Committee of Deans Meeting 15-1992

Meeting No. 15/92 of the Committee of Deans was held on Tuesday, 6 October 1992, in the Faculty Room, B Block, Faculty of Medicine, at the Clayton campus, between 2.15 and 4.15 pm.

There were present:

Professor M.I. Logan, Vice-Chancellor, in the Chair

Professor R.J. Pargetter, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts

Professor R. Porter, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine

Professor L.H.T. West, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Internat'l Programs and Development)

Professor T. Kennedy, Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Professor P.C. Chandler, Dean, David Syme Faculty of Business

Professor C.J. Bellamy, Dean, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology

Professor W.A. Sinclair, Dean, Faculty of Economics Commerce and Management

Professor D.N. Aspin, Dean, Faculty of Education

Professor P.LeP. Darvall, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor C.R. Williams, Dean, Faculty of Law

Professor R.J. Snedden, Dean, Faculty of Professional Studies

Professor I.D. Rae, Dean, Faculty of Science

Professor C.B. Chapman, Dean, Victorian College of Pharmacy

In attendance were:

Mr A.L. Pritchard, Registrar

Mr P.B. Wade, Comptroller

Mr G.F. Neat, Executive Director, University Development

Ms C.E. Anderson, Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor

Mr M.D. Watson, Secretary

M I N U T E S

107. Minutes

The minutes of Meeting No. 14/92 held on 15 September, and of the special meetings held on 10 and 9 September, copies of which had been circulated, were confirmed and signed subject to the substitution of `any' for `the' in the third last line of item 97.6 in the minutes of Meeting No. 14/92.

108. Matters Arising From the Minutes

No matters were raised from the minutes.

109. Vice-Chancellor's Report

109.1 Deanship of the Combined Commerce Faculties

After briefing Deans on the action taken by Council in regard to his MIL proposal to bring together the Faculty of Economics Commerce and Management and the David Syme Faculty of Business, Professor Logan sought and gained the Committee's in principle agreement to advertise the Deanship of the merged faculty once the question of its name was settled.

109.2 Proposed New Malaysian Twinning Arrangement

Professor Logan informed Deans of a proposed new twinning arrangement being negotiated by the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology and a private financier in Malaysia. Professor Bellamy said it was planned for the institute that would be established to run the operation to have an overall enrolment of some 600 with about 100 per year coming on to Australia to complete their degrees at Monash.

In general terms, Professor Logan said he was increasingly coming to the view that twinning arrangements at the faculty level, with some locally-based coordination, was probably the way for Monash to go in Malaysia.

109.3 Executive Proceedings

The Committee briefly reviewed several items on the appended listing of topics discussed at meetings of the Executive on 17, 22, and 29 September.

109.4 1993 Operating Budget

The meeting discussed at length the underlying principles and funding constraints governing preparation of the University's 1993 operating budget, specifically in the context of the papers sent to Deans by the Vice-Chancellor on 29 September with indicative funding outcomes for their respective faculties. Professor Logan and Mr Wade listened to detailed comment from Deans on the impact that the indicative budget would have on their faculties and on the intra-faculty implications of the moderating `safety net' and `cushioning' provisions, it being noted that interviews were arranged for individual Deans to put their cases later in the week.

110. Urgent Matters

No urgent matters were raised.

111. Senior Remuneration Programs

The Committee noted and generally endorsed the provisions SEH contained in paper D61/92, consideration of which was deferred at the previous meeting. Professor Porter expressed the view that he would like to see more emphasis placed on the importance of performance assessment in the document.

112. Committee of Deans (Research)

Deans noted the appended minutes of the meeting of CADRES NHG held on 23 July, D60/92, consideration of which was deferred at the previous meeting, together with the memorandum of the Acting Chairman relating to item 2.3 of the minutes, D62/92. In regard to this memorandum, it was noted that the $21,000 mentioned therein would need to be found from central funds to complete the devolution of responsibility for CSIRO collaborative research to faculties and departments.

Deans also received and noted the appended minutes of the subsequent meeting of CADRES held on 20 August, D63/92.

113. Chair of Experimental Physics

Consideration of paper D64/92 was withdrawn at the request of Professor Rae.

114. 1993 Selection

The Committee discussed the selection of school leavers for RJP 1993 entry in the context of the uncertainties and community debate surrounding the Victorian Certificate of Education. It was generally agreed that the University should be seen to approach this task with care, objectivity, and consistency. Professor Pargetter said that selection officers would be fully briefed in this regard. He advised Deans that it would be prudent to broaden the band of the last selected students for which other than scoring criteria were open for consideration from 10 to around 20 per cent in order to cope with current exigencies. Some doubts were expressed about the capacity of VTAC to handle the selection process adequately, particularly in the event of one or more institutions making a significantly reduced number of first-round offers.

Next Meeting

It was noted that the next ordinary meeting of the Committee was scheduled to be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 27 October, in the Council Room at the Clayton campus.