Committee of Deans Meeting 4/98

Meeting 4/98 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 7 April 1998 in the Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton Campus.

Tony Calder
Secretary
97/0025

An apology was received from Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academic & Planning; Professor R Davies, Dean - Faculty of Science and Professor J Redmond, Dean - Faculty of Art & Design.

Professor Grahame Coleman attended for Professor R Davies.

The minutes of meeting 3/98 were confirmed.

Draft document D18/98 was tabled for discussion.

Following discussion of the programs, academic structure and project plan for the Sunway Campus, the Vice-Chancellor requested that members supply him with input on ways to improve and clarify the document prior to it being submitted to Academic Board.

The Committee was advised that it was essential that students undertaking programs of study were fully aware of the status of that program with local professional bodies and whether any additional units may be required to achieve professional accreditation.

To facilitate this requirement, the Committee was advised that the course approval proforma submitted to Education Committee contained a section on accreditation and that it would be appropriate for the Education Committee to consider the issue of professional accreditation as part of the course approval process.

Document D14/98 was attached.

The Vice-Chancellor advised the Committee that the report of the review panel, Science at Monash, would be referred to Academic Board with accompanying memoranda indicating that he had accepted all the recommendations contained in the report.

During discussion, Deans indicated their support for the report and the implemention of its recommendations.

Professor Darvall advised the Committee that no applications for funding under this initiative had been received by the proposed deadline. The deadline for submissions was extended to Wednesday, 22 April.

Document D15/98 was attached.

During discussion of the document, it was noted that research performance at Monash was uneven according to some primary performance indicators. Professor Darvall advised the Committee that his office would continue to develop/seek out appropriate comparative research performance data and distribute it to faculties.

Professor Darvall advised the Committee that results of the audit were now available. Whereas the original error rate was reportedly 67% across the entire system, the audit had returned a revised system wide error of 33% with Monash’s error rate being 27%. In addition, as the system wide average error rate/reduction was greater that Monash’s, Monash will receive a greater percentage of the research quantum for that period.

Document D17/98 was attached.

Professor Maloney advised the Committee that pages 2 & 3 of document D17/98 provided details of the offshore graduation ceremonies for 1998. In addition, Deans wishing to participate in group travel arrangements were requested to contact the Protocol and Special Events Officer as soon as practicable.

Mr Wade advised the Committee that the results of recent market research in South Africa indicated significant interest in Business, Information Technology and BA programs. This data would now be included in the Business Plan which should be available after Easter.

The Committee was advised that the enterprise agreement for academic and general staff had been finalised and would be put to a vote as soon as practicable. The final agreement should be available on the Monash Web site within a few days.

Mr Wade informed the Committee that a policy circular on the matter would be issued to all Deans and Heads of Departments. The circular would specify that all persons supplying personal consultancy services to the University must be payed via the University’s payroll system, not via invoice. In addition, the circular would include proforma contracts and a reference point for queries on the matter.

The Committee approved a proposal from the Acting Dean of Medicine to establish, advertise and fill the position of Professor/Director of Developmental Disability Health as detailed in document D16/98.

For endorsement and transmission to Academic Board.

The Committee was advised that Mr Alan McMeekin, from the University of Southern Queensland had been appointed and would take up his position in July 1998.

The Committee was advised that the total international student load was up 6% on the 1997 level and thus 3% over the projected target (excluding Sunway). The number of new students was slightly lower but the retention rate of students was higher than 1997.

Members were informed that Ms Deborah Lampard would attend the next meeting of the Committee of Deans to participate in initial discussions on student load for 1999 - 2001.

The next scheduled Committee of Deans meeting will be held on 28 April at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room.

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