Committee of Deans
Meeting 2/2006 of the Committee of Deans was held between 4pm and 6.30pm on Tuesday, 21 March 2006 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 S Fahey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International)
Mr P Marshall, Vice-President (Administration)
Mr R Dias, Deputy Director Financial Resources Management
Associate Professor Harry Ballis, Director of Gippsland Campus
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 T Sridhar, Dean, Faculty of Engineering
Professor R Weber, Dean, Faculty of Information Technology
Professor HP Lee, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Law
Associate Professor T Luff, Acting Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Professor C Chapman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy
Professor R Norris, Dean, Faculty of Science
Professor Phil Steele, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Campus Coordination) for item 3.1
Apologies:
Mr R Fairchild, Vice-President (Advancement)
Professor E Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland
Professor M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia
Professor T Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa
Mr D Pitt, Vice-President (Finance)/Chief Financial Officer
Professor A Freiberg, Dean, Faculty of Law
Professor E Byrne, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Secretary:
Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services
2 Minutes
Minutes of meeting 1/2006 of the Committee of Deans held on Tuesday 21 February 2006 were confirmed.
3 Matters arising from the Minutes (not dealt with elsewhere in the Agenda)
3.1. Briefing on progress re developing the RASCI Model for matrix management of Pro Vice-Chancellor lead campuses.
Professor Phil Steele, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Campus Coordination) was in attendance for this item.
The Vice-Chancellor introduced the item noting he would like the discussion to focus on macro-level issues with the fine tuning to be undertaken by Senior Management Committee. Further, the Working Party looking at credit assessment and articulation agreements would submit a report to Senior Management Committee once it had completed its work.
Following an overview of the RASCI model members were invited to comment.
Comments included:
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Faculties are receiving requests from Gippsland domiciled staff for funding for positions/scholarships.
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The Vice-Chancellor advised that these types of requests should be directed to the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor – Gippsland;
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following a discussion on ‘consultation’ the Vice-Chancellor noted that appropriate consultation was a critical process in this transition phase as were clearly defined boundaries for decision making;
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Professors Steele and Palmer to discuss other models that could be utilised to clearly represent the proposed matrix arrangements;
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Professor Fahey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor – International, can be an advocate/champion for academic issues at off-shore campuses;
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the building of greater research capacity at off-shore campuses is still being discussed with a range of stakeholders;
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any matrix model implemented at Monash needs to ensure the role of Deans in academic matters is not overly ameliorated;
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some of the processes mapped by the International Staffing Advisory Group need to be mapped to the model;
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while discussions at the macro-level helped refine the model, there is also a need to begin to discuss the detail; and
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the budget implications were unclear yet faculties were beginning to develop budgets for 2007.
Concluding the discussion the Vice-Chancellor requested that Mr Dias liaise with the Deans about the forthcoming budget process.
4 Vice-Chancellor
4.1. Vice Chancellor’s Report
Menzies Building
The Vice-Chancellor introduced the item and noted that Professor Parker and others would be meeting with staff domiciled in the building to seek their views on resolution of current problems and the development of short, medium and long term strategies for the building.
Mr Marshall informed members that the timetabling group had completed a report on the space issues in the building and advised that Caulfield had available office space but little capacity for additional teaching activities. Further, the heavy traffic within the building could be reduced by 9 to 12% if teaching activities within the building could be rescheduled to Mondays and Fridays (8am to 5pm) as these timeslots were not utilised to the same extent as Tuesdays to Thursdays (10am to 2pm) and some teaching was transferred to other buildings on Clayton campus.
Concluding the overview, Mr Marshall outlined to members a number of development/redevelopment options for discussion.
During discussion a number of issues/comments were provided including:
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The university should have in place by the end of 2006 a plan for the building;
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the option of converting some of the floors into student accommodation should be further explored;
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several members suggested that some teaching activities could be transferred to the Caulfield campus however it was noted that careful consideration would need to be given to needs of students undertaking joint degrees;
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any review of the building should take into account the need to move teaching activities out of the building and into purpose built teaching space that utilises 21st century technology.
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a timeframe for staff consultation needs to be developed;
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the limitation on escalator size and need for improved traffic flows within the building was noted.
The Vice-Chancellor thanked members for their views and noted that a cultural change in teaching practices may be required to ensure that the use of teaching space was maximised via more flexible timetable schedules.
Indian Institute of Technology of Bombay (IITB) – Monash University Research Academy – Progress Report
The Memorandum of Understanding announcing the intention to establish the joint research institute/academy had been signed and a detailed business plan would be in place by the end of 2006.
Berwick Campus – Progress Report
The proposal to develop the campus, including the sale of the land for residential and/or student accommodation, will have been considered by the Minister by the end of March.
In response to a question, the Vice-Chancellor advised members that the university was looking at other options should the Ministers response not be supportive of the proposed campus developments.
5 Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor Parker informed members that the relationship with TMC would be included on the agenda for the next meeting of the Senior Management Committee (28 March).
Members discussed a number of issues including the appropriateness of an intake in 2007, alternative providers, financial issues and how these issues would affect various faculties and Gippsland campus.
Overall, amongst Deans most affected by a decision on TMC, some consensus was reached that the university should reach a decision on TMC sooner rather than later.
6 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International)
The Vice-Chancellor invited Professor Fahey to comment on matters relating to her portfolio.
Professor Fahey informed members of the following:
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The wide consultation process already undertaken would be updated and contribute to a draft International Plan for consideration by June 2006;
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the committee and advisory group structure would be revised with an aim of making them more responsive to the strategic directions of the university;
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linkages between off-shore campuses, centres and partnerships would be reviewed;
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some consolidation of international activities would be required to ensure conformance with the university’s strategic directions;
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an additional document would need to be developed detailing how the International Plan would be operationalised; and
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Ms Theresa Whiting would shortly take up the position of Executive Officer in the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor – International.
7 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Professor King advised members that dialogue continued between the Minister and Group of Eight universities regarding the most appropriate model for the introduction of a Research Quality Framework.
8 Matters raised by members
9 Other Business
10 Topics identified for discussion at future meetings
10.1 What processes and activities should cease at Monash?
The Vice-Chancellor advised members to submit suggestions on this topic to facilitate an initial discussion of the matter.
10.2 Additional agenda items for discussion.
Activity Based Costings – an update on progress and university-wide implementation.
Budget process 2007 – a discussion on the budget process focussing on the formulation of faculty budgets and a preliminary discussion on the issue of incentives/use of budget/faculty surpluses.
11 Next meeting
The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 30 May in the Dean’s (BusEco) Meeting Room, Level 9, Building S, Caulfield Campus.
Distribution
Vice-Chancellor
Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International)
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Vice-Presidents
Pro Vice-Chancellors
Deans/Acting Deans
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