Committee of Deans Meeting 1-1996
Meeting No. 1/96 of the Committee of Deans was held between 2.15 pm and
4.40 pm on Tuesday, 30 January 1996 in The Sir George Lush Room, Ground
Floor, University Offices 3.1, Clayton Campus.
Janice H Newham
jahn
Secretary
96/0043
There were present:
Professor M I Logan AC, Vice-Chancellor, in the Chair
Professor R J Pargetter, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor P LeP Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor J L C Chipman, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor M Quartly, Dean , Faculty of Arts
Professor A Russell for Dean, Faculty of Business & Economics
Professor C J Bellamy, Dean, Faculty of Computing and Information
Technology
Professor R T White, Dean, Faculty of Education
Professor M L Brisk, Dean, Faculty of Engineering
Professor C R Williams, Dean, Faculty of Law
Professor R Porter, Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Professor J W Warren, Dean, Faculty of Science
Professor C B Chapman, Dean and Director, Victorian College of Pharmacy
Apologies were received from:
Professor J A Rickard, Pro Vice-Chancellor & Dean, Faculty of Business &
Economics
Professor P C Chandler, Pro Vice-Chancellor
Professor L H T West, Pro Vice-Chancellor
In attendance were:
Mr P B Wade, General Manager
Dr S Matchett, Executive Director, Marketing and Communications
Ms C E Anderson, Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Ms J H Newham, Secretary
M I N U T E S
1. Minutes
The Minutes of Meeting No. 17/95 were confirmed and signed subject to the
following amendment:
The last sentence under Item 3.4 Performance Indicators and Benchmarking
on page 3 amended to read:
"Dr Matchett, Executive Director, Marketing and Communications, undertook to
ensure that the media were advised of the correct situation."
2. Matters arising from the Minutes not dealt with elsewhere in the
Agenda
There were no matters considered under this item.
3. Vice-Chancellor's Report
3.1 Hospitals and Capital Planning
In view of funding committed by the University to Latrobe Valley
Hospital, the Vice-Chancellor informed Deans that he had asked Professors
Darvall and Porter and Mr Wade to form a working group on hospitals and
capital planning. Professor Logan said that this group would advise him and
the Committee of Deans on the prioritisation of expenditure in teaching
hospitals and the relationship of this to other capital expenditure at the
University.
After comment and advice from Professor Chapman, Dean and Director of the
Pharmacy College, Professor Porter, Dean of Medicine and Mr Wade, General
Manager, it was agreed that Professor Chapman be co-opted by the working
group, and that for discussion at a future meeting of the Committee of Deans
a rolling five year plan be developed which would include priorities for
teaching hospitals and take into account commitments already made.
3.2 Planning Student Load at Campuses
The Vice-Chancellor introduced the subject of campus profiles and student
load planning. It was agreed that at the next meeting, Deans would each give
a brief preliminary view of their faculty profile on each campus over the
next five years. Professor Logan suggested that Pro Vice-Chancellor
Professor West be asked to present his views on undergraduate and
postgraduate international student load on each campus. In relation to
planning at the Gippsland campus, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Chipman
said he would contact the relevant Deans to discuss the various options.
Professor Pargetter indicated he would attempt to draw together Deans'
statements to bring forward some realistic overall options for campus
profiles. The General Manager, Mr Wade, undertook to provide an overall
appraisal of building stock on each campus, and the need for refurbishment.
The Vice-Chancellor agreed to consider the material already provided by the
Deans for Directions for the Future (Volume 2) with the aim of
extracting the relevant campus data.
In the context of planning student load and campus profiles, the
Vice-Chancellor gave an update of the progress with plans to offer Monash
degrees through Sunway College in Malaysia.
3.3 Academic Salaries
Referring to advice he had received from the Minister for Education, Mr
Crean, the Vice-Chancellor expressed his agreement with the view that
academic salaries were too low. He said however that he considered that the
government proposal to fund salary increases through loans to the
universities was inappropriate. The Committee also noted advice provided by
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Darvall concerning the payment of salary
increases under the Enterprise Agreement.
3.4 Higher Education Management Review
The attention of the Committee was directed to Item 3.1 of the Minutes of
Meeting 17/95 which referred to a response, possibly to be developed by the
Committee, to the Hoare Committee report.
It was noted that, according to Campus Review 6/1 of January 1996,
the full text of the Hoare Committee Report could be accessed on the World
Wide Web [http://www.deet.gov.au/pubs/hedmanrv.htm].
The Committee agreed that consideration of the report be deferred until
after the federal election on 2 March 1996.
3.5 Meeting with Melbourne University Deans
The Vice-Chancellor informed Deans that he had contacted Professor Alan
Gilbert, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, to suggest an
informal meeting at 30 Collins Street involving Deans of both universities.
3.6 Directions for the Future (Volume 2)
This matter was covered under item 3.2.
3.7 Malaysia
This item was covered under item 3.2.
3.8 Open Learning
The Vice-Chancellor briefed the Committee on the action taken by the
University to divest itself of some of its shareholding in OLAA and offer
equity to other major universities. It was noted that with steady enrolments
of around 21,000, OLAA was viable, and its company status gave the
University flexibility to involve other partners as appropriate.
4. Urgent Matters
4.1 Appointment of Professor and Head of the Gippsland School of
Engineering
Document D05/96 was tabled and received.
The Dean of Engineering, Professor Brisk, spoke briefly, proposing that
the position of Head of the Gippsland School of Engineering be filled as a
matter of urgency. He summarised the nature of the responsibilities proposed
for the Head of School, and the opportunities emerging for Engineering at
Gippsland in the future. The Committee endorsed the Dean's proposal, noting
that the Academic Board would be asked on 31 January 1996 to endorse it for
transmission to Council, subject to the approval of the Faculty Board on 6
March 1996.
5. Research Matters
Referring to the current call for ARC applications, Deputy Vice-
Chancellor Professor Darvall asked that Deans ensure that applications were
scrutinised before leaving the faculty. Professor Darvall also informed
Deans that the 1996 Australia Prize was to be awarded to Professor Mark von
Itzstein of the Pharmacy College, and that Monash had a key role in the
successful bid for a Co-operative Multimedia Centre.
The Committee noted this information.
6. International Matters
There were no matters considered under this item.
7. Special Items
7.1 Annual Reporting Requirements for Deans Deans
Document D01/96 was received. The Committee was asked to approve the
recommendations on page 7 of the agenda, including endorsing the schedule of
1995 annual reports to Council through the Academic Board during 1996. The
Secretary responded to questions about that schedule and the schedule of
decanal presentations to Council.
Some discussion followed about the preferred format and timing of decanal
presentations to Council. The matter of whether financial statements should
be included in Deans' annual reports was also discussed.
Noting that the Dean of Science would not provide his annual report until
Academic Board Meeting 3/96, the Committee endorsed the schedule of 1995
annual reports to Council through the Academic Board during 1996. The
Committee also endorsed for transmission to the Board the proposed
amendments to legislation outlined in Document D01/96.
7.2 "Student Academic Records" (**STARS**)
For the interest of members the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor
Quartly, tabled a brochure which described a recently developed Windows
based, user-friendly departmental student database program titled **STARS**.
8. Matters Raised by Deans
8.1 MEMFIS
Dean of Engineering Professor Brisk raised the matter of the progress
with the MEMFIS project, particularly in view of the expected duration of
its occupancy of faculty space. Mr Wade, General Manager, gave some brief
information on the development of MEMFIS and suggested that Mr J S White,
Deputy General Manager, be invited to attend the next meeting and give an up
to date report. Mr Wade agreed that the need for documentation of goals and
targets, and the particular problem of integration of Gippsland and Distance
Education student records data, be addressed.
The Committee agreed that Mr White be invited to Meeting 2/96 to give an
update on both MEMFIS and CASMAC.
9. Reports of Administrative Divisions / Departments
There were no reports scheduled for that meeting. It was noted that the
first report for the year would be from Personnel Services, at Meeting 2/96
to be held on 13 February.
10. General Business
10.1 Language and Learning Services Unit Report on Planning for 1996
As part of a resolution concerning a proposed language policy for the
University, at its Meeting 8/95 the Academic Board had agreed to ask the
Language and Learning Services Unit to report on the services to be offered
by the Unit in 1996, how the services would be differentiated for each
faculty and campus, and the extent to which the increase in budget granted
to the Unit would facilitate these activities.
The Committee received document D02/96 prepared by Ms R Clerehan, Head of
the Language and Learning Services Unit, in response to this request.
Queries were raised about the planned arrangements for Language and
Learning Services for each faculty and campus. The Committee agreed that Ms
Clerehan be asked to attend the next meeting and that she circulate to
members in advance of the meeting a summary of the classes and hours per
week to be provided by the expanded Unit.
10.2 Recognition of Excellence: Academic Awards - Implementation Plan
The Committee received document D03/96 regarding the proposal of
recognition of academic excellence, which had been approved by
Council at Meeting 7/95 held on 30 October 1995 (Resolution CL7/95/496).
The Committee received document D04/96 titled Recognition of Excellence:
Academic Awards - Implementation Plan.
The Committee was asked to consider the Implementation Plan and approve
the establishment of a joint working party of the Committee of Deans and the
Academic Board. In addition, the Committee was to consider nine other
recommendations detailed in the document.
Clarification on a number of points was requested, including the timing
of the awards, the optional nature of the Dean's Recognition Awards, and the
criteria on which selection of the various awards would be based. The
desirability of having so many different awards was also questioned. After
some discussion, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Pargetter agreed to revise
the paper for consideration at a future meeting.
10.3 Quality of applicants for Undergraduate Courses
Document D06/96 was tabled and received. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor
Pargetter summarised the favourable performance of Monash as measured by the
demand for courses, and drew the Committee's attention to the emerging
strengths and campus profiles.
11. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on 13
February 1996 in The Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, University Offices
3.1, Clayton Campus.
Distribution
Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Pro Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager
Executive Director, Marketing & Communications
Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Deputy General Manager
General Manager, Monash International
Directors, Administrative Divisions General Manager, Open Learning
University Librarian
Academic Projects Office
Policy and Legal Counsel Managers, Administrative Branches
Policy and Planning Officer
Faculty Registrars
Director, Computer Centre
Personnel Services
Director, Professional Development Centre
SWAS 1994
SWAS 1995
SWAS 1996
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