Meeting No 1/2004 of the Academic Board was held on Wednesday, 25 February 2004, in the Council Room, Administration Building 3A, Clayton campus, between 2:15pm and 4:20pm.

Professor A Lindsay (Chair), Professors S Adeloju, R Alfredson, J Anderson, W Anderson, J Bertram, Mr P Bradley, Associate Professor C Browne, Mr L Bull, Mr R Burnet, Professors E Byrne, C Chapman, Dr J Choate, Dr S Cockfield, Professor G Coleman, Dr B Cooke, Professor E Cornish, Ms A Crook, Professors J Cull, D de Kretser, Associate Professor T Dix, Dr B Doecke, Professor R Doherty, Associate Professor A Farley, Professors A Flitman, A Freiberg, Associate Professor D Garrioch, Professor R Gunstone, Mr P Handsworth, Ms C Harboe-Ree, Mr B Harding, Professor B Hoffert, Ms C Holgate, Professor K Hourigan, Dr S Joseph, Mr M Josem, Ms S Joy, Professors K Kendall, M King, J Kulkarni, K Langfield-Smith, R Larkins, H Le Grand, HP Lee, Dr C Lewis, Professor M Liddell, Associate Professor M Lindorff, Professor C Lipsig-Mumme, Dr R Lisner, Ms J Lyneham, Professors B Mackenzie, K McLaren, Mr A McMeekin, Professors B Muddle, K Murray, P Nagley, Associate Professor P Nestor, Ms H Ngo, Professors M O’Connor, O K Tam, Associate Professor M Page, Professors G Palmer, S Parker, Associate Professor S Petrovic-Lazarevic, Dr S Pickering, Professor M Pittard, Associate Professor C Porter, Professors D Poskitt, I Prince, J Redmond, Associate Professor A Reed, Professor M Rhodes, Dr A Robinson, Professor J Sheridan, M Skully, G Smith, J Smith, Associate Professor I Snyder, Professors T Sridhar, B Srinivasan, P Steele, P Stewart, Ms K Styles, Dr G Taylor, Professors J Teicher, N Thomson, Mr M Vincent, Professors P Von Nessen, J Walter, J Waincymer, G Webb, R Weber, G Whyte, B Williams, R Willis, X L Zhao

Apologies were received from: Associate Professor H Abachi, Dr O Akindemowo, Professor M Baird, Mr J Beringer, Associate Professor K Blashki, Dr D Casey, Professors M Clayton, C Cocklin, Ms R Dhillon, Mr A De Bono, Professors E Egan, M Evans, M Fleer, Associate Professor J Hurst, Professor J Klebaner, Dr G Martin, Mrs J Mosse, Professor R Nation, Dr R Nelson, Professors R Norris, H Oppewal, Drs M Osborn, K Stewart, Professor S Willis, Mr T Wilson, Professor B Workman.

Present by Invitation: Mr N Clarke, Ms P Sanderson

Observers: Professors Bomhoff, M Nair, HP Leang, Ms S Stafford, Ms A Wong

In Attendance: Mrs C Chatterton (Secretary)

The Chair, Professor A Lindsay, welcomed new members, Professors E Cornish, R Weber, A Frieberg, E Byrne, B Williams, M O’Connor and R Summers and new student members Mr P Bradley, Mr M Josem, Ms H Ngo and Mr T Wilson as well as returning student members Ms R Dhillon and Mr L Bull. The Chair also welcomed those invited to attend the meeting for particular items including Ms P Sanderson and Mr N Clark and those in attendance via teleconference from the Malaysia and South Africa campuses.

The Chair announced the results of the election of President of Academic Board. He welcomed and congratulated Professor C Browne as the President of Academic Board who will assume the Chair at the conclusion of this meeting. Statute 2.2 states that the Vice Chancellor or his nominee is Chair of the Board. Until the statute is changed to provide for the role of President of Academic Board, the President will occupy the Chair as the Vice Chancellor’s nominee.

At the commencement of the meeting, the Chair, Professor A Lindsay, advised the Board that an amendment to item 22.3 had been tabled, starred and brought forward.

Item 9.1.1 was starred at the meeting.

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

Documentation was attached. (p. 97-98)

Professor R Larkins congratulated Professor C Browne on his election to President of Academic Board and acknowledged Professor A Lindsay’s leadership as Chair and in promoting the move to an elected president and managing the transition. The Vice Chancellor provided a report to the Board on issues including:

Ms C Harboe-Ree reported recent discussions with CSIRO in relation to the E-press initiative as another example of the ongoing exploration of potential collaborative activities.

Professor A Lindsay advised the board on the following issues:

Professor Lindsay concluded by thanking members of the Board for the warm support and cooperation he had received during his term as Chair and reiterated the value of an independent Chair of the Board.

Professor C Browne thanked Prof Lindsay for his contributions to the Board as Chair and acknowledged the inherent conflicts of interest, which can affect the capacity of the Chair to represent the Board to the University Council. Professor Browne’s tribute was followed by applause from the Board.

Documentation was attached. (p. 1-10)

Mr A McMeekin, Executive Director, Information Technology Services Division, introduced his report and drew attention to ITS performance against 8 KPIs of the 35 specific IT services provided, noting that most services exceeded their target level of performance. However there have been incidences of network failures over recent months, arising from the supplier discontinuing development of products used at Monash, subsequent to a corporate takeover and management restructure within the supplier. Mr N Clarke, Manager ITS Network Infrastructure Services addressed the networking issue and advised the Board on the causes of the two major outages last year. ITS has commenced a project for the development of a new network strategy with CISCO as the new supplier. A quality process has been put in place throughout the roll out.

Mr N Clarke’s presentation focussed on the development of the new network strategy. Until mid 2004 there is a higher level of risk while the old and new networks are operating. He advised that a successful pilot has been run and that Caulfield campus has been completed. Clayton campus will be moved to the core network in May. The major roll-out involves work on every floor of every campus which commenced in December 2003 and completion is planned for December 2005. ITS is moving to a 24x7 network monitoring regime.

In response to a member’s query on improved quality and speed of service, Mr Clarke informed the Board that the new network has a much higher speed than the old technology as ITS is migrating from microwave links to optical fibre. The Clayton to Caulfield link now deployed Ethernet technologies, replacing the ATM technology. The Victorian Education Research Network (VERN) Project will deliver optical fibre to other campuses in the next 12 months.

Responding to a member’s question on the impact on overseas campuses, Mr N Clarke advised that the current project includes Australian campuses only. Communications to Malaysia and South Africa are still via the public internet as the costs to have a dedicated line is prohibitive.

Ms A Crook, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Resources), advised the Board that at the end of 2003 Council had given in-principle approval of the campus urban plans. The intention is to work towards the physical improvement of each campus, integrate accommodation, retail and sporting facilities and ensure that individual plans enhance the campus character and maximize resources. The plan will be a master plan for the development of the university’s campuses over the next 20-30 years.

Ms P Sanderson, Chief Executive Officer, Monash Property Management, presented the urban plan for the Clayton campus. Features of the urban plan include a ceremonial entrance on Blackburn Road, a central green and a student hub. Future developments include a proposal to convert the Menzies building into student accommodation. She highlighted arrangements aimed at overcoming public transport limitations. Facilities and Services are actively exploring the potential for Smart Bus links to Huntingdale Station along Wellington Road.

In response to a member’s query about links with the synchrotron, Ms Sanderson advised that it is proposed that the ceremonial entrance be opposite the synchrotron.

Documentation was attached. (p. 99-100)

Professor S Parker, Deputy Vice Chancellor, outlined the 3 main areas of his portfolio: (i) strategic, load and campus planning; (ii) quality; and (iii) international. He advised the Board that the Vice Chancellor’s paper, Excellence and Diversity provides a strategic framework to guide the university’s planning processes over the next 5 years. The Excellence and Diversity document will be presented to Academic Board at meeting 02/2004 or 03/2004. Professor Parker outlined the university-wide planning processes that would be adopted from 2004. An annual university plan will be produced that outlines priority actions for the following year. It will be informed by faculty and campus operational, academic and other relevant plans. Preparation of the annual plan will commence in January of the preceding year, widespread consultations will take place over the course of the year and the plan will be presented to the December meeting of Council. As 2004 is an interim year, the 2004 annual plan is currently under preparation.

In discussion it was emphasised that mechanisms for participation and engagement will form an integral part of the planning process.

Documentation was attached. (p. 101-102)

Professor S Parker, Deputy Vice Chancellor, advised the Board that a planning conference will take place in March with involvement from all areas of the university, faculties and campuses as well as student representatives. The theme of the conference is Excellence and Diversity in a changing Higher Education environment. The conference will focus on securing a broad understanding of the implications of the Higher Education Support Act for Monash, reaching basic agreement about how the Monash strategic framework 2004-2008 will be put into operation, reviewing the draft Annual Plan for 2004 and setting basic contents for the Annual Plan for 2005. Mr. David Phillips, Consultant with David Curran and former Division Head of the Higher Education Division in the Department of Employment, Education and Training, will be providing advice.

Professor S Parker, Deputy Vice Chancellor, informed the board that Quality Matters would be a new standing item on the agenda. Monash University has a background of systematic approach to quality. Three years ago the self-review process was started and reported in ‘Still Learning’. AUQA is in its third year of a 5-year cycle of auditing universities. The Higher Education Support Act makes this a compulsory part of funding. It is almost certain that Monash will be audited in 2006. Professors G Webb and S Parker are both academic auditors who have been auditing other institutions and have identified 2 model initiatives in preparation for the audit: (i) campus planning, AUQA will focus on the multi-campus nature of Monash and (ii) international self-review – international activity and quality assurance mechanisms. The President of Academic Board will be a member of the international self-review panel.

Mr. M Josem, expressed concern that whenever the university is seeking student representation on committees or consultation with students, Clayton students tend to be selected. In response, Professor C Browne commented that unlike the single postgraduate students association, the university had to deal with a number of undergraduate student associations and it would be easier if the undergraduate student associations communicated more with each other. Professor R Larkins advised that he is trying to be accessible to student associations and if MONSU wish to have regular meetings with him, he would be pleased to do so.

In response to Professor W Anderson’s question about improved public transport, Professor R Larkins advised that, at this stage, the Smart Bus seemed to be the most effective method of communicating between Caulfield and Clayton and between Clayton Railway Station and the Clayton campus. In his discussions with the Monash City Council and government the issue of a proposed rail link to Clayton Campus was not considered feasible or part of the Labour Party policy.

Academic Board noted the advice from Professor Larkins. 

Documentation was attached. (p 11-16)

The Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Humans, that reports to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), forwarded an Annual Report to the Academic Board.

Documentation was attached. (p. 17)

Documentation was attached. (p. 18-24)

Professor M Liddel, in referring to the renumbered subsections 4.1 and 4.2 proposed to change the words "must by 31 December in the year of admission" to "in the first year of enrolment". Professor A Lindsay advised the Board that he is now Chair of Admissions Committee and would refer this back to Admissions Committee. He suggested deferring this item to the next meeting.

Documentation was attached. (p 25-28)

Documentation was attached. (p. 29-32)

Documentation was attached. (p. 33-36)

Documentation was attached. (p..37-38)

Documentation was attached. (p..39-40)

Documentation was attached. (p. 41-44)

Documentation was attached. (p. 45-52)

Documentation was attached. (p. 53-54)

Documentation was attached. (p. 55-58)

(p. 59-62)

Documentation was attached. (p. 63-68)

Refer to item 22.1

Documentation was attached. (p. 69-72)

Documentation was attached. (p. 73-74)

Documentation was attached. (p. 75-80)

Documentation was attached. (p. 81-88)

Documentation was attached. (p. 89-92)

Refer to item 16.1.3

• Professor Bob Williams Law until 30 June 2005

• Professor Margaret O’Connor Medicine until 30 June 2005

• Professor Roger Summers Medicine until 30 June 2005

In accordance with Statute 2.2 – The Academic Board (section 7), a casual vacancy in the office of an elected member occurs where a member is absent from three consecutive meetings without special leave granted by the Board at or before the last of those meetings.

A request was received for special leave from Meetings 5/2003 to 1/2004 inclusive, from:

Campus heads nominated the following persons to fill campus based vacancies on Academic Board:

• Associate Professor Sonja Petrovic-Lazarevic Peninsula Campus

• Professor Ian Prince Malaysia Campus

• Ms Claudia Holgate South Africa Campus

Academic Board appointed the above mentioned persons to fill Campus Based vacancies on Academic Board for a period of two years commencing 25 February 2004.

Statute 2.2 contains a term of office of two years for elected members and a requirement that a request for special leave be granted by the board if an elected member is to be absent from three consecutive ordinary meetings of the board. The statute was silent on the term of office for appointed campus based members. The Chair proposed to adopt the same conditions for new appointed campus based members of the Board and amend the statute. The Chair proposed that the Board, at its next meeting, set a term for the existing 5 appointed campus-based members. The President will consult with the solicitor’s office and determine when that term should operate.

Documentation was attached. (p. 93-96)

24 ACADEMIC BOARD NOMINEES FOR PROFESSORIAL SELECTION COMMITTEES RMO1997/1623

24.1 Selection Committee for a Professor of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering

Academic Board nominated Professor Karen Francis to be the professorial representative of the Board on the Selection Committee for the Professor of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.

24.2 Selection Committee for a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, and Faculty of Engineering

Academic Board nominated Professor Kim Langfield-Smith to be the professorial representative of the Board on the Selection Committee for the Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia and Faculty of Engineering.

24.3 Selection Committee for a Professor of Neurosciences and Director, Monash University Centre for Brain and Behaviour, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Academic Board nominated Professor Kate Burridge to be the professorial representative of the Board on the Selection Committee for the Professor of Neurosciences and Director, Monash University Centre for Brain and Behaviour, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.

24.4 Selection Committee for a Chair of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences