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Committee of Deans

Meeting 4/2006 of the Committee of Deans was held between 4pm and 6.30pm on Tuesday, 20 June 2006 in the City Office.

MINUTES

1. Attendance and apologies

There were present:

Professor R Larkins AO, Vice-Chancellor
Mr P Marshall, Vice-President (Administration)
Professor E Cornish, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)
Mr D Pitt, Vice-President (Finance)/Chief Financial Officer
Mr R Fairchild, Vice-President (Advancement)
Professor B Mackenzie, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Gippsland
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
Professor C Chapman, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy
Professor R Norris, Dean, Faculty of Science

Apologies:

Professor S Parker, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Professor S Fahey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International)
Professor A Freiberg, Dean, Faculty of Law
Professor E Byrne AO, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Professor M Liddell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Malaysia
Professor T Pretorius, Pro Vice-Chancellor, South Africa

Secretary:

Mr T Calder, Director, Executive Services

2. Minutes

Minutes of meeting 3/2006 of the Committee of Deans held on Tuesday 30 May 2006 were confirmed.

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

3.1 The size of Monash University

Members agreed that this matter would be discussed further once Mr Pitt advised that additional data was available to inform the discussion.

4. Vice-Chancellor

4.1 Vice Chancellor’s Report

The Honourable Julie Bishop – Minister for Education, Science and Training: details of the keynote address are available at the following url:

http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Bishop/2006/06/b001160606.asp

Campus Planning Committee had met for the first time.

Gipplsand campus: the devolved budget model, supported by service level agreements would be implemented from 2007. Changes to academic staffing at the campus cannot be undertaken without the consent of the relevant Dean.

Monyx: following an overview of recent media reports relating to aspects of the operations of Monyx, members were advised that the Careers & Employment Services component was being reviewed as part of the process of returning the operations to university control.

5a. Budget model

Following an introduction where it was noted that there was no intention to destabilise the current process however there was a need to ensure that the process did not introduce disincentives, members were invited to comment. The following comments were made:

  • Faculties used a variety of methodologies to distribute DEST funding in order to encourage research;
     
  • activity based costings were underway in Medicine and parts of Science;
     
  • in order to attract and/or retain researchers, it will be necessary to monitor ‘taxation levels’ compared to our competitors;
     
  • cost drivers – some drivers introduce perverse incentives and need to be reviewed, some are levies and not true drivers while some drivers need to be updated;
     
  • introduction of an ‘incentive scheme’ must ensure that all areas are equally positioned to succeed in the scheme;
     
  • need clarity with direct transfers to ensure transparency in subsidised activities;
     
  • major activities/costs being reviewed include strategic sourcing such as communication costs and shared services – noting the completion of recent reviews of Monash Commercial and Monash Property Management; and
     
  • other suggestions included the need for an annual review process to strategically shift incentives and/or a 3 year plan that is reviewed annually.

5b. OSP/Travel Conference leave/Fieldwork leave

Following a discussion on some of the inconsistencies and anomalies with OSP/Travel leave, Mr Marshall was requested to investigate best practice within the sector and return the matter for further discussion.

6. Bologna Process and developments at The University of Melbourne developments

Following a discussion of the Bologna Process and recent announcements by The University of Melbourne, members noted that a process reviewing undergraduate courses was underway.

7. Committee Membership

Noting that some faculties experienced difficulty ensuring appropriate gender balance on some committees, it was suggested that in the interim truncation, rather than rounding, be used while the matter is referred to Mr Marshall for further consideration.

8. Physical and Social Infrastructure of Campuses

Members discussed the need to ensure that campuses were developed appropriately given budget constraints and the recently developed Campus Plans.

9. Other Business

9.1 Restructuring

Members were advised of the status of restructuring within the Faculty of Information Technology and the departure of several staff resulting from the restructuring of several subsidiaries and administrative areas.

10. Topics identified for discussion at future meetings

10.1 What processes and activities should cease at Monash?

Should no further contribution be received this item will be deleted from the next Agenda.

10.2 Reorganisation of CALTs

(Professors Palmer and Willis)

10.3 International Plan

(Professors Palmer and Norris)

11. Next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee of Deans will be held at 2.15 pm on Tuesday, 25th July in the Sir George Lush Room.