Meeting 6/2002 of the Administrative Heads Group was held between 8.30am and 9:15am on Thursday, 28 November 2002 in the Council Room, Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Apologies were received from Ms J Gaffey – Manager, Research Grants and Ethics Branch, Mr R Wortley – University Solicitor, Ms J White – Faculty Manager, Pharmacy, Mr A McMeekin – Executive Director, Information Technology Services, and Mr T Calder – Director, Secretariat and Executive Services.

On behalf of the Administrative Heads Group, the Vice-Chancellor welcomed new member Ms Chooi-Hon Ho – Director, Corporate Services and Development, Library, who would attend the Group as the member from the Library in place of the University Librarian.

Ms Jill Dixon - Quality Advisor, CHEQ, and Mr Reynold Dias – Deputy Director, Financial Resources Management, were invited and attended the meeting.

The Minutes of Meeting 5/2002, held 10 October 2002, were confirmed.

There were no matters arising.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor P Darvall, paid tribute to all those who were involved and assisted with the tragic events of 21 October at the Clayton campus, including counsellors, social workers, Chaplains, the Health Services, Security, and many other areas and individuals.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development), Professor Gary Bouma, informed members that the university was entering the next round of ARC applications, following the recent lodgement of Linkage grant applications.

Professor Alan Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning), advised members about the recent approval of the ‘Learning and Teaching Plan 2003-2005 (LTP)’, and thanked those who had been involved with consultation about its revision and refinement. Professor Lindsay advised that the approved version had been considerably condensed and would provide a manageable set of strategies for implementation. The revised Plan would be implemented via the Education Committee, faculties, departments and programs, taking into account the available resources from faculty plans and teaching and learning funds that had been accumulated over the last three years to support implementation of the Plan.

Documentation was circulated.

Professor Graham Webb - Director, Centre for Higher Education Quality (CHEQ), informed members about the ‘Monash Experience Questionnaire (MEQ)’ that had recently been endorsed by the Academic Board. The MEQ was developed for completion by current undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students as a means to monitor and improve the student experience. Professor Webb provided an overview of the key sections of the MEQ, noting that some modification would be done prior to its administration in 2003, and invited feedback from members about the survey. Ms Jill Dixon - Quality Advisor, CHEQ, provided detail in relation to the support services aspects of the MEQ and the additional, more detailed, survey of this area that was under development.

In response to a query from Ms Chooi-Hon Ho, Ms Dixon advised about the questions in the MEQ applicable to the Library, and noted that further relevant questions were being identified in consultation with the Library for inclusion in the later support services survey.

The Vice-Chancellor encouraged members to provide feedback to Professor Webb or Ms Dixon regarding the MEQ.

Members noted the Chair’s advice that this item had been deferred until a later meeting.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), Ms Alison Crook, invited questions from members about the ‘Budget 2003’.

Discussion occurred regarding aspects of the Budget such as the financial position of the university in comparison to other institutions and organisations. Although, as with other institutions, the university would require cautious budgeting during this period of reduced investment revenue, it was noted that the university was in a reasonable position.

A document was circulated.

Ms Alison Crook, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources), informed members about current campus developments. Further to the detail outlined in the paper presented, Ms Crook highlighted recent progress with developments on several campuses including:

The Group confirmed the schedule for 2003 meetings below.

*All meetings are held at 8:30 am in the Council Room, 1^st floor of Administration Building 3A, Clayton campus.

On behalf of the Group, the Vice-Chancellor farewelled and thanked Mr John White, who would retire from the university in December, and Dr Kristina Macrae, who would soon move to London to take up a new position at the Monash London Centre, for their tremendous efforts as administrative heads of the university.

The Vice-Chancellor noted Mr White’s distinguished career at Monash since 1966, commencing as lecturer in computing at the Caulfield Institute of Technology, and including several positions such as Deputy General Manager following the merger with Monash, and Campus Director of Caulfield and Peninsula since 1997.

Professor Darvall congratulated Dr Macrae on her recent appointment to the position of Manager of the Monash Centre in London, predicting great benefits of the appointment for the work of the Centre and for strengthening the university’s appeal to potential students via that office.

Meeting 1/2003 will be held at 8:30am on Thursday, 13 February 2003, in the Council Room, 1^st floor of Administration Building 3A, Clayton campus.