Committee of Deans Meeting 11/98

Meeting 11/98 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 1 September 1998 in the Sir George Lush Room, ground floor, University Offices Building 3a, Clayton campus.

MINUTES

1. Attendance and apologies

Apologies were received from Professor D Robinson, Vice Chancellor, Professor J Maloney, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Public Affairs), Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) Professor N Saunders, Dean - Faculty of Medicine, Professor M Brisk, Dean - Faculty of Engineering, Professor J Rickard, Dean - Faculty of Business & Economics, Professor J Rosenberg, Dean - Faculty of Information Technology and Professor J Redmond, Dean - Faculty of Art and Design.

In attendance as Acting Deans were : Professor G Taylor (Medicine), Professor T Sridhar (Engineering), Professor A Russell (Business and Economics), Professor R Willis (Information Technology) and Associate Professor B Hoffert (Art and Design).

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

Ms Deborah Lampard, Director - Quantitative Planning Support was in attendance for item 4.4.4.

The minutes of meeting 10/98 were confirmed.

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

3.1 Personnel related matters (Refer to item 3.1 - meeting 10/98)

At meeting 10/98, Mr Wade advised the Committee that he would provide a progress report on the review into the appropriate length of the probationary period for continuing employees.

Following Mr Wade's update, which included advice that a discussion paper on the matter was underway, members provided the following suggestions:

• any recommendation on the appropriate length of the probationary period should be cognisant of the two year performance appraisal cycle;
• if the probation period is greater than two years then provision should be made for early confirmation of continuing employment status in those instances where staff have clearly achieved set targets; and
• the importance of supervision of new employees during the probationary period is integral to the process of confirming, or otherwise, continuing employment status at the conclusion of the probationary period.

Professor Darvall advised the Committee that eight of eleven Monash CRC's were up for rebids and that several bids for new CRC's were currently being developed.

Professor Darvall informed the Committee that Mr Stephen Marshall had been appointed to the position of Manager - Animal Services and that an announcement of the appointment would appear in Monash Memo.

Document D38/98 was tabled at the meeting.

Professor Darvall outlined the contents of the tabled paper D38/98 and emphasised the following statement by the Director - Audit & Risk Management:

'Organisational units that have established a centralised collection process have managed to reduce the level of errors.

Such an approach is seen to facilitate consistent documentation and process and provides the opportunity for the Faculty Research Committee to classify and verify publications data collected.'

Professor Lindsay was a late apology for the meeting.

Document D39/98 was tabled at the meeting. The Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academic and Planning had recently distributed the document to Deans.

Following discussion of the tabled document, the Committee approved the recommendations as stated in the document titled Report of Working Party on Implementation of Postgraduate Bursaries subject to the correction of drafting errors and the retitling of the bursaries to Monash Postgraduate Bursaries.

Professor Quartly advised the Committee that the final report of the Review Group, titled Arts at Monash : A Recommended Blueprint for Change, had been forwarded to the Vice-Chancellor and released for general comment.

The Committee was also advised that the final report would be the subject of a special meeting of the Faculty Board on 9^th September 1998.

Mr Wade and Ms Lampard provided an overview of a recent meeting between DEETYA and Monash representatives. The major outcomes of the meeting included:

• DEETYA is to provide feedback on Monash's range of performance indicators;
• the Quality Assurance Plan will need to be reviewed; and
• Monash will provide a report to DEETYA analysing the entry TERs and semester one results of Undergraduate fee-paying students.

Ms Lampard advised the Committee that student load data for six faculties had been checked and was undergoing final reconciliation with faculty representatives. The data for the remaining four faculties will be finalised over the next week(s) with tables of finalised figures being distributed to Deans for sign-off prior to the next meeting of the Committee.

(This matter was previously discussed at meeting 9/98, 21^st July 1998, refer to item 4.5.1 Agenda & Minutes)

Document D37/98 was attached.

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

Mr Matthews introduced this matter and highlighted the following facets of the situation:

• the outstanding debt owed by international students as at 7^th August was $8.576m while more recent figures indicated that the debt had decreased to approx. $6.900m;
• the current deferment plan stipulates that the final payment of fees is due on 24 September 1998 and shortly following that date a clearer position on bad and doubtful debts will be available;
• international students completing their final year will be permitted to participate in a scheme whereby, with the support of the faculty, they will be permitted to defer 50% or less of their outstanding debt for one year subject to certain specified conditions; and
• student debt relating to Australian students had decreased from $3.009m to $2.000m.

During discussion of the matter, it was noted that the process of setting fees and their payment for the year 2000 enrolment cohort may need to be reviewed and that improved mechanisms for confirming academic achievement in instances of early departure may need to be considered (ie issuing Undergraduate Diplomas and/or authorised certificates of achievement).

Mr Matthews was requested to provide a further update on the matter at meeting 13/98 (13 October 1998).

Mr Wade advised the Committee that as VTAC enrolment data would be available to faculties on 4^th January 1999, the Christmas close down period had been amended to Wednesday 23^rd December to Friday 1^st January inclusive.

The possibility of the University introducing consolidated handbooks with abbreviated course and subject information was raised. Noting that this matter was under consideration by a Working Party of Education Committee, Professor Lindsay was requested to report to the next meeting of the Committee on the merit and progress of the matter.

The next scheduled Committee of Deans meeting will be held on 22 September 1998 at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room.

Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager