Committee of Deans Meeting 4-2004

Meeting 4/2004 of the Committee of Deans was held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 22 June 2004 in the Monash City Office, Level 11, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne.

MINUTES

1 Attendance and apologies

There were present:

Professor R Larkins AO, Vice-Chancellor

Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

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

Professor M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia

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 E Byrne, 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 M Evans, Director University Planning and Research

Professor C Browne, President, Academic Board

Mr J Levine, Divisional Director, Financial Resources Management

Mr R Dias, Deputy Director, Financial Resources Management

Apologies:

Professor S Parker, Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Professor E Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Professor J Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa

Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland Campus

Secretary:

Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services

2 Notes

Notes of meeting 2/2004 of the Committee of Deans held on 11 May 2004 were approved subject to the inclusion of the following as the final paragraph for item 4—Update on Enterprise Bargaining:

"In relation to proposed enhanced maternity leave provisions, Mr. Marshall advised that a central off-the top pool of fund would be a preferred model for funding the improved leave conditions."

3 Matters arising from the Minutes (not dealt with elsewhere in the Agenda)

3.1 Higher Education Support Act 2003 – Equity initiatives

The Vice-Chancellor will introduce the item. Professor Merran Evans and Professor Chris Browne were in attendance for this item.

Professor Evans outlined to members the major features of the revised and new equity initiatives as detailed in the agenda papers.

During discussion and in relation to the proposed access pathways, members were informed that other than those detailed in the agenda papers, some faculties have additional access pathways eg. The Diploma of Business that articulates into the Bachelor of Business and Commerce program.

The VC informed members that there was no intention for Access Monash pathways to replace existing successful programs.

Referring to the proposal that Monash College assume responsibility for the Access Monash pathway at all campuses, except Gippsland, members noted that the proposal under discussion would significantly alter the nature of Monash College from one of fee paying students to a mix of fee paying and scholarship-funded students. This would affect the size of intakes, possibly have ramifications for other types of entry-level programs and require greater transparency of operations by Monash College

In response, members were advised that the primary issue was access pathways at the Peninsula and Berwick campuses and faculties would be encouraged to discuss pedagogical issues directly with the College to ensure that new programs meet the specific needs of students. Further, it was noted that the proposal to expand the range of programs offered by Monash College would improve staff understanding of the capacities and utility of Monash College.

In reference to the Schools Access Program, members were advised that the term "tutoring" should be replaced by "individual assistance", Members were also supportive of the suggestion that all students of low socio-economic and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds be encouraged, and assisted where practicable, to access Monash’s overseas campuses and centres.

Concluding the discussion, the VC thanked the members of the Pricing Positioning and Equity Working Party for their initial work and Professors Willis, Evans and Browne for the current equity initiatives.

3.2 Pro Vice-Chancellor, Monash Gippsland Campus – Position Specification

The VC introduced the item, noting that Deans had previously expressed some reservations about aspects of the proposal to treat Gippsland campus a ‘faculty campus’. Following consideration of the scope of the PVC-Gippsland responsibilities and noting the need to be responsive to local conditions, a revised position specification had been developed of which the major features included the objective of giving the PVC the responsibility for local staff, course offerings and load in liaison with Deans while retaining the integral cross-campus and inter-campus links within disciplines and faculties.

The following issues/suggestions were raised during discussion:

• As the position specification gave the PVC-Gippsland overall budgetary control, issues such as budget transparency, the Dean’s role in course/unit development and staff appointments/progression would need to be more clearly defined in the position specification;

• As the development of common units/unit co-ordinators are domiciled at a range of campuses, service level agreements would need to be developed to ensure appropriate budgets are maintained;

• The role of Heads of Departments (HODs), particularly in complex faculty structures, would need to be more clearly defined;

• The input of HODs to the academic appointment process and performance management process would need to be formalised;

• Further consideration of the effect on research activity at Gippsland campus may be required as often research initiatives are initiated and mentored by staff at other campuses;

• It was proposed that the Dean of a faculty should Chair all selection committees for senior academic appointments of three years or more;

• Performance management of senior academic staff by the PVC, in consultation with the Dean, may be an unwieldy process;

• In instances where a school is split between two campuses, both research and budgets would need to be carefully managed;

• Accreditation by external bodies may become an issue if linkages within and across disciplines and campuses are not maintained;

• There are instances where a discipline/school budget domiciled at Gippsland is supplemented from other campuses;

• Engagement profiles of senior staff may need further consideration if staff report to the PVB and not the Dean;

• Members queried the proposal that senior academic staff located at the Gippsland campus report to the PVC from the beginning of 2005.

Several Deans questioned the appropriateness of establishing a school structure for those faculties without schools at Gippsland campus. Professor Willis noted that currently the Faculty of Education did not have a separate budget for Gippsland campus as the faculty budget was not premised on "load" but on where the need/demand was. Further, straight load was often serviced from other campuses enabling the introduction of more specialisations across the faculty and the introduction of a school structure at Gippsland would introduce a completely new and unhelpful model within the Faculty of Education. A further issue was that load followed the most appropriate supervisor and should a faculty withdraw taught load rather than have it lost to another school at Gippsland.

During the discussion, and in response to some of the issues raised, members were informed that Deans, or their nominees, would be represented on appointment committee; However, it was noted that the role of the Dean in staffing issues, including performance appraisals, should be further elaborated. Other refinements to the matrix management arrangements at Gippsland campus include:

• Agreeing a formal process on the involvement of Deans and the PVC in the area of performance management.

• The PVC position specification be clarified to ensure that the new arrangements do not disrupt currently successful arrangements such as the School of Nursing that is split across both Peninsula and Gippsland campuses and the current single school structure in the Faculty of Education.

• Deans must be consulted on the staffing profile of disciplines.

• In instances where staff teach across campuses, it may be necessary to have dual reporting for engagement profiles and performance appraisals.

Concluding the discussion, the VC thanked members for their contributions and informed members that this discussion was a good start to refining the multi-campus model and in this particular instance ensuring the empowerment of the leadership at Gippsland campus and ensuring that intellectual capital flowed to Gippsland while retaining the important interactions within disciplines.

While noting that the greater clarity needed to be built into the position specification, issues relating to budgets would require further work and the role of Deans in considering load shifts, appointments and performance appraisals needed to be made more explicit members were advised that the proposal would be further developed and returned for further discussion.

4 University Financial Targets 2005-2007

Mr John Levine and Mr Reynold Dias were in attendance for this item.

Ms Crook introduced the item and outlined a range of financial targets including achieving an operating margin of 4% on revue in order to maintain the university’s balance sheet and capacity to borrow, an annual increase of 15% in research revenue, provision of $6 million for initiatives, downward revision of international student numbers due to a perceived softening of some markets and inclusion in the projections of the impact of the Nelson reforms and the likely impact of the current enterprise bargaining round.

The following matters were raised during discussion:

• The difference in the level of funding for the university sector should Labor win government at the next Federal election;

• Commencing fee-paying postgraduate numbers—these targets are still subject to consolidation of faculty projections;

• The proposed level of research funding may be augmented depending on the outcome of the research review that is underway;

• The cost reduction/efficiency gain component was a balancing factor at this early stage and was not a targeted budget outcome.

The VC noted the concerns of some Deans that their faculties had no further capacity to make cost savings without making cuts to core programs and/or research activity and advised that these projections were still early figures.

5 Annual Plan 2004

Section 5 of Monash University – Excellence and Diversity: Strategic Framework – 2004-2008, states that

"An annual planning cycle will be implemented involving the formulation of a university wide annual plan, the formulation or updating of the teaching and learning plan, the research and research training management plan, the support services plan, faculty specific plans, campus specific plans, and the marketing plan. The emphasis will be on formulating plans that are linked to the budget-setting process and are subjected to an annual cycle of evaluation of progress against plan. It will be essential throughout that staff and students have substantial input into the planning process and feel committed to the plans proposed."

During discussion, members made the following suggestions:

• That more quantitative targets in the area of research be incorporated into the plan;

• That targets perform a range of function including setting realistic goals for staff and providing quantitative objectives that can be incorporated into faculty operations plans

In response, the VC noted that the use of targets can also at times be limiting. Further, staff reporting to the VC would have an opportunity to identify targets/benchmarks during their performance appraisal discussions.

6 Monash University South Africa

Members discussed and noted the South Africa Campus Business Plan Project report.

Attachment 6 – South African Campus Business Plan Project - report from Mr David Gilmour

Attachment 7 – Draft Recommendations to Resources and Finance Committee and to Council Concerning Future Operations of Monash University in South Africa

7 Leadership Program for Elite Students

Following and introduction from the VC, members made the following suggestions:

• That the program include a module taught by the VC;

• That linkages with the Williamson Community Leadership Foundation be explored;

• That mechanisms for involving Higher Degree by Research students in the program be explored; and,

• Some seminars/modules be organised on weekends to facilitate the participation of off-shore students.

8 Melbourne-Monash Collaborations

Following discussion, the VC advised that he would contact Professor Kwong Lee Dow about arranging a meeting between the Deans of faculties of the University of Melbourne and Monash University.

9 Other business

10 Next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 3 August 2004 in the City Office.

Distribution

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