COMMITTEE OF DEANS

Meeting 8/2005 of the Committee of Deans was held at 4.00 pm on Wednesday, 14 December 2005 in the city office, level 11, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne.

MINUTES

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 R Fairchild, Vice-President (Advancement)

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

Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland

Professor M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia

Professor M King, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Research Training

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 J Sheridan, Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor D Arnott, Acting 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 S Fahey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International)

Professor T Sridhar, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Professor R Weber, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology

Professor T Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa

Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services

Minutes of meeting 7/2005 of the Committee of Deans held on Tuesday, 9 November 2005 were confirmed.

Following discussion, the Vice-Chancellor summarised the comments of members as follows:

• the academic structure of the University should be further discussed in early 2006;

• future discussions should also include the viability of "small units" and the resultant duplication of roles and the costs of maintaining such administrative structures. Cross faculty service teaching needed to continue where appropriate – faculty boundaries need to be porous; and

• Professor Cornish would continue to develop and implement cross faculty research institutes in 2006.

The Vice-Chancellor introduced the following items:

The most recently discussed model did not appear to offer a great deal of comfort that it would achieve the objective of rewarding quality in research.

Advice had been received that the legislation allowed universities to advise students of an annual amenity fee and that the fee would be collected in two half-yearly tranches.

The impact on revenues for 2006 was expected to be a reduction of $500,000 with $4M approximately from the University budget in 2007 being required to support essential services previously funded via amenities fees.

Packaging of essential and voluntary services would be further progressed in 2006.

The Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, will proclaim in February whether institutions were compliant with the legislation. $8M was dependent on the Minister’s view.

Following discussion, deans were requested to select one dean to become a member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Group. The selected appointment would be for a term of two years – an alternate for the appointment would not be required as no other member of the Vice-Chancellor’s Group had an alternate.

A revised document titled Proposed Campus Academic Matrix Management Arrangements for Gippsland Campus was distributed at the meeting.

The Vice-Chancellor introduced the document noting that the purpose of the tabled document was to assist with the issue of defining responsibility and accountability and, noting that as the document had been tabled and members had not had time to consider the content, detailed discussion was postponed till 2006.

Members were advised to discuss outstanding areas of uncertainty with Professor Mackenzie. Other matters raised during discussion included the phasing in, over 2006, with full implementation in 2007, of the changed arrangements for Gippsland Campus, that admissions would be done the same way as in 2005 and would require the involvement of both campus and faculty staff and the promotion and performance evaluation process.

Members discussed the current management arrangements for Malaysia and South Africa noting that, overtime, Malaysia Campus would move to a degree of autonomy.

Matters raised during discussion included:

• Professor Palmer to supply a paper on issues relating to units/courses and quality on offshore campuses including credit assessment; and

• the International Staffing Group had made good progress.

Concluding the discussion, the Vice-Chancellor encouraged all members who required clarification re the operation of Gippsland Campus in 2006 to contact Professor Mackenzie to discuss the matter.

The Vice-Chancellor suggested that all faculties look to improve the number of academics participating in the academic procession and attending the post-ceremony gathering.

Any suggestions regarding the graduation ceremonies should be sent to Mr Fairchild for consideration.

Professor Parker introduced the item and outlined three themes for discussion. These were:

• Education Committee, a committee of Academic Board, and the Committee of Associate Deans Teaching co-exist, however, one appropriately constituted committee may be more appropriate;

• the focus of the primary "Education Committee" should be on high level policy and any strategic initiative expenditure; and

• membership should include senior and experienced academic staff – possibly deans.

Professor Cornish also suggested that she would like to deal with the leadership of the faculty who drove the research effort.

During discussion, members raised a number of issues including:

• the need to improve communication between central and faculty bodies and staff;

• some processes currently in place needed to be reviewed;

• in at least one instance, deputy deans may be appointed with responsibility for the education and research portfolios and these senior staff would be, in many instances, the most appropriate staff to appoint to these committees;

• smaller faculties had greater difficulties attracting staff to take on the role of associate dean; and

• a member suggested that issues such as these required more advanced notice so that a greater contribution could be made to the discussion.

The discussion concluded with the Vice-Chancellor noting that the role of the Committee of Deans included "think tanking" issues whereas Senior Management Committee focussed more on policy discussion.

Members discussed the issues relating to the appointment of heads of departments/schools.

Summarising the discussion, the Vice-Chancellor noted that:

• unless exceptional circumstances existed, an appointment to head of school/department should currently hold a substantive position of professor or associate professor;

• if an appropriate appointment at professor or associate professor could not be made then an acting head of department/school should be appointed who would remain at their substantive level;

• the remuneration of heads of departments/schools should be reviewed in early 2006; and

• the statutes and regulations for heads of departments/schools, associate deans and deputy deans should be revisited.

Members agreed with the proposal to disestablish the Publication Grants Committee and devolve funding decisions to faculties, however, there was not a consensus view that faculties be required to provide an assurance that they would provide financial support to assist the publication of books and/or journals.

Following discussion of the Research Activity – A discussion paper during which members were generally supportive of the direction, the Vice-Chancellor requested that members email Professor King any suggestions or further comment on the content.

Mr Pitt outlined to members some of the issues relating to the budget process that would be further explored and discussed in 2006.

Given the changes to Monash’s royalty stream and equity level in the new Malaysia Campus, Mr Pitt and Professor Liddell would develop, and discuss with deans, a funding model for HDR students.

Mr Fairchild provided members with an overview of current aspects of fundraising, the sources of charitable giving in Australia, opportunities in Australia and a comparison of experiences with other Canadian universities, the key fundamentals of the proposed Monash campaign, proposed implementation plan and the role of Council and Council members in the campaign.

Mr Marshall advised that "high level" space planning issues would be brought to Senior Management Committee to ensure that deans were suitably informed.

Professor Parker provided members with an overview of the allocation of the funds gained through the Learning and Teaching Fund.

Following discussion, Mr Fairchild was requested to raise the change in deadline and move to a single course guide with Ms Lee-Ann Norris, Divisional Director, Marketing and Student Recruitment.

The following revised set of meeting dates was noted:

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 21 February 2006 in the Sir George Lush Room, Clayton Campus.