Committee of Deans Meeting 14-1996
Meeting No. 14/96 of the Committee of Deans was held between 2.15 and
3.55 pm on Tuesday, 5 November 1996 in the Sir George Lush Room, Ground
Floor, University Offices 3a, Clayton Campus.
Janice H Newham
jahn
Secretary
96/1050
There were present:
Professor M I Logan, Vice-Chancellor, Chair
Professor P LeP Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor A Russell, for Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Business
and Economics
Professor L H T West, Pro Vice-Chancellor
Professor M Quartly, Dean, Faculty of Arts
Professor J Breen, for Acting 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 P Stewart, for Dean and Director, Victorian College of Pharmacy
Professor R W Davies, Dean, Faculty of Science
In attendance were:
Mr P B Wade, General Manager
Ms O Cornelius, Academic Registrar
Ms C E Anderson, Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Professor J Anderson, Campus Director, Berwick
Professor J Redmond, for Campus Director, Caulfield
Ms J H Newham, Secretary
Present by invitation for presentation was:
Mr J Levine, Manager, Budget and Statistical Services
Present by invitation were:
Ms E Hancock, Senior Women's Advancement Scheme
Ms C Cooze, Senior Women's Advancement Scheme
Apologies were received from:
Professor R J Pargetter, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor J A Rickard, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean, Faculty of Business and
Economics
Professor C B Chapman, Dean and Director, Victorian College of Pharmacy
Professor R Willis, Acting Dean, Faculty of Computing and Information
Technology
Dr S Matchett, Executive Director, Marketing and Communications
Professor B Dunstan, Campus Director, Gippsland
Professor G Smith, Campus Director, Caulfield
Professor J Northfield, Campus Director, Peninsula
M I N U T E S
1. Minutes
The Minutes of Meeting No. 13/96 were confirmed and signed.
2. Matters arising from the Minutes not dealt with elsewhere in the
Agenda
2.1 Restructure of Nursing
JHN
Referring to item 4.2 in the Minutes of Meeting 13/96, the Dean of
Medicine, Professor R Porter, informed the Committee that a proposal to
restructure the Sub-faculty of Nursing would be presented on 6 November to
the Faculty Board, with a view to reaching Academic Board Meeting 8/96.
Professor Porter placed the proposed restructure in the context of a review
of management issues in the Sub-faculty which had been conducted at the
Vice-Chancellor's request by Professors C B Chapman and M Quartly, and also
in the context of the Federal Higher Education Budget. The Vice-Chancellor,
Professor M I Logan, agreed to report on these matters at the Academic Board
Meeting 8/96, and said that he would be aiming to present final
recommendations on Nursing for Council Meeting 8/96 in December.
The Committee noted this information.
2.2 1997 Budget Planning, and Services to International Students
PBW/JL
AP
The Manager, Budget and Statistical Services, Mr J Levine, was present
for this item.
A revised document titled "1997 Budget Planning" dated 4 November 1996,
circulated to members on the day before the Meeting, was received (D134/96).
The General Manager, Mr P B Wade, spoke to the document, highlighting
some of the changes that had been made to the figures since the last round
of discussions. Mr Wade indicated that in the final budget publication there
would be footnotes to provide detailed explanation of certain special items
such as commitments which stretched beyond 1997. He also drew the attention
of the Committee to the decrease from $600,000 in 1996 to $400,000 for 1997
in "off the top" funding for the Language and Learning Services Unit (LLSU),
explaining that this represented a change in the mix of funding for services
for international students in particular, rather than a reduction in the
overall provision of services to these students. In this context members
noted the increases in funding of 5.2% and 4.4% (shown in Table 1) to
Business and Economics and Computing and Information Technology
respectively, two of the faculties with high numbers of international
students. The General Manager passed on to the Committee a suggestion of the
Central Budgets Committee that faculties with the highest income from
international students could be expected to fund more of the services to
these students.
Advised by Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor L T H West of the significance
of publicity overseas about any apparent reduction in a university's
international student services, the Committee confirmed that:
(a) no reduction in the overall services to international students was to
be made;
(b) the budget papers were to show clearly, by the inclusion of
information in footnotes where necessary, that no reduction had been made.
The Committee considered at some length whether "off the top" allocations
for services such as those provided by LLSU were appropriate, or whether
faculties' obligations should vary according to the amount of their
international student fee income. Members were cognisant of the fact that in
the current climate of overall funding cuts, faculties such as Science and
Engineering would struggle to provide the language and learning services
themselves; others, such as Education and Law, were small users of LLSU.
Members were also reminded that the recommendations of the review of LLSU,
including the increase of funds to offer the services on the Clayton campus,
had been approved relatively recently by the Academic Board and now needed
time for their effect to be felt. A question was asked about the capacity of
Monash International to provide funding for services.
The Committee agreed to a proposal from the General Manager that the
amount listed for LLSU in 1997 be brought up from $400,000 to $600,000 by
using $100,000 of surplus LLSU funds not able to be spent in 1996, plus
$100,000 representing a mix of contributions from Monash International and
the Faculties of Business and Economics and Computing and Information
Technology.
Professor J Anderson, Campus Director of Berwick Campus, asked that a
principle of pro rata allocation of support costs, considered justified in
this case, be not applied in the case of other worthwhile developments which
would fail without "off the top" funding. The Committee noted this point.
3. Vice-Chancellor's Report
3.1 Report of the Academic Board Working Party on Council Structure
and Function PLePD/JHN
In accordance with the discussion at the previous meeting under item 3.4
and the deliberations of the Academic Board on 16 October 1996, a
sub-committee comprised of Professors P LeP Darvall, M L Brisk, C R Williams
and M Quartly met on 24 October 1996 to consider the report of the Academic
Board Working Party chaired by Professor J Pilbrow. The revised version of
the report dated 24 October 1996 was received. (D131/96) A copy had been
sent to Professor J Pilbrow for consideration by the Working Party.
Professor Darvall identified the principal changes, shown in the document
by underlining, which had been suggested by the sub-committee and agreed to
by Professor Pilbrow. As a result of a discussion which took place with
Professor Pilbrow that morning Professor Darvall tabled a paper with further
suggested changes to recommendations 3 and 6. (D135/96)
In response to a query the Vice-Chancellor confirmed that the State
Education Minister had established a committee, to be chaired by The Hon
Haddon Storey QC, to look at the constitution of university councils. He
said that the Chancellor had agreed that the Monash Council's review of its
own role and structure was therefore timely and should proceed.
The revised version of the working party report was enthusiastically
supported by the Committee and it was agreed that it be submitted to
Academic Board Meeting 8/96 for approval, with some further minor changes as
follows:
- The suggested changes detailed in the tabled document;
- Under Recommendation 1, inclusion of a definition of the term
"executive officers of the University" to include the Vice-Chancellor, the
senior management group, and the Deans;
- Recommendation 2 to read "...to oversee, but not to intervene in, the
routine management or academic business of the University";
- Recommendation 6 about membership of the Membership Committee to read
"...two members of the University Council who are not staff or students of
the University...";
- Consideration of an alternative method of nominating a member of the
general staff (other than by the Academic Board) for membership of the
Membership Committee under Recommendation 6;
- Reinstatement of the sentence under Recommendation 6 referring to the
two year restriction applying to members of the Membership Committee in
becoming eligible for membership of Council;
- Under section 3.3 of the report on page 10 of the agenda, the fourth
sentence to read "...since a university is not primarily a business...".
Due to the urgency of making the report available to the current three
working parties of Council well in advance of the retreat planned for 5
December 1996, the Committee agreed that with the above changes the document
could be released as an "exposure draft" in advance of the Academic Board
Meeting to be held on 27 November.
3.2 Review of the Professional Development Centre (PDC)
MIL
With reference to Council's consideration of the report of the review of
the PDC at Meeting 7/96 on 4 November 1996, the Vice-Chancellor informed
members that a query had been raised about the effectiveness of staff
development at departmental level. Professor Logan said that he was
intending to write to Deans to ask about staff development activities in
their faculties.
The Committee noted that this request would be sent to the General
Manager, the University Librarian and the Director of the Computer Centre as
well as to Deans.
3.3 Offer of Appointment - Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and
Public Affairs)
The Vice-Chancellor informed members that Council on 4 November 1996 had
agreed to make an offer of appointment for the position of Deputy
Vice-Chancellor (International and Public Affairs).
3.4 Group of 8
The Committee noted the Vice-Chancellor's advice that the Group of 8 was
continuing to meet.
4. Urgent Matters
There were no urgent matters raised.
5. Research Matters
5.1 1997 ARC Large Grant Results
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor P LeP Darvall tabled copies of
Research, Issue 11/96 and other papers detailing the 1997 ARC large
grants and other research results. (D136/96) He outlined the major results
for Monash.
This information was received and noted.
6. International Matters
6.1 IMHE-OECD
LHTW
Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor L H T West spoke about a pilot project set
up by the IMHE-OECD to review the quality of internationalisation within
universities. Although the project was complete, including Monash's
participation, he said that an extension of the project within the
University would be valuable for providing directions for the future. With
this in mind Professor West said he would be circulating documentation with
a request that faculties provide an input before the end of the year.
7. Special Items
There were no special items raised.
8. Matters Raised by Deans
There were no matters raised by Deans.
9. Reports of Administrative Divisions / Departments
9.1 Research Services
TS/JC
It was noted that a report which was scheduled for this Meeting from
Research Services would be presented at Committee of Deans Meeting 15/96 on
26 November 1996, and that at that Meeting a report and presentation will
also be made by the Director, University Development, Ms J Chandler.
10. General Business
PLePD/PRA
10.1 Charging for Use of the Internet RWD/MQ/RP
PBW
A document dated 30 October 1996 prepared by Mr P R Annal, Director,
Computer Centre on the subject of Internet charging was received. (D132/96)
A charging policy was foreshadowed by Mr Annal in his report to Meeting 4/96
of the Committee of Deans.
The Committee was to consider the paper and approve the ten
recommendations under section 2. Mr Annal was invited to the meeting to
present his paper.
Introducing the item, Professor Darvall commended the paper and its
recommendations to the Committee on the proviso that with recommendations 4
and 6 there be a conscious effort to identify user access codes. In
addition, with respect to recommendation 7, Professor Darvall suggested that
it might be appropriate for access to the Internet to be facilitated for
alumni of the University.
In response to questions members received clarification on various points
of advice in the paper. The Committee noted that charging faculties /
administrative areas for Internet use in the fourth quarter of the current
year had been foreshadowed in earlier documentation. Members were advised
that Internet costs were not part of the Computer Centre budget and that the
distribution of charges in question did not represent "double dipping" on
behalf of the Centre. It was also noted that some of the Faculty of Business
and Economics entities listed on page 8 of the document were incorrect and
could not be used for allocating costs.
Discussion centred on the implications of charging users and the relative
merits of "off the top" and "user pays" models. The Committee recognised
that in relation to a number of University wide expenses, some combination
of the two models was appropriate; a case in point was language and learning
services discussed earlier in the meeting. To find the appropriate balance
in each case members cautioned that decisions needed to be made in the
context of a wider review of academic planning which would include utilising
the experience of other universities in information technology and aiming to
reduce costs where possible by changing practices. The need for improved
mechanisms for identifying users and tracking usage was agreed.
In response to the urgent matters needing resolution, the direction of Mr
Annal's paper was confirmed. Due to the wider implications of the paper, the
Vice-Chancellor asked Professor Darvall to convene a group of Deans, to
include Professors Davies, Porter and Quartly and Mr Wade, to review major
"user pays" regimes in the University, in the context of budget allocations.
The recommendations in the paper on Internet charging would be revisited in
the light of this review.
10.2 Decanal Presentations to Council 1997
RP/OC
A schedule detailing the decanal presentations to Council for 1995, 1996
and JAR/MQ
proposed presentations for 1997 was received. (D133.96) CRW
The Committee approved the proposed 1997 schedule, detailed in the
document, as follows:
- Monday, 17 March 1997 Dean of Medicine
- Monday, 7 July 1997 Dean of Business and Economics
- Monday, 29 September 1997 Dean of Arts
- Monday, 15 December 1997 Dean of Law
11. Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Committee of Deans, the last for 1996, will be
held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 26 November 1996 in The Sir George Lush Room,
Ground Floor, University Offices 3a, Clayton Campus.
Distribution
Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Pro Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager
Executive Director, Marketing & Communications
Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor
Academic Registrar
Campus Director, Gippsland
Campus Director, Berwick
Campus Director, Caulfield
Campus Director, Peninsula
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