Administrative Heads Group Meeting 5-2004

Meeting 5/2004 of the Administrative Heads Group commenced at 8.30am on Thursday, 25 November, 2004 in the Council Room, 1^st Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton campus.

Mr J Chorowicz, Mr R Coventry, Ms P Daroesman, Ms J Dixon, Mr J Du Ve, Ms H Dunne, Ms A Fletcher, Mr C Flynn, Ms B Fortington, Mr S Funnell, Ms S Gleeson, Mr D Gregg, Ms M Harris, Mrs P Herman, Ms J Holt, Ms J Houge, Ms G Key, Professor D Kirkpatrick, Professor R Larkins, Mr P Lawford, Professor A Lindsay, Ms M Mannays, Ms J McLachlan, Mr G Murray, Ms B Naidoo, Ms M O’Shea, Mr R Palin, Professor S Parker, Mr A Picouleau, Mr V Prpich, Mr R Sawyer, Mr S Scroggie, Mr D Secomb, Ms B Shields, Ms S Stafford, Mr N Thorburn, Ms S Wales, Professor G Webb, Ms J White, and Mr P Yates.

Professor Edwina Cornish, Ms Alison Crook, Professor Alan Lindsay, Ms Sally Stafford and Ms Jennifer Vero.

• Mr Bernd Aberle, Director, Business Operations, Faculty of Information Technology

• Mr Jeffrey Smart, Director, Marketing, Marketing and Public Affairs, for item 4.2.3

The Minutes of Meeting 4/2004, held on 12 August 2004, were confirmed.

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

Professor Larkins addressed the meeting on several items of current interest:

Enterprise Bargaining

Members were advised that negotiations continued, and that resolution of the NTEU ban on release of students’ results was being attempted. In the event that resolution was not possible, staff would be notified of arrangements to be implemented.

The Federal Minister for Education, Dr Brendan Nelson, recently addressed the AVCC on a range of topical issues, including voluntary student unionism, workplace relations matters, the need for differentiation in the tertiary sector and the potential for the Commonwealth to assume greater control of the sector via change to universities’ regulatory regimes.

Members were advised that the Victorian Rhodes Scholarship had been awarded for the fourth successive year to a Monash student, Ms Farnaz Sabet (final-year year medicine).

Members were also advised that Mr Hugh Evans (the current Young Australian of the Year and founder of Oaktree International) had been voted one of twelve outstanding young people in the world by the Junior Chamber International.

The meeting was advised that the budget process was complete and though a challenging process, had been undertaken in a spirit of collegiality. The necessity of achieving a 4% surplus (a requirement for borrowing to fund capital works investment) was also emphasised.

Members were also provided with an update on Callista developments.

Professor Parker spoke to the consultation draft Monash Directions 2025 (Attachment 3) and indicated that the statement represented the culmination of work undertaken to replace the Leading the Way and Global Development Framework documents with a more streamlined statement of the university’s long-term directions.

In describing the development process, Professor Parker explained that:

• The document attempted to take account of input obtained from consultation with key sections of the Monash community.
• The document would be placed on the agenda for the February meeting of Council for final approval.
• A number of features distinguished this from previous documents, including:
• The prioritising of research.
• Downplaying explicit commitment to becoming a global university.
• Powerful commitment to equity.

It was intended that the statement sit at the apex of the planning pyramid and filter down though all other planning documents. The planning system was intended to be less voluminous and capable of revision in a systematic way.

Professor Parker led the meeting through a description of the statement, and responded to questions and comments:

• The reference to "curriculum plan" (in the planning pyramid) referred to the need to focus on those disciplines that Monash would offer and be known for. To that extent, reference to "discipline profile" might also be appropriate.
• The apparent "on campus" focus was intended to send the message that, at the undergraduate level, Monash was not a "virtual university". Monash aimed to become known for offering a quality "on campus" experience, where technology was a support, rather than driver.
• A number of processes were underway through which cultural differences would be taken into account in developing learning and assessment methodologies.
• Although a number of references implicitly recognised the establishment of linkages with industry (e.g. "in the world", "employability of graduates") it might be necessary to make such reference explicit.

Although resources would be allocated selectively and strategically, further funds would be required for expansion. This in turn would require a significant development project. However, a clear, communicable, exciting mission was the key step in driving such a project.

Professor Parker spoke to the 2004 University-wide Performance Indicators Report (Attachment 5) and commented that:

• The Report followed the new format of reporting against Sector Wide Performance Indicators and Internal Performance Indicators.
• The 2025 Statement would enable focus on those items of importance in the performance indicators and thus provide purpose to the collection of information.

Professor Parker also noted that the Setting Targets document (Attachment 6), which had been endorsed by Council at its last meeting, represented the first attempt to identify targets in relation to strategic priorities.

4.2.1.3 2005 Annual Plan

In speaking to the draft Plan for 2005 (Attachment 8), Professor Parker explained that the impetus for the annual planning process was multi-directional. He also observed that the contents of annual plans would be derived from several sources:

• The Annual Planning Conference of the previous year.
• Existing plans.
• New developments e.g. introduction of new legislation.

It was anticipated that, following the Annual Planning Conference, Faculty/Divisional Plans would be developed, to be brought before VCG mid-year.

In discussion, Professor Larkins emphasised that the document attempted to define university-wide priorities for the year and therefore did not conflict with statements such as 2025.

Professor Graham Webb reported on the introduction of the AUQA audit process and Monash’s preparations for the forthcoming AUQA audit (Attachment 9). He explained that three audit-readiness issues for Monash had been identified early in the planning process:

No agreed approach to quality.

Limited compliance with existing university policy on review.

No institutional review upon which to base future improvements.

Action had therefore been taken to redress the perceived weaknesses, culminating in the institutional self-review Still Learning, with implementation of outcomes ongoing to date.

A major self-review recommendation had been the establishment in 2002 of the QDC to oversee quality issues at Monash – this group was renamed the VCG (Q) in 2004.

Professor Webb indicated that the audit of Monash was expected to occur in 2006, and outlined the anticipated timeline of audit events.

In response to questions from the Group, Professor Larkins observed that:

The impending AUQA audit represented an opportunity to expedite implementation of previously identified improvements.

Notwithstanding the audit, implementation of a research assessment exercise was still likely during the life of the current Government.

Mr Jeffrey Smart, Director, Marketing spoke briefly to the Brand Benchmark Report (Attachment 10) and Brand Benchmark tracking study, focussing particularly on key findings and the brand map. He explained that:

The brand benchmark represented a differentiation of institutional attributes.

Monash "owned" the international "space"; Melbourne "owned" the tradition and prestige "space".

Between Melbourne and Monash, there was equal association of, and thus potential for contestability of, attributes.

RMIT, Deakin and Swinburne were largely undifferentiated, though generally perceived as flexible, innovative and modern.

Challenges included drawing the research and innovation attributes closer to Monash.

There were no items of business raised by members.

The next meeting of the Administrative Heads Group (Meeting 1/2005) is scheduled for 8.30 a.m. Thursday 3 February 2005 in the Council Room (Clayton campus).