Committee of Deans Meeting 9/98

Meeting 9/98 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 21 July 1998 in the Sir George Lush Room, Ground Floor, Administration, Building 3a, Clayton Campus.

Tony Calder
Secretary

97/0025

MINUTES

An apology was received from Professor J E Maloney, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Public Affairs).

Professor Fazal Rizvi attended as Acting Dean - Faculty of Education.

Mr Peter Marshall was in attendance for item 3.1.

Ms Deborah Lampard, Ms Christina Lau and Mr Peter Summers were in attendance for item 4.4.1.

Mr John Matthews, Assistant General Manager - Finance and Mr Terry Masocco - Budget & Statistical Services were in attendance for item.4.5.1.

The minutes of meeting 8/98 were confirmed.

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

Mr Marshall was in attendance and provided a presentation on the matter.

Mr Marshall outlined the broad ramifications of the agreement with a focus on the following areas:

• summary of the core outcomes
• benefits rolled over from the 1995 Agreement and those omitted from the new agreement
• Performance Based Contracts
• Performance Management - Academic Staff
• annual leave provisions
• academic redundancy provisions
• other key clauses including salary packaging, the voluntary substitution of annual leave for leave loading and the provisions relating to long service leave
• the reported NTEU claim for Round 3 of Enterprise Bargaining

Mr Marshall advised the Committee that staff who left the employ of the University between 1 January 1998 and the date of certification (29 June 1998) were eligible to apply in writing for backpay.

Following discussion relating to the issue of notification, it was noted that Mr Marshall would be available to provide assistance to Deans on the matter.

4.2 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development)

Documents D29/98 and D30/98 were attached.

Professor Darvall requested that Deans draw to the attention of eligible persons the availability and benefits of the Rhodes Scholarship Scheme and encourage the participation of staff and students in appropriate sections of the Young Australian of the Year Awards.

4.2.2 Transfer of Computer Laboratories to Faculties

Document D33/98 was tabled.

Following consideration of the issues detailed in the paper and noting that some of the processes required further development, the Committee approved the following actions:

(i) That the Committee of Associate Deans - Teaching be charged with the responsibility of distributing the laboratories to faculties. Some of the issues that may need to be considered include the potential for out of hour's access, historical usage, or perhaps the projected use.

(ii) That a Computer Laboratory Manager's Group be established as the means of fostering a close relationship between staff in faculties responsible for laboratory management and ITS staff who are responsible for servers and the support of the common services supporting the laboratories.

(iii)That the number and role of Computer Centre staff currently supporting computer laboratories, excluding those supporting the servers, be examined in light of above proposals.

Document D32/98 is attached.

Ms Deborah Lampard, Ms Christina Lau and Mr Peter Summers were in attendance for this item.

Additional documentation was tabled at the meeting.

During discussion, Ms Lampard requested that the following information be provided:

• any projected major changes to existing faculty profiles;
• forecasts for international students need to be developed and revised figures should be submitted after each faculty has undertaken discussions with Monash International on the matter;
• OPG and HDR information needs to be sent to Budget and Statistical Services by Monday 17 August;
• revised figures for fee paying students.

In addition, Deans were advised that a Working Party to consider bids for unallocated HDR load is to be established and 1998 International Student Country of Origin data would be available shortly.

4.5 General Manager

Document D31/98 is attached.

Mr John Matthews, Assistant General Manager - Finance and Mr Terry Masocco - Budget & Statistical Services were in attendance for this item.

Mr Matthews spoke to this matter, highlighting the ramifications of the currency crisis in East Asia and the financial hardship this has caused to some international fee paying students. During discussion of the matter, a range of advice and comment on the matter was offered including:

• the establishment of a Fees Deferment Review Group. Membership includes Ms Bronwyn Shields, Academic Registrar - Faculty of Business & Economics and Mr Ken Hobbs - Faculty Manager - Faculty of Information Technology as faculty representatives;
• the proposal to establish a Forum to discuss ways of addressing the matter and providing advice on the tone and content of correspondence. Membership of the Forum should include, amongst others, Associate Deans - International, faculty based International Student Advisors and Faculty Registrars/Managers where practicable.
• suggestions relating to the format and content of the distributed correspondence included the need to list all student organisations, that students with difficulties should consult with their faculty, that the distributed correspondence was too long and contained various forms of jargon and that the correspondence should clearly state the ramifications of failure to contact the University / settle the debt.

5.1 Professor Director - Institute of Public Health Research

Document D34/98 was tabled.

The Committee endorsed a proposal from the Dean of Medicine to establish, advertise and fill the position of Professor of Public Health / Director, Institute of Public Health Research.

Professor Redmond advised the Committee that he had recently received a copy of the University's Marketing and Development Plan. Noting the importance of corporate identity / corporate image to the marketing of Monash programs, Professor Redmond queried whether any recent market research existed on the matter and whether this research indicated that the existing corporate image/identity was still meeting the needs of the University.

The Vice-Chancellor agreed to refer the matter to Professor Maloney.

7. Items for information

The next scheduled Committee of Deans meeting will be held on 11 August 1998 at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room.

Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager
Campus Directors