Committee of Deans Meeting 12-1993

Meeting No. 12/93 of the Committee of Deans was held on Tuesday, 5 October 1993, in the Council Room, University Offices, at the Clayton campus, between 2.15 and 3.40 pm.

There were present:

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

Professor R.J. Pargetter, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Projects)

Professor P.LeP. Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor L.H.T. West, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International Programs)

Professor P.C. Chandler, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics

Professor J.L.C. Chipman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Gippsland)

Professor G.C. Clark, Acting Dean, Faculty of Arts

Professor J. Greig, Acting Dean, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology

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

Professor A.J. Duggan, Acting Dean, Faculty of Law

Professor M.E. Holman, Acting Dean, Faculty of Medicine

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

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

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

An apology was received from Professor I.W. Chubb.

In attendance were:

Professor R.McD. Anderson, Campus Director, Frankston

Ms O. Cornelius, Academic Registrar

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

M IN U T E S

91. Minutes

The minutes of Meeting No. 11/93 held on 14 September 1993, copies of which had been circulated, were confirmed and signed.

92. Matters Arising From the Minutes

No matters were raised from the minutes.

93. Report of the Vice-Chancellor

93.1 Stopwork Action - Academic Staff - 14 October 1993

The Vice-Chancellor advised Deans of the planned strike of academic staff which had been called in protest against an application by AHEIA to give Chief Executive Officers great authority to handle certain personnel matters relating to performance, conduct and redundancy. The responsibility of heads of departments, through Deans, to notify the Director, Industrial and Employee Relations, of academic staff absences on 14 October, was noted. Heads of departments who foresaw difficulties with such responsibility were to notify Deans, who were to advise the Vice-Chancellor accordingly.

93.2 Guidelines in respect of postgraduate courses for which institutions may charge fees from 1994

The Committee received a tabled draft document from DEET on the above IWC matter, and noted that, under the guidelines, fees to be charged for AP enrolment in 1994 in fee-paying courses were to be at least as high as RB the contributions made by HECS-liable students. TS

An accompanying tabled paper, showing the distribution of Australian fee high paying postgraduate load at metropolitan Monash in 1993 was noted, as was the fact that most such load was within funded load, whereas, at most other universities, it was outside funded load. The Vice-Chancellor expressed the view that the University must move towards transferring fee-paying postgraduate load to increase places within funded load.

93.3 The Future of the University

The Vice-Chancellor noted the strong undergraduate base that had MIL been achieved by the University and expressed the view that it was IWC now necessary for the University to consider carefully and RJP strategically its graduate programs and to consider the PLePD establishment of a major building as an `Institute of Advanced Studies, Monash' or similar, to operate in conjunction with the University's international activities. In the Vice-Chancellor's view, the University had the opportunity to build on its strong reputation in Asia.

With the support of the Deans, the Vice-Chancellor proposed to act quickly to develop the concept further, for prompt referral to the State Government.

93.4 Distribution of the `Student-aged' Population

The Committee received a tabled paper on the above matter and noted that the data presented showed that, in demographic terms, the recruitment age group was declining in the University's catchment area, indicating a possible decline in demand for places in future years.

93.5 Executive Report

Deans were briefed on matters discussed at meetings of the Executive on 20 September and 5 October 1993 as follows:

(i) the Vice-Chancellor was to continue to monitor meetings of the MIL Great 8 and would inform the Committee of developments; (ii) the Vice-Chancellor proposed a series of visits to MIL departments; (iii) the Committee noted that the two volumes comprising the LHW Quality Statement were to be distributed to Deans, and that a set of supporting documents would be made available to the Quality Assessment Committee when it visits the University.

94. Urgent Matters

No urgent matters were raised.

95. Research Matters

95.1 Ownership of Intellectual Property

The Committee noted that the AVCC document on the above matter had been distributed to Deans, as had a statement on higher education Deans research infrastructure.

95.2 Research Management Policy and CADRES Statute

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) advised that the draft PLePD documents on the above matters had received general acceptance and were now to be finalised.

96. Divisional Administrative Reports

The Committee noted reports received from divisions, the University Librarian and the Director of the Computer Centre (D37/93-D43/93). A tabled paper, an adjunct to the report from the Director, Financial Services, detailed comparative faculty expenditure as at 30 September 1993.

97. Report on Open Learning Agency of Australia Pty Ltd

The Committee noted the report from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Projects) (D44/93) on the above matter, and in particular the impact of Open Learning on the University, its participation in the provision of subjects and the establishment of degree pathways, and complimented the fullness of the report and the achievements of Open Learning in relation to targets. The advice of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Gippsland) concerning the graduate open learning program established by Wollongong University, in conjunction with SBS, was noted.

98. Interim Report on Graduation Ceremonies

98.1 Recommendations

The Committee received the report from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Projects) (D45/93) on the above matter, and gave general endorsement to the recommendations therein relating to pre-ceremony organisation and ceremonial and post-ceremonial matters.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Projects) agreed to give RJP further consideration to a suggestion that, in addition to including ICG a short synopsis of Ph.D. theses in programs, a brief statement on each thesis should be read out by presenters at ceremonies.

98.2 Suggestions for further consideration

With regard to suggestions for further consideration, as detailed RJP in the report, the Committee agreed; ICG

(i) that the playing of the national anthem at the close of ceremonies be trialled and subsequently reviewed;
(ii) that closed-circuit television screening of close-ups of graduands receiving awards be trialled and subsequently reviewed;
(iii) that the proposed procedure whereby the Dean's nominee was to read graduands' names, and graduands were to receive testamurs from the Chancellor and shake hands with the Dean, be trialled for two ceremonies and subsequently reviewed;
(iv) that a formula for dismissal/closure be developed. The Committee's input was to be referred to the Working Group.

99. Academic Performance of 1992 School Leavers

A report from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Projects) (D46/93) was noted.

100. Professor/Director of Palliative Care

A recommendation from the Board of the Faculty of Medicine for the OC establishment of an externally-funded position of Professor/Director BM of Palliative Care at Monash Medical Centre was approved (D47/93).

101. Appointments

The Vice-Chancellor agreed to bring forward to a future meeting a MIL nomination of a Dean to succeed Professor Freebairn on Council's Personal Chairs Committee under the category of `Two Deans'.

102. Misdirected Facsimile Transmissions

The Committee considered advice from the University Solicitor (D48/93) concerning procedures to address the problem of misdirected confidential facsimile transmissions. The Committee was of the view that the issue could appropriately be addressed by including the following statement on cover sheets of confidential facsimile transmissions:

The contents of this facsimile (including attachments) are SB confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the addressee please destroy the document.

103. 1994 Meeting Dates

Proposed meeting dates for 1994 were approved, with meetings held OC prior to Academic Board to commence at 12.00 noon as detailed below. Deans

Tues 18 January 2.15 pm
Wed 02 February (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 22February 2.15 pm
Wed 16 March (AB) 12.00 noon
Wed 06 April (Easter)2.15 pm
Wed 04 May (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 24 May 2.15 pm
Wed 08 June (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 28 June 2.15 pm
Wed 20 July (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 09 August 2.15 pm
Wed 31 August (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 20 September 2.15 pm
Wed 12 October (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 01 November 2.15 pm
Wed 23 November (AB) 12.00 noon
Tues 13 December 2.15 pm

104 Other Business

No other items of business were raised.

Next Meeting It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled to be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 26 October 1993, at the Faculty of Engineering, Clayton campus.

The foreshadowed absence of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) from that meeting was noted.