Meeting 5/98 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 28 April 1998 in the Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton Campus.

Tony Calder
Secretary
97/0025

1. Attendance and apologies

Apologies were received from Professor D A Robinson, Vice-Chancellor and President; Professor J E Maloney, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Public Affairs); Mr P B Wade, General Manager; Professor J K Redmond, Dean - Faculty of Art & Design; Professor C B Chapman, Director and Dean - Pharmacy College and Professor R W Davies, Dean - Faculty of Science.

Mr K Bensley attended for Professor J K Redmond, Professor M von Itzstein attended for Professor C Chapman and Dr K Macrae attended for Professor R W Davies.

Professor J Anderson - Campus Director Berwick/Gippsland, Mr J White - Campus Director Caulfield/Peninsula, Ms N Mitchell - Planning Advisor Academic Planning Support Unit, and Ms D Lampard - Budget and Statistical Services were in attendance for item 3.1 - initial discussion of student load profile for 1999-2003.

Mr J Levine - Director - Budget and Statistical Services was in attendance for items 3.1 and 4.5.1.

Mr P Annal - Director Computer Centre Clayton was in attendance for item 4.2.1.

Professor J Warren, Pro Vice-Chancellor - Monash University Sunway Campus Malaysia was in attendance.

The minutes of meeting 4/98 were confirmed.

Document D19/98 was attached. Document D21/98 entitled "Table - Student Load Profile By Campus" was tabled.

Professor J Anderson, Mr J White, Mr P Summers, Mr J Levine and Ms D Lampard were in attendance for this item.

Ms D Lampard summarised the contents of documents D19/21 and D21/98. During discussion, the following items of significance were noted:

• the document "Student Load Profile Planning - 1999 to 2003" detailed the assumptions underpinning the projections contained in Table 2.1,
• Ms Lampard advised the Committee that the projections contained in the tables would be reviewed in 1999;
• 1999 to 2000 projected targets for Post-Graduate Fee-Paying targets remained unchanged; and
• target projections for Australian Undergraduate Fee - Paying enrolments were revised down and would continue to be monitored given the difficulty with accurately predicting enrolment levels in this category.

During discussion, Professors Rickard and Rosenberg advised the Committee that targets for Postgraduate Fee-Paying courses would come under pressure where other Universities were offering fast track Masters thus placing Monash at a competitive disadvantage. It was suggested that Monash may need to review its Education Policy (Graduate Studies Policy) in this area.

Noting the inclusion of indicative targets for the Malaysian Campus and other off-shore campuses, Deans raised the following questions relating to HECS places:

Can an Australian based student study in Malaysia via a HECS place?

Can HECS places be transferred to the Malaysian Campus?

If a student requests to study for one semester in Malaysia and incurs a HECS debt in Australia, what type of fee(s) can Monash’s partner in the campus charge?

Do fee paying students at off-shore campuses affect the 25% rule relating to undergraduate fee paying students in Australia?

It was suggested that these and any related queries would be considered by the Vice-Chancellor’s Group if they remained unresolved.

Document D20/98 was attached.

Professor Darvall invited Mr P Annal to speak to the item.

Mr Annal advised the Committee that the document outlined planned enhancements to the network environment and related user charges.

Major changes to network services would include:

• improved network performance for the majority of general purpose network users;
• an option for users requiring dedicated highspeed network services to upgrade their network connection;
• existing users would be connected to the enhanced service for no initial cost but users requiring a high performance connection (a dedicated 10 Mbit/s service or ATM service) would incur an installation cost dependent on whether their existing cabling was suitable, required upgrading or whether a new service was required to the wall socket; and
• a proposal to implement a recurrent annual fee equal to 10% of the proposed installation cost was under consideration.

In discussion, a number of issues were raised including the need for the new budget model to consider all new charges imposed on faculties and the need for elaboration of some of the terminology used in the paper.

Professor Darvall advised members that any queries relating to the content and/or extent of services described in the document should be directed to Mr Annal, with a deadline of Friday 1st May.

Professor Darvall noted that applications for funding under this initiative had not been received from the Faculties of Art & Design, Business & Economics and Victorian College of Pharmacy.

Professor J Warren, Pro Vice-Chancellor - Monash University Sunway Campus Malaysia, advised that planning for the Campus was progressing well especially given the tight timeline. Major issues discussed related to the marketing of courses in Malaysia and Singapore, staffing matters, the on-campus facilities available to staff and the need to ensure that all staff had valid work permits during their stay.

Professor Lindsay advised the Committee that planning for the postal vote on the new agreement was well advanced and that details of information sessions for staff would be distributed within the week.

In addition, the Committee was advised that Mr P Marshall (Assistant General Manager - Personnel) would provide the Committee of Deans with a more detailed report once the process of planning and implementation was further advanced and that the format and procedures for Engagement Profiles was currently being developed by Ms K Lock (Manager - Performance Development & Training Branch).

Mr J Levine advised the Committee that assessment of a sample of relative teaching costs was currently underway. Once the task was completed, the results would be discussed with Deans.

The next scheduled Committee of Deans meeting will be held on 19 May 1998 at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room.