Meeting 3/2003 of the Deans Discussion Group was held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 13 May 2003 in Room S2, ground level, Monash University Law Chambers, 472 Bourke Street, Melbourne. Drinks and hors-d’oeuvres will be served at 6.00pm.

Professor P LeP Darvall, Vice-Chancellor

Ms A Crook AO, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources)

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

Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland Campus

Professor J K Redmond, Dean, Faculty of Art and Design

Professor H Le Grand, Dean, Faculty of Arts

Professor G Palmer, Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics

Professor S Willis, Dean, Faculty of Education

Professor T Sridhar Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor G Gupta, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Professor S Parker, Dean, Faculty of Law

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

Professor C Chapman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy

Professor R Norris, Dean, Faculty of Science

Professor M King, Director, Research Graduate School

Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and Planning)

Professor J Rosenberg, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Mr T Pollock, Vice-President, International

Mr T Calder, Director, Secretariat and Executive Services

Notes of meeting 2/2003 held on 1 April 2003 were received and noted subject to the following amendment:

Item 6 Faculty/Campus Matrix: a case study – Caulfield Campus. The second last dot point to read:

Attendance Policy: Following discussion, members agreed that Deans could nominate a Deputy Dean to attend meetings of the Deans Discussion Group on those occasions when the Dean was an apology.

Mr Tony Pollock: Members were informed that to assist with Mr Pollock’s offshore responsibilities, the previous Vice-Chancellor had amended Mr Pollock’s title to include Vice-President International. As such, the current Vice-Chancellor has agreed that Mr Pollock would be a member of the Committee of Deans and the Vice-Chancellor’s Group.

Gippsland School of Engineering: Professor Darvall informed members that following a thorough evaluation of the six options contained in Adjunct Professor Seale’s report, Council had endorsed the recommendation from the Dean of Engineering and the evaluation and reference groups that Option 6 – The Civil Engineering/Environmental Option be implemented by the Faculty of Engineering.

Further, members were informed that projections for Option 6 indicated that the program would operate at a deficit in its early years and, since the Council had intervened in a management decision, that the shortfall would be funded centrally – not by the faculty. Professor Darvall thanked Professor Mackenzie and Professor Sridhar for their efforts during the review process.

Following discussion of current practice, members agreed with the suggestion that Professor Stephen Parker prepare a paper on the naming of Chairs, including sponsored Chairs and Chairs named after distinguished individuals. The matter would be considered at a future meeting of Deans. Professor Darvall suggested that Professor Parker co-opt the assistance of other Deans and staff members in preparing the paper.

Professor Brian Mackenzie provided members with an overview of the Gippsland Education Precinct (Precinct).

Professor Mackenzie informed members that the Precinct was a post-compulsory education development centre bringing together year 11 and 12 students from Kurnai College, GippsTAFE, Gippsland Group Training and Monash University in an innovative learning environment.

Located in the middle of the campus, preliminary construction work had commenced with the main construction work planned to commence in June/July. It was expected that the initial buildings would be completed by early 2004, allowing year 11 and 12 students to move in with the Precinct fully operational by early 2005.

Commenting on current issues relating to the Precinct, members were informed that access by partners to some facilities and charging for space needed further discussion and, while the Department of Education and Training were funding the initial management costs, the method of funding these costs in future years would need to be resolved.

Professor Gary Bouma introduced the item noting that 200+ academic staff, members of the Vice-Chancellor’s Group and the Vice-Chancellor Designate, had attended the Summit and overall the Summit was received positively.

Commenting on some of the major themes emerging from the Summit, Professor Bouma advised members that management of research in a devolved environment, the role of Deans in encouraging a research culture, workload management and mechanisms for attracting and retaining excellent staff were some of the issues that would be focussed on in the short term.

During discussion, members commented that improved research performance would require a range of actions including:

Summarising the outcomes of the discussion, Professor Darvall advised that:

A document detailing the outcomes of the scenario included in the agenda papers was tabled.

Professor Max King provided members with a detailed explanation of the scenario and the unexpected outcome when only one variable was altered across the pool of "universities".

Noting that the scenario emphasised the importance of retaining students for as long as possible while also improving the probability of completion, Professor Darvall informed Deans that he would reflect on how best to progress the matter and thanked Professor King for his presentation.

Professor John Redmond informed members of recent changes and activities in relation to the Monash University Museum of Art.

Professor Parker advised members that the planning group for issues resulting from the senior management planning days at Cape Schanck would meet on Thursday, 15 May 2003 to further refine the list of topics.

Professor Gill Palmer informed members that Professor Jayne Godfrey had been appointed to the position of Head of the Department of Accounting and Finance.

The next meeting of the Deans Discussion Group will be held at 4 pm on Tuesday, 24 June 2003 in the City Office.

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 3 June 2003 in the Sir George Lush Room.

Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellors

Pro Vice-Chancellors

Deans

Deputy Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Director, Research Graduate School

Vice-President (International)