the establishment of a Review Group as detailed above.

Professor S Parker, Dean – Faculty of Law will speak to this item.

Documentation is attached (Attachment 2). (The proposal also includes two new subjects, MGC5810&5820, proposed under the item "New Subjects" below.)

The course proposed under this item has cross-faculty involvement with the Faculty of Information Technology. The Faculty of Business and Economics advises that the relevant consultation has occurred.

Approval is sought for establishment of the Masters program for off campus delivery to Australian students. The course has been designed to provide a possible vehicle for use in future programs outside Australia. Should there be a proposal to take the course outside Australia, approval would be sought to do so at that time.

The Master of Business Management would be included in the University’s Schedule of Exceptions in the Graduate Studies Policy. The admission requirements for the masters degree (72 points) are as follows: "Applicants must hold either an undergraduate degree or an executive certificate at a credit level average from the Faculty of Business and Economics."

Documentation is attached (Attachment 3). (This proposal also involves the proposals for four new "MEU…." subjects as proposed under the item "New Subjects" below.)

The course proposed under this item has cross-faculty involvement with the Faculty of Education. The relevant cross-faculty consultation has occurred.

The Graduate Certificate in Medical Education will be delivered off-campus within Australia. It is anticipated the course may in future be delivered to students overseas. A separate proposal to extend the course would be prepared at that time.

Documentation is attached (Attachment 4).

Documentation is attached (Attachment 5).

Documentation is attached (Attachment 6).

That Academic Board approve the proposal of the Board of the Faculty of Business and Economics to amend the Graduate Diploma in Human Resources, to reduce the number of core subjects from seven to five and increase the number of electives to three subjects.

Documentation is attached (Attachment 7).

That Academic Board approve the proposal of the Board of the Faculty of Business and Economics to amend the Graduate Diploma in Business Management, to reduce the number of core subjects from five to four and increase the number of electives to four subjects.

A document is attached (Attachment 8).

Documentation is attached (Attachment 9).

Documentation is attached (Attachment 10).

The existing Master of Laws (Legal Practice), was approved at Academic Board Meeting 5/2000, as a 192 credit point masters degree to be undertaken by non-law graduates. This masters provided a single course that would allow admission as a legal practitioner. The Faculty of Law also offers the Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Skills and Ethics, a 48 credit point award in practical legal training, that leads to admission as a legal practitioner in Victoria following completion of an LLB.

This amendment expands the LLM (Legal Practice), now to be called the LLM (Legal Practice, Skills and Ethics), to also permit students who have completed an LLB to undertake the course. Students who hold an LLB and have successfully completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Skills and Ethics (see proposal for specifics), will complete a 72 credit point version of the LLM (Legal Practice, Skills and Ethics), including 48 points credit granted for the Postgraduate Diploma.

Further initiatives are currently being considered by the Faculty of Law in relation to forming a consortium of the Law Schools of Monash, Griffith and the ANU to develop a national course based on the existing post graduate diplomas of legal practice courses, which can be provided on-line direct into law firms. (It is anticipated that students who completed the national post graduate diploma course would be able to proceed to an LLM at one of the consortium universities.)

(Documentation in relation to the subject proposals under this item is available for perusal upon request to the Executive Officer, Education Committee.)

The Academic Board is invited to note that thirty eight (38) subjects are proposed for approval in this Report. This total includes twenty-one (21) new subjects for establishment, twelve (12) new subjects by virtue of changes to the credit points of existing subjects, and five (5) new subjects by virtue of an additional year level of offering for an existing subject. A breakdown of the proposed new subjects is contained in the following table.

The Academic Board established the Scholarships Committee (a sub committee of the Board) at its Meeting 1/2001. The terms of reference of the Scholarships Committee were approved at that meeting, based on those that were originally recommended by the Scholarships Review Committee.

At its first meeting, the Scholarships Committee considered its terms of reference (as established by the Board) and recommends that amendments be made as set out in the ‘strikeout’ version below.

9.  7.  Members may appoint nominees as necessary.

RECOMMENDATION:

That Academic Board approve the amended terms of reference for the Scholarships Committee as set out above.

The Scholarships Review Committee (SRC) made its final Report to the Vice-Chancellor in August 1999. A summary of the recommendations that were made in the SRC Report is attached for reference (Attachment A).

The Scholarships Committee considered annual reports from the Coursework Scholarships Committee and the PhD and Scholarships Committee. (Copies of the annual reports are available upon request to the Secretary.) These annual reports commented on the University’s implementation to date of relevant recommendations contained in the SRC Report. The Scholarships Committee noted that many of the SRC recommendations had been implemented. The Committee makes recommendations for further action in relation to implementation of the SRC recommendations as set out below.

The SRC recommended that the University should attempt to meet in full students’ airfares related to postgraduate travel grants either by providing additional funds or by offering fewer grants (SRC Recommendation 16).

The annual report of the PhD and Scholarships Committee reported that the Monash Postgraduate Travel Grant budget of $180,000 was maintained in 2000. (In 2000, 230 students were supported by the scheme compared with 234 awardees in 1999.) The Scholarships Committee noted that presently, successful applicants are still required to pay the first $150 of the fare themselves, which is not in accordance with the original SRC recommendation. This SRC recommendation had not been fully implemented.

The Scholarships Committee noted the concern of the Executive Chair of the PhD and Scholarships Committee that the number of postgraduate travel grants not be reduced as a result of any further consideration of this issue.

The SRC recommended that allocation of Monash Equity and Merit Based Support Bursaries be made by faculties (SRC Recommendation 19). The Coursework Scholarships Committee subsequently proposes that since applications contain sensitive information, and that since there is no faculty quota for distribution of the awards, allocation should continue to be made centrally.

The SRC proposed that faculties should consider allocating a proportion of departmental scholarships or other faculty funds to bursaries to support designated equity groups (SRC Recommendation 20).

SRC Recommendations 22 and 23 related to Summer Vacation Scholarships. These recommendations:

SRC Recommendation 29 was that faculties and departments should promote and acknowledge the success of their award holders. The Committee noted that faculties and departments are attending to this recommendation.

Please note these regulations do not come into force until the repeal of Section 1 & 2 of Statute 6.1.2 by Council.

Please note these regulations do not come into force until the repeal of Section 1 & 2 of Statute 6.1.2 by Council.

A document is attached

A document is attached.

At meeting 1/2001 (12 February), Council endorsed the proposal to move to six university committee cycles per year with eight meetings of Council, six dealing with normal business of the University and two special meetings which might reflect on governance and other Council matters. Council endorsed the proposed meeting schedule as follows at meeting 2/2001 held on 19 March 2001.