Professor Peter Darvall, Vice-Chancellor

Professor Alan Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & Planning)

Ms Alison Crook, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources)

Professor Brian Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland

Professor John Redmond, Dean, Faculty of Art and Design

Professor Homer Le Grand, Dean, Faculty of Arts

Professor Gill Palmer, Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics

Professor Sue Willis, Dean, Faculty of Education

Professor Michael Brisk, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor John Rosenberg, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Professor Nick Saunders, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Professor Colin Chapman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy

Professor Robert Norris, Dean, Faculty of Science

Professor Max King, Director, Research Graduate School

Professor Richard Fox attended for Professor Stephen Parker, Dean, Faculty of Law

Professor Bill Kent, Director, Monash Centre in Prato for item 4.1.1

Associate Professor Tony Luff, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences for item 4.3.2

Ms Janine Mazzini, Manager, Business Improvement Projects, Service and Systems for items 4.4.1 and 4.4.2

Mr Neil Bradley, Researcher, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources) for items 4.4.1, 4.4.2 and 4.4.3

Mr John Levine, Divisional Director, Financial Resources Management for items 4.4.4, 4.4.5 and 4.4.6

Mr Reynold Dias, Deputy Director, Financial Resources Management for items 4.4.4, 4.4.5 and 4.4.6

Professor Gary Bouma, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development)

Professor Stephen Parker, Dean, Faculty of Law

Order of agenda – items were discussed in the following order: 2, 3, 4.1.1, 4.3.2, 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 4.4.3, 4.4.4, 4.4.5, 4.4.6, 4.3.1, 5.1, and 6.1

The minutes of meeting 5/2002 of the Committee of Deans held on 2 July, 2002 were approved subject to correction of punctuation in items 4.4.1 and 5.1 and replacement of the word "wad" with "was" in the first line of the minute for item 4.3.1.

3 Matters arising from the minutes of meeting 5/2002 of the Committee of Deans held on 2 July 2002

Following comments by Deans on the progress of discussions relating to item 4.3.1 Academic Profile for Peninsula Campus, Professor Darvall informed Deans that the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) would follow up issues raised during discussion with Deans of faculties with programs at Peninsula Campus.

Ms Alison Crook informed Deans that the current version of a Service Level Agreement, although undergoing revision as the implementation progressed, would be forwarded to Deans for information.

Professor Bill Kent, Director, Monash Centre in Prato was in attendance for this item.

Professor Kent informed members that while periods of 2003 and 2004 were fully booked with a variety of external and Monash-related activities, there were blocks of time still available at the Monash Centre in Prato.

Noting that the Centre was already used in a wide-variety of ways, Professor Kent advised that niche areas such as small business, early childhood education, textiles, fee-paying postgraduate programs, partnership arrangements with nearby universities and the establishment of small research units were areas that Deans might wish to investigate further.

Professor Darvall thanked Professor Kent for his presentation and leadership and management of the Monash Centre in Prato.

A document titled, Draft – Framework for University-Wide Planning was tabled at the meeting.

Professor Lindsay introduced the document and informed members that the document aimed to provide a context for University-wide planning that assisted both academic and campus planning and provided a framework for further discussion of a proposed institutional campus planning process.

Ms Crook noted that the process underway for development of the Caulfield campus would provide a model that, if extended to other campuses, would result in an iterative institutional campus planning process.

Noting that members had had insufficient time to consider the matter, further discussion was deferred until the next meeting of the Deans Discussion Group.

Associate Professor Tony Luff, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences was in attendance for this item.

Professor Lindsay informed members that the document, Teaching in Biotechnology at Monash was a response to discussion of the matter at meeting 5/2002 of the Committee of Deans. Further, members were advised that the matter had been discussed at the Committee of Associate Deans (Teaching).

Associate Professor Luff informed members that the document attempted to identify the major issues and provided recommendations that, if approved, would provide the means for Monash to take advantage of some of the recent developments in biotechnology at Monash. In particular, Associate Professor Luff advised members that the document provided a preliminary identification of:

Commending the document to members for discussion, Associate Professor Luff noted that the following three of the four recommendations detailed in the document were key to successfully progressing the matter. These were:

1. That a detailed marketing study be undertaken to assess both student demand and employer requirements for biotechnology courses and to report to the Committee of Deans on the possible establishment of new undergraduate and/or postgraduate courses in biotechnology at Monash.

2. That a working group be formed to review the existing courses in biotechnology at Monash and, where needed in response to the outcomes of the marketing study, to recommend to the Committee of Associate Deans (Teaching) on appropriate features of any new course(s) in biotechnology at Monash.

3. That a reference group be formed, including leading identities at Monash and representatives from both the biotechnology industry and key Monash research groups, to provide feedback to both the marketing study and the course working group on industry and research training issues for biotechnology courses at Monash.

During discussion, members raised the following issues and/or provided the following comments:

Concluding the discussion, Professor Darvall advised that the project should be managed by the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning) and a further report on the matter be presented to a future meeting of the Committee of Deans.

Ms Janine Mazzini, Manager, Business Improvement Projects, Department of Service and Systems was in attendance for this item.

Ms Mazzini introduced the item and informed members that implementation of Syllabus Plus was now a responsibility of IAS. Major aspects of Ms Mazzini’s PowerPoint presentation included:

Commenting on progress to date, Ms Mazzini informed members that significant progress had been made in refining the system and that further refinements would be made for the 2003 timetable. Commenting on the significant assistance to-date offered by user groups, Ms Mazzini requested the assistance of Deans in progressing meetings with Heads of Departments/Schools and staff in order to ensure that faculty staff were informed of the system requirements necessary to deliver the timetable, to bed down administrative and system processes and to respond to any concerns that staff may have with Syllabus Plus.

Professor Darvall requested that the staff of the Syllabus Plus project team be provided with maximum co-operation during implementation of this important initiative.

Mr Neil Bradley, Researcher, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources) and Ms Janine Mazzini were in attendance for this item.

Providing an outline of the proposed policy, Mr Bradley informed members that in consultation with academic staff and members of the Syllabus Plus project team, the policy was drafted recognising that each faculty had its own specific timetabling requirements and included the need to flexibility cater for students undertaking cross-faculty programs. During discussion, the following issues were raised:

Ms Crook suggested that the draft policy be circulated and any unresolved issues be referred to Mr Bradley for further consideration.

Mr Neil Bradley, Researcher, Office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources) was in attendance for this item.

Mr Bradley informed members that the proposed policy framework for the planning, use and management of space was initially raised with Deans at meeting 6/2001 of the Deans Discussion Group held on 4 September 2001. At that meeting, Deans were advised that the policy framework would cover the following:

Paper 1 Ownership of Space

Paper 2 Types Uses and Classification of Space

Paper 3 Servicing of Space

Paper 4 Development of Plans

Paper 5 Maintenance Framework

Paper 6 Charging for Space

At meeting 6/2001 of the Deans Discussion Group, Paper 1 Ownership of Space was discussed and members endorsed the broad direction of the policy subject to refinement of some minor issues.

Mr Bradley informed members that Paper 2, Types Uses and Classification of University Space, Paper 3, Servicing of University Space and Paper 5, Maintaining University Space were submitted for discussion at the meeting.

Paper 4, Development of Space and Paper 6, Charging for Space were still under development (names of some of the policies have changed since meeting 6/2001 of the Deans Discussion Group).

Following an introduction by Mr Bradley, members were informed of the proposed Space Occupancy Classification (SOC) System. The SOC System classified space into four groups, being:

SOC1 space used exclusively by the Space Holder. This includes office space, plant areas and staff facilities

SOC2 teaching or academic space only to be used by a particular Space Holder e.g. engineering laboratories

SOC3 faculty controlled teaching space controlled by the faculty. The faculty would control the space, however, other users may be scheduled to use the space on a cost share basis

SOC4 centrally controlled space usually controlled by the Campus Director

During discussion, members noted the following:

In response, Mr Bradley informed members that the functionality of Syllabus Plus included an ad-hoc booking process whereby a Space Holder could allocate space to a non-teaching activity.

In response, members were informed that amenities such as toilets were classified as SOC1 space and the Dean would delegate to Facilities and Services Division the maintenance of such areas.

Members approved the policy document, Paper 2, Types Uses and Classification of University Space.

Mr Bradley informed members that the proposed policy on the maintenance of university space would replace areas of current policy and formalise responsibility for operational maintenance, renovation and refurbishment work and major works.

Following an overview of the proposed policy on maintaining university space, members raised a number of concerns including:

In response Mr Bradley noted that research space would be classified as SOC2 – teaching and academic space of a unique nature or space that had a unique relationship to a recognised user.

Professor Darvall requested that "research" be included where appropriate in all policy documents.

Members were advised that any faculty contributions would be an additional cost and not offset.

Members were advised that the responsibility to maintain and furnish space detailed in SOC1 referred to the responsibilities of a good tenant to keep an area tidy.

In response, Mr Bradley informed members that release of Paper 6, Charging for University Space would add greater clarity to the issue.

Deans were advised that Paper 6, Charging for Space was still being developed and that strategic cost management would begin to be implemented without the proposed space management framework being finalised. Professor Darvall advised that Paper 2, Types Uses and Classification of University Space be accepted and that the remaining policies, Paper 3, Servicing of University Space and Paper 5, Maintaining University Space be further refined and reconsidered by the Committee of Deans.

Mr John Levine, Divisional Director, and Mr Reynold Dias, Deputy Director, Financial Resources Management Division were in attendance for this item.

Mr Levine informed members that while Monash had adopted a policy of not increasing annual course fees for international and local fee paying students after their initial enrolment, it was proposed that the policy be amended to allow an annual adjustment, based on CPI and/or university cost increases, to apply to all fee-paying students irrespective of their year or course stage.

It was noted that students that commenced prior to 2004 would continue with their "contract rates" until completion of their course.

Following discussion, the proposed policy was given in principle approval.

Mr John Levine, Divisional Director, and Mr Reynold Dias, Deputy Director, Financial Resources Management Division were in attendance for this item.

Mr Levine informed members that the 2003 Budget Timetable included consideration of the budget by Resources and Finance Committee on 25 November 2002 and approval by Council at meeting 8/2002, to be held on 9 December. Further, members were informed that information to assist faculty managers develop faculty plans had been distributed and additional information, such as DEST income, would be provided as it became available. Staff from Financial Resources Management Division would continue to meet fortnightly with faculty managers to assist in finalising faculty plans.

During discussion, members raised a number of concerns including the need to collect accurate data in order to present faculty business plans to the Vice-Chancellor’s Group, the role of service level agreements in the budget process, the process whereby central support costs would be calculated and charged to faculties and that the review of faculty budgets by the Vice-Chancellor’s Group in late October/early November left little time for refinement of the budget prior to its consideration by Resources and Finance Committee and Council.

Noting the concerns of Deans, Professor Darvall requested Deans consult with their resource managers on progress to date, Mr Levine meet with Deans to discuss any outstanding concerns they may have and Deans inform Professor Darvall and Ms Crook of any aspects of the process that required further attention.

This item was included during discussion of 4.4.5 2003 Budget Timetable.

A document, Proposal for a Chair in Public Management was tabled.

The Committee approved the proposal to establish and fill the Chair of Public Management noting that the selection process would be undertaken in partnership with the Australian School of Government and follow Monash’s normal selection procedures.

This item was added to the agenda at the meeting.

Noting that the current appointment of Professor Anderson expired at the end of 2003, and that of Professor Bignall would be extended to the latter half of 2003, Professor Darvall invited Deans to provide suggestions of suitable Monash staff who might be considered for future appointment to the positions in South Africa and Malaysia.

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.30pm on Tuesday 8 October 2002 in the Sir George Lush Room.

Meeting 6/2002 (27 August) of Deans Discussion Group was cancelled. The next meeting of the Deans Discussion Group will be held at 4.00pm on Tuesday, 5 November 2002 in the City Office.