Committee of Deans Meeting 14-1994
Meeting No 14/94 of the Committee of Deans was held on Tuesday 1 November
1994, in the Council Room, Clayton campus, between 2.15 and 5.15 pm.
There were present:
Professor I W Chubb, Acting Vice-Chancellor, in the Chair
Professor J L C Chipman, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Gippsland campus)
Professor P C Chandler, Pro Vice-Chancellor
Professor M Quartly, Dean, Faculty of Arts
Professor J A Rickard, Pro Vice-Chancellor & Dean, Faculty of Business &
Economics
Professor R T White, Dean, Faculty of Education
Professor W H Melbourne, Dean, Faculty of Engineering
Professor C R Williams, Dean, Faculty of Law
Professor R Porter, Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Professor P Stewart, for Dean and Director, Victorian College of Pharmacy
Professor J W Warren, Dean, Faculty of Science
Apologies were received from:
Professor M I Logan, Vice-Chancellor
In attendance were:
Mr P B Wade, General Manager
Ms O Cornelius, Academic Registrar
Ms C E Anderson, Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Mr P Summers, Policy Adviser
Observer:
Ms H Smith, SWAS
M I N U T E S
123. Minutes
The minutes of Meeting No 13/94 held on 12 October 1994, copies of which
had been circulated with the agenda, were confirmed and signed.
124. Matters arising from the Minutes not listed elsewhere in the
Agenda
124.1 Enterprise bargaining
The Acting Vice-Chancellor tabled, for discussion, a confidential
document.
During discussion, the Committee considered the matter of acting
appointments and agreed that heads of departments who were not professors
were not in future to be appointed as acting professors. The Acting Vice-
Chancellor advised that existing acting academic appointments were to be
reviewed; consideration was to be given to paying salaries of such staff in
accordance with their substantive level of appointment, with an allowance
payable while they were acting in a higher level position.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor undertook to report on developments in
relation to enterprise bargaining to the next meeting of the Committee.
125. Report of the Vice-Chancellor
125.1 Items discussed at the Vice-Chancellor's Executive Meetings
The Committee received and noted a tabled paper (D146/94) which listed
items discussed at meetings held on 19 and 25 October 1994.
126. Urgent Matters
126.1 Role of Campus Director
Professor Chandler raised the matter of the role of the campus director
in relation to that of a head of department with regard to allocation of
space at Caulfield campus.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor confirmed that deans were to consult with
campus directors on the availability of space when decisions were made which
had space implications e.g. a decision to transfer load or to accommodate
off-load students at a particular campus.
126.2 Library Fire
The General Manager advised the Committee that a fire which occurred in
the previous week in the old air-conditioning plant at the Main Library,
Clayton, had not caused any damage to books and had not impeded library
operations.
126.3 August Student Census
The General Manager advised that DEET had recently determined that fee-
paying higher degree by coursework students were only to be regarded as
outside load if the target load (as at the August census date) for HECS
liable students in that category was met. Where that target was not met,
such students were to be regarded as in-load, and the appropriate component
of their fee was to be regarded as an up-front HECS payment.
The General Manager suggested that consideration may need to be given to
strategies to address the problem, such as over-enrolment at the March
census date to achieve a target load in August, or boosting mid-year
enrolments. Noting that the Manager, Budgets, was discussing course fees
with deans as part of the budget planning process, the Acting
Vice-Chancellor advised that University course fees policy was to be
referred to the Committee for consideration at its next meeting, together
with information about targets, advice as to whether faculties should over
enrol in Semester 1 or take in students mid-year, and, in the latter case,
which faculties should have mid- year intakes.
126.4 Montech as Broker for Monash Courses
The Acting Vice-Chancellor outlined a proposal from Montech to sell
Monash courses to unsuccessful applicants for admission.
A paper providing more information was to be referred to the Committee
for consideration.
127. Research Matters
No items were raised.
128. Divisional Administrative Reports
128.1 Report of the University Librarian - Distribution of the
Acquisitions Budget
The Dean, Faculty of Arts, sought clarification of the report on this
matter (D142/94, p41) with particular regard to the statement "(b) to
substitute the average cost of books and periodicals with the total cost of
US books and periodicals".
The Acting Vice-Chancellor advised that further information would be
presented to the next meeting of the Committee.
128.2 Faculty/Administrative Division Reviews 1995-1996
The Committee noted that the schedule of internal reviews presented
(D144/94, p4) may require review in the light of review procedures currently
being drafted.
Draft procedures were to be referred to the Committee for consideration
in due course.
128.3 Divisional Administrative Reports
The General Manager advised that he would refer to the next meeting of
the Committee a proposed schedule of reports to the Committee in 1995. He
suggested that it may be appropriate for the Committee to receive one
divisional report at every second meeting.
(File 94/1078)
129. Other Business
129.1 Tenure Ratios
The Committee received a tabled paper (D147/94). The Acting
Vice-Chancellor advised that negotiations on the matter were continuing with
the Union; he would report on progress to the next meeting of the Committee,
when the matter was to be discussed further and strategies identified.
129.2 Procedural Matters
129.2.1 Academic Developments
The Committee considered its determination of Meeting No. 10/80, minute
54.1 concerning referral of course proposals/changes to the Committee and,
in the light of the establishment and role of the Education Committee and of
current practice, rescinded the determination.
(File 94/1138 & 91/0169)
129.2.2 Chair Appointments
The Committee considered its determination of Meeting No. 6/91, Minute
62, concerning the process of approval for the establishment of chairs, and
agreed that such proposals were to be referred to the Academic Board by the
dean of the faculty concerned, having been first considered/discussed by the
Committee of Deans.
(File 92/1434)
129.3 Review of Staff Selection and Associated Policies and Procedures
The Committee considered proposals on the above matter, the following
suggestions being put forward:
(i) Faculty Promotions Committees to also consider applications for
tenure; procedures to provide for:
the Dean to assess and determine the continuing need for the contract
position concerned, and the nature of the expertise if required;
if a continuing need was identified with similar expertise, then the
incumbent may apply for tenure;
if the incumbent's application for conversion to tenure is unsuccessful,
then he/she may complete the term of his/her contract;
the position must then be advertised.
(ii) Provision to be made for renewable term appointments for some senior
administrative positions, especially for positions of divisional director;
(iii) Provision to be made for the term of appointment to the position of
General Manager to be five to seven years, in line with terms proposed for
DVCs and PVCs.
Members were invited to refer suggested amendments to the Director,
Personnel Services; an amended document was to be referred to the Committee
for further consideration at its next meeting and subsequent referral to the
Academic Board.
(File 92/0183)
130. Next Meeting
The Committee noted that the next meeting of the Committee was scheduled
for 12 noon on Wednesday 23 November 1994 in the James McNeill Room, Clayton
campus.
Distribution:
Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Pro Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager
Director, University Development
Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Dean, Business and Economics General Manager, OLA
Director, Administrative Divisions Registrar, Victorian College of
Pharmacy
University Librarian Assistant to Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Director, Computer Centre Special Projects Officer
Policy and Legal Counsel Managers, Administrative Branches
Policy & Planning Directorate (2) Faculty Registrars
Director, Administration, Gippsland Personnel Branch
Director, Centre for International Students SWAS Members
Director, Professional Development Centre
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