Committee of Deans Meeting 1/98

Meeting 1/98 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 27 January 1998 in the Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton Campus.

Tony Calder
Secretary 
97/0025

MINUTES

1. Attendance and apologies

An apology was received from Professor P Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor -Research and Development; Mr P Wade, General Manager and Professor R Porter, Dean - Faculty of Medicine.

Professor F Trindade attended for Professor C Williams and Associate Professor N White attended for Professor M Quartly.

Mr Clive Vernon, Manager - Student Admissions and Records was in attendance for item 4.4.1.

Professor Edward Lim, University Librarian, was in attendance for item 6.1.

2. Minutes

The minutes of meeting 15/97 were confirmed subject to the following alteration on the third line of the first paragraph on page 4:

• 1998, that the $300,000 budget allocation to support Peninsula

3. Matters arising from the minutes not dealt with elsewhere in the agenda

The Committee was advised of the following:

• that the majority of the $300,000 budget allocation to support Peninsula Campus activities had been allocated, and
• Professors Lindsay, Rosenberg and Rickard were to meet regarding the Teaching and Learning Plan and its implication for technology matters

4. Vice-Chancellor’s business

The Vice-Chancellor gave a brief overview of his recent meetings in Potsdam with Rectors of several German Universities.

4.2 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development)

4.3 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Public Affairs)

4.3.1 Asian Currency Crisis and International Student Enrolments

Commenting on the effect of the Asian currency crises on international student enrolments, Professor Maloney advised the Committee that:

• his office was constantly monitoring the number of deposits received
• the current number of deposits received was slightly ahead of last year
• projected enrolment numbers for 1998 were encouraging and likely to meet the projected target and
• Foundation Year enrolments were down in Singapore and Hong Kong but up by 20% in Indonesia

Due to different rates of depreciation between some South East Asian currencies and the Australian, European and American currencies, members were advised that enrolment enquiries may be received from students wanting to transfer from American and English Universities to Australian tertiary institutions.

4.4 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning)

4.4.1 Undergraduate intake - first round selection

Mr Clive Vernon, Manager - Student Admissions and Records was in attendance for this item. A discussion paper was attached (D1/98).

During discussion of document D1/98, the following major items of significance were raised:

• the number of fee offers made by Monash may be a misleading at this early stage of the process as students may receive second or third round HECS based offers from other institutions
• combined degrees are continuing to attract high quality students to Monash and
• the level of offers at Gippsland and Peninsula were encouraging

During discussion, it was reported that the advertised guaranteed entry TER for some programs had been too low. Mr Vernon advised that the Admissions Committee would look into the matter.

4.4.2 Enterprise Bargaining

Professor Lindsay advised the Committee that meetings would recommence on the 3rd February and he hoped to get final approval during the month of March.

4.4.3 Melbourne - Monash Cooperation Protocol

Professor Lindsay advised the Committee that discussions relating to courseware development were underway and that the ramifications of the ACCC legislation would be carefully considered during the process.

4.5 General Manager

5. Matters raised by Deans

5.1 Proposal to establish, advertise and fill a Chair in Multimedia Technology

The Committee approved a proposal from the Dean of Information Technology to establish, advertise and fill a Chair in Multimedia Technology as detailed in D2/98

For endorsement and transmission to Academic Board and Council.

6. Other business

6.1 Library Services for ‘Mixed Mode Study" students.

Professor Edward Lim, University Librarian, was in attendance for this item.

A proposal for the introduction of a user-pays approach for "mixed mode" students who opt to take advantage of a value added service was detailed in document D3/98.

The proposal had been endorsed by the General Library Committee and was submitted to the Committee of Deans for endorsement prior to submission to Academic Board.

Following extensive discussion, the Committee recommended that the issues raised in the paper be referred to the Teaching and Learning Plan Working Party and other relevant committees for further consideration.

6.2 Open Learning Agency of Australia

The Committee was advised that the Open Learning Agency of Australia was embarking on a review of its strategic direction and that faculties may receive requests from the Agency regarding inputs to the strategic planning process.

6.3 Marketing and Development contacts within Faculties

Noting that the appointment of Associate Deans - International had facilitated improved interaction in the area of international matters, Professor Maloney requested that faculties consider nominating a person to be the focal point for marketing/development activities in their faculty. It was noted that the nominated person need not be an academic or titled Associate Dean.

6.4 Monash Home Page

Professor Maloney advised the Committee that a consulting company had been appointed to redesign the upper levels of the Monash Web site. In addition, it was noted that the new web structure would be modular in design to facilitate future developments in the areas of faculty and administrative systems.

7. Items for information

7.1 Monash University College of Art and Design - Proposal for faculty name, structure and board

A document D4/98, detailing amendments to the title, structure and governance of the Monash University College of Art & Design was enclosed for the information of Deans prior to its submission to Academic Board.

Following discussion, Professor Redmond suggested that matters raised during discussion be referred to a meeting of departmental heads prior to the matter being discussed at Academic Board.

8. Next meeting

The next scheduled Committee of Deans meeting will be held on 24 February at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room.

Distribution

(Hard copy):

Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager
Executive Assistant to Vice-Chancellor