COMMITTEE OF DEANS

Meeting 4/2005 of the Committee of Deans was held at 4.00 pm on Wednesday, 22 June 2005 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 S Parker, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Professor A Lindsay, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland

Professor J Redmond, Dean, Faculty of Art and Design

Associate Professor D Cuthbert, Acting 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, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Research Training

Professor John Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Industry)

Apologies:

Professor E Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Ms A Crook, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources)

Professor M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia

Professor T Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa

Professor H Le Grand, Dean, Faculty of Arts

Secretary:

Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services

2 .Minutes

Minutes of meeting 3/2005 of the Committee of Deans held on Tuesday, 10 May 2005 were confirmed.

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

3.1 Performance Evaluation of Deans

Outcomes: Following further discussion, members were informed that:

(i) Ms Anita Zanchetta, Manager, Remuneration and Sourcing, Resource Planning, would finalise implementation of the scheme; and

(ii) the scheme would be in place prior to the annual round of discussions between Deans and the Vice-Chancellor.

4 Vice-Chancellor

4.1 Vice-Chancellor’s Business

The Vice-Chancellor provided members with an update on the following matters:

4.2 Role of Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Industry)

Professor John Anderson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Industry) was in attendance for this item.

Following an overview of the role by Professor Anderson, members discussed a range of activities and linkages including government relationships, interaction with business development managers, the Advance Database and the need to better co-ordinate the ‘Clayton Precinct’.

Outcomes:

(i) a further update to be provided in approximately three months; and

(ii) a demonstration of the Advance Database to be provided at the October meeting of the Senior Management Committee.

Action/noting: Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Industry), Secretary, Senior Management Committee

4.3 Position description – Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International)

The Vice-Chancellor introduced the item noting that the revised position would differ to the one vacated by Mr Tony Pollock in a number of ways including having an expanded focus on the academic development of offshore campuses and partnerships.

Outcome: Two changes to the position description were supported. They were:

Page 2 under the heading "Research", the second paragraph to read as follows:

Page 4 under the heading ‘International Academic Strategy’ appears a dot point list of seven items. Delete the final dot point that reads "Further extend international distance education…. in Australia".

Action/noting: Divisional Director, Student and Staff Services

4.4 Vice-Chancellor’s Ancora Imparo Student Leadership Program

Outcomes:

(i) Deans noted the advice of the Vice-Chancellor that the ranking of applicants would be undertaken by each faculty; and

(ii) the time frame for the process would be as follows:

Action/noting: Vice-Chancellor, Project Officer, The Vice-Chancellor’s Ancora Imparo Student Leadership Program

5 Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

5.1 Supporting Learning and Teaching

Outcome:

Members were provided with an overview of the advisory group established to provide advice on the most appropriate direction for the Centre.

Following the discussion, Professor Parker informed members that progress reports would be provided at future meetings.

Action/noting: Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

5.2 Unit Evaluation

Members noted the advice of Professor Parker that the outcomes of semester 1-2005 unit evaluations would be available shortly.

Note: evaluation reports are available at:

www.monash.edu.au/unit-evaluation-reports

5.3 University Staff Survey

Outcome:

Professor Parker advised members that a staff survey, administered by an external agency and Student and Staff Services Division would take place in August with the results available by the end of October.

Action/noting: Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

6. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

7. Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

7.1 ARC Linkage Projects

Professor Max King informed members of the recent announcement that three researchers had been awarded Federation Fellowships by the Australian Research Council to continue their research at Monash. Further, Monash will be the lead university in two Centres of Excellence and a partner in three other Centres of Excellence.

A paper on the "Outcomes by Institution for Linkage Projects Round 2 2005" was tabled. It was noted that Monash had not achieved as good a result in these grants as expected and members were requested to encourage greater application rates from research staff.

8 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources)

9 Matters raised by members

9.1 Alternative models for entry – Gippsland Campus

(Sponsor: Brian Mackenzie)

Outcome: Following a discussion of the research relating to ENTER scores as a predictor of performance and the proposed "MAGNET Program", it was suggested that the proposal be further developed and submitted to Academic Board for further discussion.

Action/noting: Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland, President and Secretary of Academic Board

9.2 Inter-faculty research collaborations/centres and university-wide research institutes

(Sponsor: Ed Byrne)

(Discussion of this matter was deferred to a later meeting)

9.3 Financial Position of the University

(Sponsor: Gill Palmer)

(Discussion of this matter was deferred to a later meeting)

9.4 Impact statements

(Sponsor: Sue Willis)

(Discussion of this matter was deferred to a later meeting)

10 Other Business

11 Next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.45 pm on Tuesday, 2 August in the Sir George Lush Room, Clayton Campus.

Distribution

Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Resources)

Pro Vice-Chancellors

Deans/Acting Deans