Administrative Heads Group Meeting 2-2004

Meeting 2/2004 of the Administrative Heads Group commenced at 8.30am on Thursday, 8 April, 2004 in the Council Room, 1^st Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Messrs P Barton, R Burnet, T Calder, J Chorowicz, Ms M Clarke, Professor E Cornish, Ms A Crook, Ms J Dixon,, Ms H Dunne, Mr S Funnell, Ms J Gaffey, Mr D Gregg, Mrs P Herman, Ms J Holt, Ms G Key, Professor R Larkins, Mr P Lawford, Ms M Mannays, Ms J McLachlan, Mr G Murray, Ms B Naidoo, Mr R Newham, Professor S Parker, Messrs V Prpich, B Ruck, R Sawyer, D Secomb, Ms S Stafford, Mr N Thorburn, Ms S Trembath-Hastings, Ms S Wales, Ms J White and Mr P Yates.

Mr R Coventry, Mr J Du Ve, Professor J Harris, Ms C Ho, Ms J Kemp, Professor A Lindsay, Mr P Marshall, Mr A Picouleau, Mr C Powell and Professor P Steele.

The Minutes of Meeting 1/2004 of the Administrative Heads Group, held Thursday, 12 February 2004, were confirmed subject to the following amendment:

4.3 Excellence and Diversity – Strategic Framework 2004-2008 and the University Planning Conference.

The first line of the second paragraph to read:

Referring to the University Planning Conference, members were informed that the conference would be attended….

Professor Larkins provided members with a summary of the recommendations presented to Council as follows:

1. The Student Contribution Amount (SCA) fee be set at the maximum level allowed however lower SCA fee levels may be set for some courses conducted at outer urban and regional campuses.

2. Fee paying domestic undergraduate student limit be raised to 35% of the course load (Medicine-prescribed limit of 10%).

Fee paying places would only be available where adequate facilities were in place and students would require an ENTER score within 5 percentile points of the lowest students accepted via the normal pathway.

3. 20% of the income raised by the new provisions would be targeted towards an increased number of current equity and merit scholarships, including indigenous programs and a new pathway program specifically targeted towards students from low socio-economic and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds.

Noting that misinformation about the conduct of the Council meeting was being disseminated by a number of sources, Professor Larkins informed members that due to the student protest, security staff evacuated all staff from building 3a and relocated Council members to an alternate location on Clayton Campus. An unfortunate outcome of this was that the fifteen students previously granted observer status were unable to attend.

The Council meeting was convened at the alternate location however advice was received from the Victoria Police that the meeting should conclude immediately as due to the ongoing student protest the safety of staff, police and building 3a could not be assured while the Council continued to meet.

Given the advice received from the police, who had operational control over proceedings relating to the student protest, the views of Council members were sought on whether discussion and debate would affect the outcome and the recommended resolution.

Following a short discussion, the recommendation was put to a vote and carried by a majority of members present.

Since the meeting of Council, two occupations of university buildings had occurred in a campaign to disrupt the operations of the university. The disruption being largely orchestrated by the persons aligned with the National Union of Students with willing support from a small number of Monash students.

Subsequent to the Council meeting, one Council member resigned however Council members had since met to discuss the events surrounding their decision and restated their support for the decision taken at the meeting.

Members were advised that two issues still unresolved were:

1. How to further develop and implement the equity measures funded by the 20% of additional revenue. Members were informed that a Working Group, convened by the Vice-Chancellor with membership consisting of Professor C Browne (Academic Board), Professor M Evans and Professor S Willis met and would further develop the options recommended by the Pricing, Positioning and Equity Working Party.

2. Courses that would be exempted from the fee increase based around outer urban and regional campuses. Professor Parker would progress this matter and integrate the process with the campus planning process. 

Further, members were advised that the remaining 80% of increased revenue would be earmarked for improved educational outcomes and/or improved services to students in areas such as improved student/staff ratios, IT resources, the library, counselling, and Language and Learning services. 

Concluding the item, Professor Larkins informed members that a forum for staff and students would be held on 28 April. 

Members were informed that the penultimate version of the review report had been received from Mr David Gilmour however several issues required further development before a report on the campus was presented to Council. 

Matters brought to the attention of members included an improved financial performance by the campus in 2003 qualified by favourable movements in exchange rates, an improved enrolment level however still lower than projected in the initial business plan, a continued reduction in the level of deficit and the increased land value of the campus.

Professor Parker outlined to members the events of 7 April 2004 where approximately 50 students occupied some administrative offices in Building 73, Monash International. While half the students voted to leave the occupation midway through the afternoon, the remainder continued with the occupation until 6pm when police ordered the students to leave.

During the occupation, three staff had to be escorted from their offices by police, a file was thrown out of a window to a waiting student who attempted to drive off with the file and other students attempted to smuggle out files as they were removed.

During discussion a number of issues were raised including:

• the need to take prudent precautions in relation to files in administrative workplaces;

• the possibility of having bail conditions placed on any student charged over the incident;

• the effect this type of activity is having on the morale of staff and students;

• as the techniques of the protesting students included setting off fire alarms, this may cause staff and/or students to begin to disregard warning systems;

• the possibility of similar student protests occurring on other campuses;

• the availability of Counselling services for students and staff involved in incidents; and

• the need to take appropriate action against protestors in order to ensure the safety of staff and students.

Members were informed that the conference had focussed on two major themes being:

(i) Excellence and Diversity – Strategic Framework 2004-2008

(ii) Higher Education Support Act (2003) with discussion assisted by Mr David Phillips

A planning conference would be held each year to discuss the annual plan and one other special theme. Attendees would include a cross section of staff and students and from across campuses.

A priority for each year would be the development of an Annual Plan that outlines the major university-wide objectives for the coming year. A planning conference would be held each year in February/March at which attendees would provide a range of inputs to the plan.

Members were invited to refer to the following url:

http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/paa/planningconference2004/ 

Professor Parker informed members that the International Self Review panel had met this week.

Members were invited to note that the Terms of Reference for the review would be published on the CHEQ website. Further, members were advised that the AUQA audit of Monash would not occur until 2006 or possibly early 2007.

Professor Cornish, attending her first meeting of the Administrative Heads Group, informed members that she was honoured to have been appointed to the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Monash and looked forward to contributing to progressing the research activities at Monash.

Outlining some of the short term objectives for the research portfolio, Professor Cornish advised that a review of the support mechanisms that underpin the research activities would be undertaken as would a view of the relevance and strategies of the current Research and Research Training Management Plan.

Members were advised that the release of the report had been delayed until after the Easter break.

Professor Larkins invited members to contribute creative suggestions for inclusion on the agenda particularly those that encouraged greater interaction and involvement of members during the meeting.

A member suggested that each meeting include two presentations, of approximately 5 minutes duration, outlining recent developments in a particular area/faculty.

Suggestions included:

• Areas that had undertaken a quality review
• Occupational Health, Safety and Environment.

Members were invited to contact the Secretary with further suggestions.

The next scheduled meeting of the Administrative Heads Group 3/2004 will be held at 8.30a.m., on Thursday 27 May, 2004 in the Council Room.