Meeting No 2/2003 of the Academic Board was held on Wednesday, 9 April 2003, in the Council Room, Administration Building 3a, Clayton campus, between 2.15pm and 4.10pm.

Professor P Darvall (Chair), Dr G Acquaah-Gaisie, Associate Professor R Alfredson, Professor W Anderson, Ms A Anumarlapudi, Professor M Ariff, Mr J Arnold, Mr C Avram, Ms K Avram, Professor M Baird, Drs H Ballis, D Bednall, Professors M Berndt, J Bigelow, B Bignall, Mr A Blakeman, Professor G Bouma, Ms J Brown, Professor C Browne, Mr R Burnet, Mr L Bull, Professor B Caine, Dr D Casey, Professors M Clayton, C Cocklin, Dr B Cooke, Ms R Dhillon, Mr A De Bono, Associate Professors T Dingle, T Dix, Associate Professor R Edwards, Professor M Evans, Professor A Farley, Associate Professors D Garrioch, J Glover, Professor G Griffin, The Hon G Hampel QC, Mr P Handsworth, Mr B Harding, Profesor J harris, Mr A Herzberg, Professors G Hodge, K Hourigan, Mr Churley, Associate Professor J Hurst, Professors S Joy, M King, K Langfield-Smith, Dr C Lewis, Mr B Leung, Professors B Mackenzie, A Markus, Associate Professor C Mingins, Professors R Norris, G Oppy, Associate Professor M Page, Professors G Palmer, S Parker, Dr P Perlmutter, Professor J Redmond, Associate Professor P Reed, Professors J Rosenberg, N Saunders, J Sheridan, M Skully, J Smith, Dr R Smith, Professors T Sridhar, B Srinivasan, P Stewart, Ms K Styles, Professor P Steele, Associate Professor J Teicher, Professor J Walter, Mr J White, Professors R Willis, S Willis, B Workman.

Professor A Lindsay, Dr Akindemowo, Professor J Anderson, Ms A Bardoel, Professor J Bertram, Dr K Blashki, Ms A Crook, Dr C Davies, Professors D de Kretser, A Flitman, R Gunstone, Ms C Harboe-Ree, Professor F Ho, Drs H Irving, M Iskander, G Johanson, Professors D Kinley, H Le Grand, Ms J Mosse, Professor R Nation, Ms J Oates, Professor M Rhodes, Drs A Robinson, M Rosa, Professors G Smith, D Smyth, Associate Professor M Story, Professor N Thomson, Dr C Worth.

Professor T Brown, Mr V Prpich, Mr P Yates

Ms C Ho , Ms M Jackson, Mr R Wortley

Mr Tony Calder (Secretary)

The Chair welcomed to the meeting new members Professor P Steele, Academic Director, Peninsula, Professor R Willis, Academic Director, Caulfield, Professor S Adeloju, Faculty of Science and new postgraduate student member Mr B Leung

Professor Darvall also welcomed those invited to attend the meeting for particular items including Mr P Yates, Mr V Prpich and Professor T Brown.

Items 10.4 and 10.5 were starred at the meeting. During the meeting Mr C Hurley advised that item 10.5 no longer required discussion as he would follow up relevant queries outside the meeting.

The recommendations of the Steering Committee were adopted without discussion for all items other than those starred.

There were no confidential items on the agenda for this meeting.

The Chair, Professor P LeP Darvall, informed the Board about matters of interest including:

Documentation was circulated. (p 1-4)

Mr Yates, Director, Services and Systems provided to the Board a report on the university’s enrolment position as at the end of March. Key aspects of the report included:

Following discussion of the success of the Merit and Equity Scholarship Scheme in attracting high achieving students and the student numbers at Monash South Africa, Professor Darvall thanked Mr Yates for his presentation and commended all staff involved with the difficult task of selection.

Documentation was circulated. (p 5-10)

Professor M Evans, Director, Planning and Academic Affairs informed the Board that the original Community Service Policy, developed in 1995, had been referred by the Vice-Chancellor’s Group to a working group for revision. The working group had revised the policy by incorporating themes from the university’s planning documents incorporating key principles and values and ensuring that the revised policy better reflected the current university structures.

During discussion, members made a range of suggestions on how to improve the policy. Professor Darvall thanked Professor Evans and requested that Professors Evans, Parker and Willis meet to discuss the matter and that the policy would be resubmitted to the Board if changes of substance were made. Should the changes be minor, the policy could be progressed for consideration by Council.

Documentation was circulated. (p 11-30)

Professor J Redmond, Chair, Monash Abroad Steering Committee, informed the Board that the Monash Abroad Scheme was now an established major activity that furthered Monash’s vision of becoming an international university by enabling students to have an international experience for credit as part of their studies. The Monash Abroad Scheme would result in approximately 2.5% of students per year undertaking an overseas study experience where Monash made a contribution towards the cost of the offshore program/study.

Members were invited to note that student participation had grown steadily from 284 in 1998 to 714 in 2001, spread across a range of program types including language studies (29%), student exchanges (23%), professional placements (20%) and field studies (19%). Professor Redmond advised the Board that a particular focus in 2003 would be encouraging students studying on Australian campuses to undertake an intercampus exchange at Monash Malaysia or Monash South Africa.

Concluding his presentation, Professor Redmond informed the Board that while the growth of the scheme was expected to continue, issues such as global uncertainty and the possible ramifications of the implementation of Strategic Cost Management would need to be carefully monitored. Furthermore, the Board was advised that certainty of budget allocations over rolling two-year periods would improve service delivery and facilitate greater certainty when responding to students who lodged grant applications.

Professor Darvall commended the report to the Board and commended Professor Redmond, the Steering Committee and the staff of Monash Abroad for their commitment and achievements.

Documentation was circulated. (p 31-114)

Professor C Cocklin, Director, Monash Environment Institute, introduced the item and informed the board that the Triple Bottom Line Reporting Project resulted from a discussion in 2001 at Council following which the Chancellor invited the Vice-Chancellor to investigate the process and determine the scope of a pilot project. The pilot project was undertaken in 2002 focusing on Gippsland and Clayton campuses and used existing data where possible. The report Monash University: Triple Bottom Line Report 2002 (Draft) has been considered by the Vice-Chancellor’s Group and Council.

Commending the report to the Board, Professor Cocklin advised the Board that Monash was the first Australian university and one of a handful throughout the world to undertake such a task. Further, the pilot project resulted in many favourable outcomes including increasing stakeholder awareness and highlighting areas for future improvement.

The Board was informed that the project had been extended and a 2003 report, including all Australian campuses, would be incorporated into the 2003 Annual Report to Parliament.

Members discussed a range of issues including Peninsula Campus being located within a declared "biosphere", environmental courses/programs and the use of solar power on Monash campuses.

Professor Darvall commended Professor Cocklin and Ms Belinda Towns, Project Manager, Triple Bottom Line Project for their achievements.

Documentation was circulated. (p 115-120)

Professor T Brown, Chair, Monash Residential Services Management Committee, informed the Board that during 1999 and 2000 the then Monash Halls of Residence Committee undertook a major review of residential services which resulted in the consolidation of all campus residential services, excluding Gippsland under a new entity Monash Residential Services (MRS). The major short-term goals for MRS include extending and improving the support infrastructure, extending and diversifying the amount and range of accommodation on all campuses and continuing to integrate accommodation services with other service providers and faculty requirements.

Mr V Prpich, Director, Monash Residential Services informed the Board that the goals of MRS included the provision of an environment that was not only secure but also provided support and enriched the student experience in academic cultural, personal and social matters. Providing the Board with an overview of MRS, Mr Prpich noted the following:

During discussion Professor Brown noted the need for on-going faculty involvement in quality assurance issues relating to the introduction of the tutorial program.

Professor Darvall thanked Professor Brown and Mr Prpich for their informative presentation and ongoing management of the residential services.

Documentation was circulated. (p 121-122)

Professor Gary Bouma, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Development) spoke to this item.

Members provided a range of suggestions and were requested to forward comments / suggestions to Professor Bouma.

This item, which originated from Item 7, was starred by the Steering Committee.

(p 123-126)

A report, considered by the Admissions Committee, provided more detailed analysis of students required to show cause for unsatisfactory progress. An extract of the report was provided in the papers.

This item was starred by Steering Committee of Academic Board and Professor M Evans, Director, Planning and Academic Affairs, was invited to provide an outline of the issues raised in "Show Cause and Exclusions Data Report" page 123 of the agenda papers.

Professor Evans informed the Board that a detailed analysis focusing on show cause rates rather than exclusions rates had indicated the following:

The Board noted the range of support services available to students including the Language and Learning Service, Counselling, MONSEACS, an extensive transition program and website and the role of the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies. Further, the Board noted that the issues would continue to be closely monitored and that further reports would be forwarded.

Professor Darvall thanked Professor Evans for her presentation on behalf of the Committee.

This item was starred by the Steering Committee and was moved to item 4.1.

Documentation was circulated. (p 127-136)

Documentation was circulated. (p 131-136)

Documentation was circulated. (p 137-138)

Academic Board received and noted the Report of Meeting 1/2003 of the Research Graduate School Committee, held on 7 February 2003.

Documentation was circulated. (p 139-142)

Academic Board received and noted the Report of Meeting 2/2003 of the Research Graduate School Committee, held on 7 March 2003.

Proceedings

Documentation was circulated. (p 143-154)

Documentation was circulated. (p 147-148)

A member requested clarification of the proposed increased levy on international fees (from 3% to 4%) and the possible impact of the ongoing implementation of Strategic Cost Management.

Noting that it was unfortunate that the report had not been progressed sooner, Professor Darvall requested that the matter be investigated and resolved before the setting of 2004 (domestic), 2005 (international) fee levels.

Documentation was circulated. (p 149-154)

Documentation was circulated. (p 155-156)

Documentation was circulated. (p 157-158)

Documentation was circulated. (p 159-162)

Documentation was circulated. (p 163-172)

(p 165-172)

Documentation was circulated. (p 173-180)

Documentation was circulated. (p 177-180)

The board resolved to revise Schedule 9 sub section 7.7 – Faculty of Science of the Regulations Part III – Faculty Boards pursuant to Statute 2.3 – to accommodate the change in position and title of Faculty Executive Officer to Faculty Academic Manager.

Academic Board noted the appointment of Professor Sam Adeloju, Head of the School of Applied Sciences at the Gippsland campus, to fill the casual vacancy on Academic Board.

Documentation was circulated. (p 181-200)

Documentation was circulated. (p 201-206)

Documentation was circulated. (p 207-208)