Administrative Heads Group Meeting 4-2001

Meeting 4/2001 of the Administrative Heads Group was held at 8.30am on Thursday, 16 August 2001 in the Council Room, 1^st Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Apologies were received from Professor P Darvall - Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development), Ms A Crook – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), Professor B Mackenzie – Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland Campus, Professor J Harris – Director, Centre for Learning and Teaching Support (CeLTS), Mr A Pollock – Executive Director, Office of International Affairs, Mr I Porter – Principal Adviser, International and Government Relations, Mr T Calder - Director, Secretariat and Executive Services, Mr P Lawford - Faculty Manager, Education, Mr K Hobbs – Faculty Manager, Business and Economics and Ms J Symington - Director, Strategy.

Mr O Slattery – General Manager, Office of International Affairs, and Ms S Webb - Manager Student Services, Faculty of Education, and Ms G Hayes – Manager, Vice-Chancellor’s Office, were in attendance at the meeting.

The Committee confirmed the minutes of meeting 3/2001, which were circulated previously.

The Chair noted that matters that were addressed at the last meeting were progressing.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Robinson, advised members about the recent appointment of Ms Meredith Jackson to the position of Executive Director, Marketing and Public Affairs. Members noted that Ms Jackson, who was currently heading marketing and communications at the University of Queensland, would take up her appointment at Monash on 15 October.

A paper was circulated titled ‘Monash South Africa Project Report’, prepared by Professor John Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor South Africa. This paper was presented to Academic Board on 25 July 2001 and Council on 13 August. Additional papers, prepared by the Vice-Chancellor and considered at Council, were emailed to members prior to the meeting. These papers about Monash South Africa, titled ‘Origins and Purpose’ and ‘Key Issues’, are attached to the minutes - Attachment A.

The Vice-Chancellor provided members with an overview of the three papers. Members noted that Council had been briefed about activities, progress and also concerns in relation to the South Africa campus. Professor Robinson advised that the papers were well received and that Council was satisfied to proceed with the directions outlined.

Discussion occurred regarding projected student enrolment figures, estimated time for break even, salary rates, the quality of student intake, availability of nearby sporting facilities and further financial possibilities eg. student intake from other countries and the potential for sale of part of the appreciating land.

A report that was prepared by Mr Renn Wortley - University Solicitor, and Mr Tony Calder - Director, Secretariat and Executive Services’, was emailed to members prior to the meeting. The paper is attached to these minutes - Attachment B.

Professor Alan Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning), advised members that the university community had made significant efforts towards the devolution of the course and unit approval process from Council and Academic Board to faculties. Members noted that the University Solicitor’s Office had been working with faculties to finalise the legislation that would formalise this process by allowing faculties to make their own award regulations. Professor Lindsay highlighted that this devolved legislative power would enable faculties to more immediately up-date their award listings. A course administration system was also being developed to further streamline approval and information recording processes.

Mr Wortley provided an update on the current status of the transfer of this formal legislative power to faculties, including further faculty progress with the finalisation of award regulations. Members noted that following full implementation of the devolved process, faculties would liaise with the Solicitor’s Office for the drafting of award regulations for final approval by Faculty Boards. Mr Wortley also noted the importance of reviewing quality processes over time.

Members noted the report provided and noted positive feedback about the benefits for faculties from the devolution.

Ms Alison Crook, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), was an apology for this meeting.

The Vice-Chancellor advised that Monyx Pty Ltd, had been approved at the August Council meeting and that this would allow for the provision of consistent student services across campuses.

A member’s request was noted that Mr A O’Brien - General Manager, Caulfield and Peninsula Student Union, and CEO Designate, Monash Services Organisation, be invited to the next meeting to speak about the new arrangements.

Mr Peter Marshall, Divisional Director, Student and Staff Services, provided a Powerpoint presentation to the Group about the recently conducted ‘Support Services Student and Staff Survey’. (A copy of the slides used for the presentation are available from Mr Marshall’s office upon request.)

Members noted detail about the survey including initial consultation with stakeholders, survey design, objectives, focus, response rate, the nature of the responses and the perceptions of quality and services.

Mr Marshall highlighted current efforts in the area of web-based functionality and access for students and staff to useful information/services via the portal. Mr Alan McMeekin, Executive Director, ITS, noted that the ITS project titled ‘Right Now’, would allow students and staff to ask questions about Monash via the web and may be beneficial to Student and Staff Services.

Members noted information about areas for improvement and prioritisation of resources. Priorities for staff included the delivery of resources via the Monash website, timelines for responses to HR/payroll/employee relations enquiries, maintenance of emphasis on access to staff training and development, and the reappointment and classification processes. Priorities for student services included fee payment information and services, re-enrolment processes and scholarships.

Discussion occurred regarding superannuation, international student requirements and student fee matters. Members noted that a future directions report from Student and Staff Services would also be forwarded to the November meeting of Council.

The Vice-Chancellor thanked Mr Marshall for his informative presentation.

An enquiry was made about the wellbeing of Mr John Trembath, CEO, Monash Property Management. Members noted that Mr Trembath was still in hospital at that time. The Group wished Mr Trembath a full and swift recovery from his recent illness.

Members presented queries about implications for the university and international students of the recently introduced ESOS Act. Mr Owen Slattery, General Manager, Office of International Affairs, provided information on the following:

• students could only repeat a subject once. Students enrolled prior to 4 June 2001 should not be affected by this change. However, the change may affect semester two, 2001;

• a member was requested to forward a query to Monash International about the impact on existing international students who were undertaking less than a 100% load.

At the request of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning), it was agreed that Mr Slattery would circulate to members, via the Secretary, information about the ESOS Act and its implications, including some legal advice and interpretation.

The next scheduled meeting of the Administrative Heads Group (5/01) will be held at 8.30am on Thursday, 4 October 2001 in the Council Room.

"Monash will operate in strategic alliances with other leading international institutions and have a matrix for campuses which will be nodes in an educational network that spans the globe’

Leading the Way: Monash 2020 (p 5).

Two key steps toward our international vision for Monash 2020 were taken in 1998 and early 1999 with the establishment of Monash Malaysia and the signing of the ten year agreement with King’s College London. The former grew out of a decade long relationship with our partners, the Sunway Group; the latter was triggered by the move to King’s of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, for which Monash for several years provided some core funding. These two steps were followed closely by a third, the decision to establish Monash South Africa.

At meeting 5/1999, held at our campus in Kuala Lumpur, Council was presented with and approved a detailed project proposal prepared by Monash International for the establishment of a campus in Johannesburg. This was the result of over two years of discussion and investigation inside the University and in South Africa, where the then Minister of Education, Professor Bengu, and the then Australian High Commissioner, Mr Ian Porter, were extremely supportive.

Council members, in approving the proposal, appreciated the benefits of the development for South Africa, and for Monash. They were also aware of, and appreciated, the risks and the long term nature of the enterprise.

The transformation of post-apartheid South Africa to a non-racial democracy not only allowed South Africa to claim its rightful place in the world but also led to prospects for regional growth and stability unknown in the twentieth century. South Africa was poised to play a key role in the economic, political, technological and cultural development of the African continent. In the words of President Thabo Mbeki, "the emergence of the ‘new’ South Africa has led to a growing likelihood of an African ‘renaissance’." To drive the process of transformation to meet national and regional goals it was universally recognised that South Africa would depend in no small measure on the rapid and sustainable development of a highly educated and skilled workforce.

The establishment of Monash South Africa is designed to make a distinctive Australian contribution to that transformation and development process. At a presentation to the Education Ministers of the thirteen countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Paris in 1998, I stressed that Monash University was keen to play a role in assisting the governments of the region to achieve their vision by providing internationally recognised university education, utilizing a range of educational technologies, for a broad spectrum of Africans, with access and preparatory programs to ensure that as many people as possible are in a position to take advantage of tertiary education.

With Leading the Way: Monash 2020, we set out our aim to create a network of high quality partnerships, centres and campuses which will provide students and staff with a range of teaching, learning, researching and living opportunities and experiences outside Australia. In particular, we want as many as possible of our graduating students to have taken advantage of the network, be ‘competent and confident citizens of the world’ and, as such, be readily employable by leading international organisations and institutions.

By establishing a campus in South Africa, Monash is going outside its ‘comfort zones’ of Western Europe and South East Asia. But if Leading the Way: Monash 2020 is to be realized, then the University will eventually have a presence on every continent including Africa. In Africa the driving country is South Africa and within South Africa the driving city is Johannesburg.

Among the academic benefits to the greater Monash identified in the original project proposal were that the campus in South Africa would:

• provide a new physical and cultural environment where Monash students can complete part of their studies
• ensure that the Monash students at its Australian campuses are better informed about South Africa in particular and Southern Africa in general
• allow the University to expand significantly the opportunities for staff to widen their horizons by providing a new teaching, researching and living environment
• provide professionals who are living and working in Australia with knowledge and networks in South Africa. This would occur through the interchange of academic staff between campuses and would be a natural consequence of such exchanges
• open up new areas for research for the whole of the Monash community, in areas as diverse as Australian–South African trade relations, community health, education administration, police and justice studies, accident prevention, banking biotechnology, good governance, environmental affairs and engineering
• provide input and enrichment of the core courses and curriculum of the greater Monash through the demands and requirements of a new range of stakeholders. In Malaysia, the B Business and Economics course has been modified to meet local conditions and has now been adopted in its new form for delivery in Australia
• provide increased opportunities for the productive utilization of Monash expertise. For example, the Monash Asia Institute would represent a source of expertise unparalleled in South Africa but much in demand as South Africa attempts to expand its economic and other links with the Asian region. Similarly, there is great demand in the whole region for the type of expertise and knowledge which resides, for example, in the Family Business Research Unit, the Accident Research Centre which is already involved in South Africa, and in many other key centres of Monash research excellence
• put the University at the forefront of the development of Australian interests and policy in Southern Africa, one of Australia’s fastest growing markets, allowing the University to strengthen its links with Australian government and business, and
• provide increased opportunities to participate in aid and other development programs in the Southern Africa region, such as with the World Bank and AusAID.

The original project proposal, prepared by Monash International, indicated that:

"After five years of operations, the South African campus should meet the following conditions:

• 1,500 plus students
• substantial reduction in long term debt
• operating surplus of R10 million
• modern facility of 8000+ square metres
• site value of at lease R20 million
• capacity to realize up to 25% of the site
• housing and shopping facilities adjacent to the site
• becoming recognized as a member of the South African higher education sector
• an emerging research profile of value to Southern Africa
• developing linkages with business, government, international organizations and non-government organizations in the SADC region
• the operational and financial strength and flexibility to engage in the planning of the second stage of the campus development with confidence."

I have no reason to believe that these targets will not be met. However, given the changes in the political and educational environment and the consequent need to reshape our student number and financial forecast for the next decade, things will not be easy. But, as the Chancellor has said to us more than once over the past two years: "we have made the decision to establish a campus in South Africa knowing the potential, the benefits, and the difficulties; it is now a matter of ‘managing our way through’."

Professor David Robinson

Vice-Chancellor and President

30 July 2001

From the original project proposal approved by Council at meeting 5/1999, from the regular reports from me to Council over the past two years and from the updates from Pro Vice-Chancellor John Anderson – the latest of which is appended to this report, a number of key issues will continue to need to be addressed as we develop Monash South Africa. These include the educational policy environment, student enrolments and security.

As Professor Anderson points out in his latest report, and as I have highlighted on several occasions with Council, the change of education Minister and the evolving higher education policy and strategy for South Africa has demanded both formal responses from Monash – such as the successful challenge to the Director General’s proposal to change the conditions of our original registration, and informal approaches – such as the Pro Vice-Chancellor’s meetings with the departmental officials over specific matters – such as an application for development funding.

In any nation undergoing the kind of transformation being undertaken by South Africa there will be a significant amount of policy turmoil over a prolonged period of time. In brief, the major education policy issues currently being worked out by the South African government relate to:

• the financial viability of previously historically disadvantaged universities
• the racial mix of staff and students in historically advantaged universities
• the effect of an exodus of many high quality students and staff from South Africa
• the impact of extensive unregulated immigration from other South African countries
• the provision of tertiary education in previously unserved regions
• the balance of expenditure on primary versus secondary and tertiary education
• the need to increase student fees in public universities and to ensure that they are paid
• the divergence of views on the expanding private higher education sector
• a concern to stamp out ‘fly by night’ education-for-profit ventures
• the need to expand academic endeavour in the disciplines and professions most needed in the new South Africa etc.

Monash South Africa, as a registered private not-for-profit off-shoot of a non-South African institution does not fit easily into the evolving structure of South African universities. In the early days during our preparatory discussions suspicions were expressed by some departmental officials and the senior staff of some South African universities that Monash would become a vast, rich, predatory institution attracting all the best students and all the best staff at inflated salaries to a range of high fee, popular courses.

The then Australian High Commissioner, senior staff of the University and, since the establishment of the campus, the Pro Vice-Chancellor and his staff in South Africa, have all spent a good deal of time pointing out that our progress will be slow and steady, as in Malaysia. It was further stressed that our financial planning would certainly not allow us to pay salaries above those broadly obtaining in other South African universities.

Monash will strive to develop sound working relations with Department of Education officials, contribute to debate about the evolving higher education system, and strengthen working associations with a wide range of government departments. We shall continue to act scrupulously within the terms and conditions of our registration and, in turn, attempt to gain the solid trust of all those who recognise the contribution that Monash can make to the higher education system of South Africa.

The support, advice and active involvement of the senior and distinguished members of the newly established Advisory Council for Monash South Africa will be particularly important. Our position in Malaysia has gradually strengthened over three years to the point where we are taken for granted as part of that country’s higher education system by both institutions and government. It may take rather longer in South Africa but we will take all steps to achieve that position.

Changes in the educational policy environment have impacted on student enrolments in this our first intake, which itself is a year ahead of the original plan. Professor Anderson’s report indicates the constraints on the size of the pool of students in South African from whom Monash can draw suitably prepared candidates. The revised financial projections, indicate enrolment figures for the coming decade against those presented in the original project proposal.

Activities which Professor Anderson has put in train to ensure that our revised student number targets are achieved include:

• university-wide marketing and recruitment from outside South Africa, in which Monash International will play a key role
• extensive school liaison work in South Africa by the Pro Vice-Chancellor and his staff
• the development of Monash access programs in Southern Africa which will lead to well-prepared students for Monash’s South African and other campuses
• the construction of student residential accommodation – the first phase beginning next month, which is essential for many potential students from both inside and outside South Africa
• discussions with other African governments about Monash South Africa as a destination of choice for scholarship students, at significantly less cost than sending them to North America or Western Europe, and
• preparation for the expansion of the undergraduate course profile and the introduction of appropriate postgraduate programs.

These measures, together with the benefits which will come from the gradual acceptance of Monash and the growing attractiveness of the campus and its environment as other related activities develop and important support facilities are constructed by others on adjacent sites, will enable us to expand our numbers in a steady and sustainable way.

Council, at its meeting 5/1999, was well aware that security would be an important issue for Monash South Africa. As the Pro Vice-Chancellor indicates in his report ‘feedback from parents, schools and students outside the Gauteng Province indicates clearly that there is concern about safety of students in the Johannesburg region. People are more accepting of our location when they understand that it is on the West Rand and some distance from the centre of the city’.

From the earliest designs to the construction of the campus, providing a safe and secure environment was a key consideration. A carefully specified and comprehensive electronic security system has been installed and, in light of experience and the practice of other organisations, the number of security staff present on the campus at all times has been increased from those indicated in the initial project proposal. The Pro Vice-Chancellor reports that those who visit the campus, both from Australia and from other parts of South Africa, comment on the strong sense they gain of ‘a secure and relaxed atmosphere’.

The location of the campus in the major growth corridor between Johannesburg and Pretoria, together with the development in the surrounding locality of high quality residential, commercial, sporting and other facilities, add to the sense of security and normality. Advice to staff both on campus and those who visit it is based on that provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It is currently being reviewed in light of the first few months experience.

Each of the three issues if not managed properly will have an impact on the viability of the campus both academically and financially. Clearly, the key tasks must be performed by those who have responsibility for marketing, recruitment, campus management, governmental relations etc on the ground. But, in addition, university-wide procedures will ensure that these issues and others are monitored and responded to effectively.

Like all parts of the university, Monash South Africa will be subject to overall and sectional audits conducted by the division of Audit & Risk Management. Similarly, the recently instituted Crisis Management Plan which operates across the University as a whole will, over the coming months, be focused at sub-university level, and campuses in particular, beginning with Caulfield and South Africa. Council will, of course, remember that the original project proposal – which was described at the time as one of the best project proposals that many Council members had ever seen – contained an exit strategy which, if it ever became necessary for the University to implement, is still appropriate.

Clearly, exit would be an action of absolutely last resort. Monash South Africa is, as we agreed when the proposal was originally approved, a long term development. It is probably the activity which is most defining of the Monash were are trying to create by 2020. It signals not merely that we are moving out of our own region, but it more importantly signals a commitment to the advancement of higher education world-wide and the University’s service to the broader international community. If Monash University does not make such a statement about itself, given its history and agreed strategic direction, then it is difficult to understand which university would do so. It will be a testing time, but the benefits for South Africa and for Monash are immense. As the Chancellor said recently at Resources and Finance Committee, it will not be easy, ‘but we must not scare ourselves to death’.

Professor David Robinson

Vice-Chancellor and President

31 July 2001

On February 1 2001, the Minister for Post Compulsory Education, Training and Employment, approved Statute 6.1.2 – Courses and Degrees (Amendment No. 3 2000).

The intent of this amendment was to delegate to faculty boards the full power and responsibility to prescribe the awards of the university that may be conferred on students and to prescribe the requirements of courses of study. To complete the transfer to faculty boards of the power to prescribe awards of the university requires a three-step implementation process:

(i) Initial amendment of Statute 6.1.2 ( completed – see above).

(ii) Each faculty board must then make regulations prescribing the awards that come within their field of responsibility. Drafts of the necessary regulations, prepared by the University Solicitor’s Office, were sent to each faculty on 15 March 2001.

(iii) Once all faculty boards have made their respective regulations a further amendment of Statute 6.1.2, repealing sections 1 and 2, must be made by Council. This will repeal the previous Council approved list of awards and immediately replace it with the regulations made by each faculty board. The outcome will be to move the listing of University awards from Statute 6.1.2 – Courses and Degrees to regulations made under that statute by the faculty boards.

Once a faculty board’s initial award regulations come into force, the faculty board may make appropriate amendments to their award listing regulations without further reference to Academic Board and Council.

• Award regulations have been made by the faculty boards of Science, Engineering and Information Technology and sent to the Solicitor’s Office for promulgation.

• The Solicitor’s Office has been told that the faculty boards of Arts, Business & Economics and Law have made their award regulations but are yet to send in their official promulgation copies.

• The Board of the Victorian College of Pharmacy will be asked to make their award regulations at its next meeting on 12 September 2001.

• Progress reports have today been requested from the Faculties of Art & Design, Education and Medicine.

• The University Solicitor will be attending the next meeting of the faculty managers/registrars/heads of administration, on 24 August 2001, and will offer assistance to any faculty needing it to complete the award regulation making process.

• Once every faculty board has made its award regulations and these regulations have been promulgated, Council will be asked to make a statute repealing sections 1 and 2 of Statute 6.1.2 – Courses and Degrees, and the devolution to faculty boards of authority to make regulations prescribing their own awards will be complete.

Renn Wortley Tony Calder

University Solicitor Director

Secretariat and Executive Services

15 August 2001