Committee of Deans Meeting 2-2004

Meeting 2/2004 of the Committee of Deans was held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 23 March 2004 in the Monash City Office, Level 11, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne.

Professor R Larkins AO, Vice-Chancellor

Professor S Parker, Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

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

Professor E Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

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 R Weber, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Professor A Freiberg, Dean, Faculty of Law

Professor L Piterman, Acting Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Professor R Norris, Dean, Faculty of Science

Professor M King, Director, Research Graduate School

Professor M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia Campus

Professor J Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa

Professor E Byrne, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Professor C Chapman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy

Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services

The Minutes of meeting 1/2004 of the Committee of Deans held on 10 February 2004 were approved.

Introducing the item, Professor Larkins outlined to members the events surrounding the recent student protests that resulted in the relocation of the Council meeting and damage to several administrative buildings.

Referring to the decision of Council, as detailed in the paper ‘Report to Council: Recommended Response to the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) – 2003’, Professor Larkins noted that the recommendations approved by Council were open-ended insofar as the detail of the courses with lower fee levels and detailed equity measures were still being considered. Members were advised that these aspects would be progressed over the coming months.

Members discussed a range of issues including Monash’s existing range of access and equity programs, the need to grow research activity and improve research infrastructure, enrolment patterns of students from low socio-economic backgrounds compared to students from higher socio-economic environments, the financial implications of the increased revenue streams and the rationale for implementing the change immediately rather than waiting until after the next federal election.

Following the discussion, members indicated that they concurred with the recommendations approved by Council and looked forward to the development of the detail relating to the new initiatives.

Professor Lindsay introduced the document ‘Access Monash Discussion Paper’ noting that the Pricing, Positioning and Equity Working Party (PPE) would finalise guidelines that would assist faculties develop initiatives which, when developed, would be considered by Education Committee and the PPE.

Outlining the proposed scope of the Access Monash program, members were informed that it was planned to offer a wide-range of courses with one suggestion being that 5% of places in participating courses be made available under this initiative. It was noted that each faculty would develop the structure of each program.

Other aspects of the program discussed included the possible role of Monash College, the need to develop an appropriate methodology to identify an initial target group for entry/admission, the ongoing need to supply learning support services to students and the current situation relating to exemption scholarships and living allowances.

During discussion of the paper, members provided a range of comments/suggestions including:

• one objective of the program was to give deserving students that would not normally gain access to Monash’s programs via existing pathways an opportunity to access high prestige courses;

• careful consideration needed to be given to any methodology adopted to identify disadvantaged schools and/or regions;

• Access Monash could be seen as the umbrella program with other initiatives fitting beneath it;

• a query was raised as to whether the proposal widened access versus deepening access and care needed to be taken so that existing programs were not compromised;

• it was suggested that the new initiative must be structured so that it could be easily and simply communicated to all stakeholders eg take the top 2-3 students from selected schools;

• members discussed the appropriateness of methodologies to identify "disadvantaged schools" and "disadvantaged students";

• the setting of fee levels for research honours programs still required further consideration;

• the need to give careful consideration to the enhancement/development of indigenous programs particularly at the University level.; and

• the mechanism for funding and then recouping costs (less administrative costs) for scholarships would need to be reviewed.

Professor Larkins thanked members for their contributions.

Commenting on the outcome of recent profile discussions with officers from DEST, Professor Larkins informed members that for courses where there were no HECS loads, it appeared that there was no limit to the number of fee-paying students that could be enrolled.

A member requested clarification on whether Deans separately or collectively signed off on SLAs for services provided across faculties.

Members were advised that the matter was with Faculty Managers, however, if a procedural issue required discussion then the matter could be referred to Ms Crook or subsequently, to a meeting of the Senior Management Committee.

Ms Crook informed members that Monash had subscribed for a group membership including a range of services that could be utilised for corporate functions.

Further details would be provided to Deans by the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources) and, if appropriate, a future meeting of the Committee of Deans may be scheduled at the venue.

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 11 May 2004 in the City Office.

Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources)

Pro Vice-Chancellors

Deans

Director, Research Graduate School