Meeting 6/2001 of the Administrative Heads Group was held between 8.30 and 9:25am on Thursday, 22 November 2001 in the Council Room, 1^st Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Apologies were received for this meeting from Professor P Darvall - Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (Research and Development), Professor A Lindsay – Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic and Planning), Ms A Crook, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Resources), Professor B Mackenzie - Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland Campus, Mr P Marshall – Divisional Director, Student and Staff Services, Ms J Gaffey - Manager, Research Grants and Ethics Branch, Ms M Jackson - Executive Director, Marketing and Public Affairs, Mr G Connell - Director, Audit and Risk Management, Mr T Calder - Director, Secretariat and Executive Services, Mrs P Herman – Manager, Monash Research Graduate School, Mr D Secomb - Head of Administration, Faculty of Engineering and Mr A Patterson, Faculty Manager, Faculty of Law.

Ms G Hayes, Manager, Vice-Chancellor’s Office and Ms A Stanford, Media Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor and President, attended as observers.

The Vice-Chancellor welcomed new members Mr P Barton, Manager, OHS&E and Ms M Jackson, Executive Director, Marketing and Public Affairs, who was an apology for this meeting.

Professor Robinson also welcomed Professor S Parker, Dean, Faculty of Law and Chair of the Monash Institutional Self Review Team and Ms K Lock, Director of Communications, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), who were invited to the meeting for item 4.1.1, and Mr R Newham, Manager, Protocol & Special Events, who attended as an observer on behalf of Ms Jackson.

The Vice-Chancellor farewelled Professor Edward Lim, University Librarian, who would retire from the University at the end of 2001. Professor Robinson thanked Professor Lim for his exceptional contribution during his time at Monash noting that the university was underpinned by the excellence of the Library.

The minutes of Meeting 5/2001, held 4 October 2001, were confirmed.

The Chair advised about progress with matters raised at the previous meeting. Members noted that work involved with the Space Management Project was progressing. In relation to the presentation about OHS&E issues, members noted that the required responses on these matters had been received and that it had not been necessary to distribute a memorandum to senior managers as originally foreshadowed as the OH&S performance indicators were satisfactory.

The Vice-Chancellor introduced this item and informed members about the membership of the Monash Institutional Self Review Team, including Professor S Parker (Chair), Professors G Webb, J Sheridan and B Mackenzie, Ms K Lock and Ms F Roche.

Professor Parker informed members about the institutional Self Review, including its purpose, processes for gathering information, report production and validation, the organising framework and progress to date. Members noted Professor Parker’s advice about issues that had arisen including queries about what is meant by the terms ‘broad-based’ and ‘learning organisation’ that are included in ‘Leading the Way: Monash 2020’. Members noted further advice about the information found to date regarding the quality approaches of planning, monitoring, reviewing and improvement.

Ms Lock provided the Group with information about the visit to the South Africa campus for the Self Review, noting the importance of the interrelationship with Monash and the links with business, industry and commerce. Members noted Ms Lock’s advice that the staff at that campus felt well supported by Monash and were ready to contribute to the decision making processes of the university. Ms Lock also informed members about the highlights of the campus’ first year in operation.

Discussion occurred regarding the report that would be published about the review outcomes, the corporatisation of institutions globally as a suggested matter for consideration and the support for academic endeavour provided by support services.

The Vice-Chancellor thanked Professor Parker and Ms Lock for their presentation.

The draft ‘Global Development Framework’ and ‘Global Development Plan 2002-2006’ were circulated.

The Vice-Chancellor advised that the original ‘Global Development Framework’ had been divided into the ‘Global Development Framework’, which would be revised when it no longer informed the university’s move toward Monash 2020, and the ‘Global Development Plan 2002-2006’ which would be updated on the web as required. Additional detail about the university’s global activities would be elaborated in the Learning and Teaching Plan and the Research and Research Training Management Plan. Professor Robinson informed members about the people and committees that had considered the draft documentation to date and noted that the final versions would be presented to Meeting 8/2001 of Council on 17 December.

Discussion occurred and the following matters were noted:

The Vice-Chancellor thanked members for their input and invited further comments about the documentation to be forwarded to Mr Pollock by the following week.

The 2002 schedule for meetings was approved as set out below:

This item was added at the meeting.

Mr A Pollock, Executive Director, Office of International Affairs, thanked all those who had contributed to the recent ‘Auditor General Victoria: Performance Audit’ in relation to the impact of overseas student programs on opportunities for Victorian students, academic standards of universities and other related matters. The Audit had involved Monash University, the University of Melbourne and RMIT. Mr Pollock advised that the input provided throughout the university had been very helpful.

This item was added at the meeting.

Taking into account the number of proposals recently received by areas of the university for involvement with China, Mr Pollock informed members about the existing structure in place for engagement with that region that involved:

It was noted that more detail about Monash’s involvement in China was set out on page 35 and 36 of the agenda.

The next scheduled meeting of the Administrative Heads Group (1/02) will be held at 8.30am on Thursday, 14 February 2002 in the Council Room.