Administrative Heads Group Meeting 1-2004

Meeting 1/2004 of the Administrative Heads Group commenced at 8.30am on Thursday, 12 February, 2004 in the Council Room, 1^st Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Messrs P Barton, R Burnet, T Calder, Ms A Crook, Ms K Dan, Mr J Du Ve, Ms H Dunne, Messrs C Flynn, S Funnell, Ms J Gaffey, Ms M Hellyer, Mrs P Herman, Ms C Ho, Mr K Hobbs, Professor R Larkins, Mr P Lawford, Ms A Lazar, Messrs A McMeekin, G Murray, R Newham, R Palin, Professor S Parker, Messrs A Picouleau, V Prpich, R Sawyer, S Scroggie, D Secomb, Ms B Shields, Ms S Stafford, Mr N Thorburn, Ms S Wales, Professor G Webb, Mr P Yates and Ms J Zahmel.

Professor G Bouma, Professor A Lindsay, Mr B Allardice, Mr J Chorowicz, Mr R Coventry, Mr S Davey, Professor M Evans, Professor J Harris, Ms J Kemp, Ms G Key, Ms M Mannays, Mr T Pollock, and Professor P Steele.

The Minutes of Meeting 6/2003 of the Administrative Heads Group, held Thursday, 27 November 2003, were confirmed subject to the following amendments:

4.1.1.3 Monash University South Africa

Members noted advice from the Vice Chancellor that Mr David Gilmour, formerly of Boston Consulting Group,…..

5.2 Senior Management Committee – Committee of Deans

the second sentence to read:

The Committee could be retitled Senior Management Committee with the membership expanded by approximately ten extra people.

Professor Larkins informed members of the following committee structure:

• Senior Management Committee – would include membership of senior academic and administrative staff. The committee would provide advice and direction on a range of policy and cross-portfolio matters.

• Committee of Deans – a more informal group where emerging ideas and strategies would be discussed.

Professor Larkins provided members with an overview of the major modifications to the initial Bill. These included:

• the maximum student contribution rate was set at 25% above the present rate rather than the initially proposed 30%;

• the maximum level of fee paying domestic undergraduate places was set at 35% rather than 50%;

• enterprise agreements may include, rather than must include, the ability for a university to enter into Australian Workplace Agreements;

• amendments to the proposed governance protocols;

• the threshold for repayment of HECS debt was set at $35,000;

• increased number of additional student places; and

• reductions for over enrolment has been set at 105% of a university's allocation.

Professor Larkins informed members that a response to HESA would be considered at meeting 2/2004 of Council on 22 March 2004, however, a range of issues were still under consideration including access and equity measures and the taxation treatment of partial scholarships.

Professor Larkins informed members that Music Industry Piracy Investigations, a subsidiary of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), had obtained a court order (an Anton Pillar order) to search for evidence of copyright infringement at twelve Australian sites. The sites included Sharman Networks, owner of the KAZAA software, Telstra, Brilliant Digital Entertainment, University of Queensland, University of New South Wales, Monash University and others. 

Professor Parker advised members that Monash was required to provide access to the items detailed in the order, however, while not in any way condoning any breach of copyright, Monash was attempting to ensure that areas such as privacy were not breeched. 

Members were advised that a major funding campaign would be developed over the next twelve months.

A document was circulated

Following an outline of the committee structure and the Administrative Heads Group’s terms of reference, members were requested to forward any comments or suggestions to the Secretary.

A document was circulated.

Professor Larkins introduced the item and informed members that the purpose of the document was to provide a framework for the direction of the university over the next five years. Further, it would assist faculties and support/service areas develop their strategic plans.

Referring to the University Planning Conference, members were informed that the conference would be attended by 150 staff and students from a range of faculties and campuses. The major themes were Excellence and Diversity as well as discussion of Monash's response to HESA.

Members were invited to forward comments or suggestions on Excellence and Diversity to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor.

Professor Parker provided members with an overview of the planning cycle noting that Monash was developing an annual plan that was a snapshot of what the university aspired to achieve over the next 12 months. Further, members were advised that development of the 2005 annual plan would adopt a proactive approach and commence in the second half of 2004.

A document was circulated.

Members noted the advice of Professor Larkins on the senior management structure.

Mr Alan McMeekin provided members with an explanation of the causes of the recent network outages and the planned response to speed up the rollout of the new CISCO network.

Professor Larkins commended the level of service provided by IT staff particularly their efforts to stabilise the network and put in place a range of contingency plans.

In response to a question relating to Callista/Oracle, Mr Jeremy De Vu advised that a paper on the issue was being prepared.

The next scheduled meeting of the Administrative Heads Group 2/2004 will be held at 8.30a.m., on Thursday, April 8, 2004 in the Council Room.