Committee of Deans Meeting 12/98

Meeting 12/98 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 22 September 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

Apologies were received from Professor D A Robinson, Vice-Chancellor and President; Professor P Darvall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Research & Development; Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academic & Planning; Professor M Brisk, Dean - Faculty of Engineering; Professor L Waller, Acting Dean - Faculty of Law; Professor C Chapman, Dean - Victorian College of Pharmacy; and Professor J Rosenberg, Dean - Faculty of Information Technology.

In attendance as Acting Deans were: Professor Tam Sridhar (Engineering), Professor Marcia Neave (Law), Professor Mark von Itzstein (Pharmacy) and Professor R Willis (Information Technology).

Professor J Warren, Pro Vice-Chancellor - Monash University Sunway Campus Malaysia, Professor M Evans, Associate Chair - Academic Board, were in attendance.

Mr Peter Marshall, Assistant General Manager - Personnel Services was in attendance for items 3.1 and 4.5.1 and Ms Deborah Lampard, Director - Quantitative Planning Support was in attendance for item 4.4.1.

The minutes of meeting 11/98 were confirmed.

The General Manager introduced this item. Members noted that the probationary period matter was previously discussed at meeting 10/98, 10^th August 1998, item 3.1 and meeting 11/98, 1^st September 1998, item 3.1. Mr Wade emphasised that it was important that this matter be resolved and that the Vice-Chancellor's Group had endorsed the paper before Deans.

Mr Peter Marshall, Assistant General Manager - Personnel Services spoke to the paper and advised that it presented revised arrangements to academic and general staff probation which were required as a result of the implementation of the HECE Award.

Following Mr Marshall's introduction, members provided responses to the recommendations set out on page 4 of the paper titled Probationary Provisions for Academic and General Staff. Consensus was not reached as to the most appropriate period of probation for ongoing academic staff and at the conclusion of the discussion, Professor Davies put a motion amending recommendation 1 as set out on page 4 as follows:

The motion was seconded by Professor Neave. The motion was carried with six (6) votes in favour and four (4) against.

Accordingly, Mr Marshall was requested to incorporate the amended period of probation for academic staff into the document as presented.

Mr Marshall introduced discussion and advised that the paper before Deans was a preliminary draft. He advised that he would be happy to receive comments from Deans and would be making arrangements to speak with Deans individually. Deans noted the information.

The General Manager introduced discussion noting that the paper before Deans represented work in progress and that this issue had been discussed at Council.

The General Manager commented that problems associated with student fees were broad and affected international and Australian students. A suitable approach had to be found and the University was working through ways of addressing the situation. Special measures as detailed in the document presented had been put in place. Beyond these, careful attention was being given to the mechanics for making payments.

The General Manager also provided an update of the situation in relation to outstanding fee debts and Deans noted that the amount of fees owing had significantly reduced and would continue to decline.

The General Manager advised that there would be a further report to Deans and Council on the final situation regarding 1998 fees. Fees for 1999 and the year 2000, would also be referred to Deans and Council for discussion. Mr Wade also drew attention to the possibility of developing an exit award titled Diploma of Undergraduate Studies.

Professor J Warren, Pro Vice-Chancellor - Monash University Sunway Campus Malaysia, presented a paper entitled Monash University Sunway Campus Malaysia (MUSM).

Professor Warren advised that he would be presenting a report to Academic Board on 14 October. The paper before Deans was submitted to alert Deans to several issues and requirements to ensure the smooth running of the Malaysia Campus. Discussion focussed particularly on MUSM's acceptance of students on school forecast results. A variety of points of view were expressed about this matter although consensus was not reached. At the conclusion of discussion, it was resolved that Deans would consult on an individual basis with Professor Warren regarding the issues raised in his paper.

4.2   Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development)

There were no items reported to the meeting.

Professor Maloney spoke to this item and advised that with the discontinuation of negotiations with the University's South African partner others had approached Monash with proposals regarding the establishment of a presence in Southern Africa. Mr Porter and Mr Pollock were currently in South Africa. With respect to China, Professor Maloney outlined three (3) major groups of activity:

• University relations activities which involved staff/student exchanges with seven (7) participating Chinese institutions;
• Access programs which included twinning programs and the Monash College; and
• Professional development and training comprising short courses, courses within corporate bodies, the MBA and Executive MBA programs.

International Branch will develop a model for China and discussions were proceeding.

Ms Lampard spoke to tabled information comprising Table 1 Comparison of 1999-2001 Budget With 1999-2003 Monash Plan Student Load Profile and a volume of tables entitled 1999-2001 Student Load Planning. Ms Lampard encouraged Deans to check figures for their respective Faculties, identify any anomalies and provide her with feed back as soon as possible.

Professor Evans introduced this topic and sort Dean's advice on the proposal which had been distributed separately. Professor Evans advised that the Diploma proposal would be submitted to the Education Committee for endorsement on 23 September. A variety of points of view were expressed and Professor Evans noted the advice offered.

Mr Peter Marshall, Assistant General Manager - Personnel Services introduced this topic and advised that a final draft of the document would be ready next week. He advised that the salary packaging manual having received approval at the Vice-Chancellor's Group would then be publicised as a special edition of Monash Memo and thence forth staff could return the relevant proformas and commence on salary packaging on 10 October 1998. Deans noted the information.

This matter was previously raised at meeting 11/98, 1 September 1998, refer to item 5.1 of the Minutes.

Members were advised that Professor Lindsay was unable to attend this meeting and would therefore report on this matter to meeting 13/98 (13 October 1998).

Professor Davies spoke to this paper.

Deans endorsed the Proposal for a Chair in Statistics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for transmission to Academic Board and Council.

Deans received a memorandum from the Vice-Chancellor requesting that Deans give thought how best they can speak briefly to Academic Board and Council about current issues and future plans and prospects for their Faculties. In brief discussion, Deans agreed unanimously that the current Annual Report as a mechanism lacked value because of its focus on past achievements and exigencies. They were in agreement with the Vice-Chancellor's memorandum and stressed that they would prefer to report on future plans and current important needs and issues affecting their Faculty. They agreed to give further consideration to this issue.

Deans received a Document D43/98 listing the 1999 meeting dates for the Committee of Deans. Deans approved the dates as listed.

The next scheduled Committee of Deans meeting will be held on 13 October 1998 at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room.

Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Deans
General Manager