Meeting 5/2005 of the Committee of Deans was held at 2.45 pm on Tuesday, 2 August 2005 in the Sir George Lush Room, Clayton Campus

Professor R Larkins AO, Vice-Chancellor

Professor S Parker, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Professor E Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Mr P Marshall, Vice-President (Administration)

Mr D Pitt, Vice-President (Finance)/Chief Financial Officer

Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland

Professor J 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 M Pittard, Acting 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 M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia

Professor T Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa

Professor A Freiberg, Dean, Faculty of Law

Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services

At the commencement of the meeting, the Vice-Chancellor welcomed Mr Peter Marshall, Vice-President (Administration) and Mr David Pitt, Vice-President (Finance)/Chief Financial Officer to their first meeting of the Committee of Deans.

Minutes of meeting 4/2005 of the Committee of Deans held on Wednesday, 22 June 2005 were confirmed.

The Vice-Chancellor provided members with an update on a range of issues and recent events including:

• second semester enrolments/commencing numbers were down 3% on 2004, however, the decline experienced in first semester had been arrested due to efforts of a wide range of staff;

• "VSU legislation" – productive discussions were underway with all campus-based student unions, however, MSA (Clayton Campus) was still focussed on opposition to the proposed legislation;

• appointment of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) – short listing of candidates would occur shortly with interviews to be held in the first week of October;

• at a recent lecture, the Honourable Dr Brendan Nelson, MP, Minister for Education, Science and Training outlined some possible areas of change including:

  • Research Quality Framework – information on the framework and "any new money" would continue to be provided to Deans;

  • the next round of federal funding for new places may be mainly targeted towards regional universities; and

  • consideration may be given to allowing Monash researchers, based at the Malaysia Campus, to apply for ARC grants.

Professor Stephen Parker, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor provided an update on the state of discussions with the NTEU on achieving a HEWRR compliant Enterprise Agreement.

Mr Peter Marshall, Vice-President (Administration), informed members of the contractual negotiations with Callista and the likely increase in the licence fee.

Following an introduction from Professors Byrne and Cornish focussing on research collaboration and the establishment of institutes, discussion canvassed a number of issues including:

• the role of institutes in the teaching program and the importance of ensuring that a disconnection between research and teaching did not occur;

• the establishment of eight to ten institutes would contribute to improving external stakeholders’ understanding and engagement with the University;

• "virtual" institutes and the possibility of some having "shop fronts";

• the importance of an appropriate appointment to the position of Director;

• flexibility within institutes was important; and

• the matrix structure should accommodate the need of GPG students including the capacity to be appointed as tutors.

Dealt with at item 6.1 University Research Institutes.

Members noted the importance of senior staff receiving actual versus budget and forecasts several times per year.

(Secretarial note: this item was carried forward from meeting 4/2005 [22 June]).

Discussion noted the importance of including in new and major change proposals, a section that clearly outlined the major changes/impact to existing processes and detailing new processes that would need to be implemented.

A member suggested that a future topic for consideration could involve a discussion to identify processes and activities that should cease at Monash.

(Secretarial note: this item was carried forward from meeting 4/2005 [22 June]).

The Vice-Chancellor advised members that this preliminary discussion of the matter should focus on developing a shared understanding of what was meant by the term "Off-Campus Learning" rather than attempting to develop/agree on the framework as detailed in the agenda paper.

During discussion, members noted the following:

• that statements in "Monash Directions 2025" referring to undergraduate academic programs being based on a high quality campus experience did not imply that Monash was winding back OCL but rather that Monash would remain predominantly a campus based institution;

• that senior staff should, when necessary, ensure that any misunderstandings re OCL were clarified with staff; and

• that a discourse on OCL could occur via a full review or be included with a Review of Coursework Offerings and/or discussions on how to improve the student experience.

During discussion, it was agreed that Mr David Pitt, Vice-President (Finance)/Chief Financial Officer, would discuss the matter with Financial Resources Management and the matter would be returned to the Committee of Deans or Senior Management Committee for further discussion.

Members who held strong opinions on the matter were requested to forward their views directly to the Vice-Chancellor.

This matter was held over for discussion at a future meeting.

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 4.00 pm on Tuesday, 20 September in the City Office.

Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)

Pro Vice-Chancellors

Deans/Acting Deans