Professors S Parker (Chair), E Byrne, D Copolov, E Cornish, Ms A Crook, Ms P Daroesman, Mr S Davey, Professors M Evans, A Freiberg, Ms C Harboe-Ree, Professors M King, D Kirkpatrick, B Mackenzie, Mr A McMeekin, Professors R Norris, G Palmer, J Redmond, T Sridhar, P Steele, Mr C Vernon, Professor G Webb, R Weber, R Willis, S Willis, and Mr R Wortley

Professor R Larkins, C Browne, C Chapman, H Le Grand, A Lindsay, Mr P Marshall and Mr J Matthews.

Dr Elane Zelcer, Executive Director-STRIP (for agenda item 5.2)

Mr Don Gregg, General Manager, Monash International (for agenda item 7.1)

Mr David Saint, Applications Services, ITS (for agenda item 9.2)

Ms Lisa Steny, Change and Communications Manager, Corporate Finance Systems (for agenda item 10.2)

Associate Professor Denise Cuthbert, Faculty of Arts (as Professor Homer Le Grand’s delegate)

Mr Phil Wheatland, Project Manager, Corporate Finance Division (as Mr John Matthews’ delegate)

Mr Peter Yates, Director, Services & Systems, Student and Staff Services (as Mr Peter Marshall’s delegate).

The Chair further advised members that:

The Conference had been well-received and proposals for next year’s event would shortly be considered by VCG. The proposed dates for the 2006 Conference were 15-17 February.

Whilst there was an overall sense that the strategies encapsulated in the Plan were correct, adjustment to the level of detail below the strategies might be required. Members were advised that the Plan would be revised and reissued.

It was intended that future Support Services plans be reviewed after the Annual Planning Conference and before Faculty planning in May.

Monash STRIP Strategic Plan

She emphasised the value and relevance of technology clusters, noting that the Clayton campus was located in a significant cluster (11 municipalities representing 40% of the State’s manufacturing capability), and highlighted the need for Monash to engage more effectively with surrounding business.

She explained that Monash was well-placed to take advantage of a number of opportunities including projects driven by State and local government and to formalise developing linkages. Part of the STRIP’s focus would be to facilitate the development of industry linkages, a process which would be assisted by Professor Anderson’s appointment.

Dr Zelcer described in detail the plans for each of the five platforms which would contribute to realising the vision for the STRIP:

She stressed that the Monash STRIP had a number of competitive advantages, including:

In subsequent discussion, members observed that:

Professor Cornish suggested that, in order to accelerate integration of research-relevant reviews with general reviews, ‘mini-RAEs’ could be conducted with academic unit reviews. It was emphasised that this would require external assessment of research quality to be meaningful. In this regard, members observed that the academic unit review panel was largely composed of members external to the Faculty and/or the University.

Professor Webb voiced concern over the faculties’ lack of consistency in their requirements for administration of the survey – some wanted a paper-based survey, others online. He emphasised that this was an institutional instrument, and that consistency was required to ensure, inter alia, that faculties were not under/over represented in resultant data.

Members discussed a range of relevant issues, including:

Professor Webb indicated that:

Mr Vernon then introduced the Development Schedule to the meeting, noting that:

Members briefly discussed the connection between various plans, in particular:

Mr Gregg reported on new data from Hobsons, which indicated that the trend in commencing student numbers for most faculties was down. He also indicated that the prediction for Semester 2/05 was for a 20-25% drop compared to Semester 2/04. 2006 predictions indicated continued downwards trend.

In subsequent discussion, a range of issues and options were canvassed, including:

In response to a comment that it was necessary to understand data not only for Monash, but also for other institutions, Mr Gregg replied that ¾ of the market research interviews were with students from other universities. He also indicated that a new marketing campaign would be based on Monash – positioning for future success.

Noting that Monash was now in competition with a range of cheaper providers, members discussed the relevance of partnerships, and the need to decide on a course of action. Members considered that, in view of changes to the marketplace and within the University, changes to partnership arrangements would be necessary. It was emphasised that such changes must be achieved in an orderly and ethical manner. Identification of future partnership opportunities should be undertaken with an eye to partners of high status and high academic values and with consideration of the teaching models required.

Several significant developments (departure of Mr Jeffrey Smart to Swinburne; appointment of Ms Lee-ann Norris as Director, International Marketing; disappointing domestic full fee paying results) had brought forward implementation of the following decisions:

The Chair emphasised that these developments were not driven by the downturn in international student numbers, but rather had pre-dated that situation. In thanking Mr Gregg for his work with Monash International, he also foreshadowed that the international recruitment dossier to be presented to the next meeting would be a joint undertaking by Ms Norris and Mr Gregg.

In discussion, members commented that the transition would take some time, and that:

Members canvassed a wide range of issues in subsequent discussion, including:

The Committee then:

A repository for a wide range of data, TARDIS offered a variety of search functions, including by researcher, keyword, Faculty, funding body etc. Faculty/Department comparisons were available; the enquirer could drill down to varying levels of information; the RMO File (containing the relevant research contract) reference was captured. TARDIS interfaced with and was fed data from Research Master, SAP and Callista.

Members were advised that it was necessary to separate TARDIS functionality from data. The reliability of data in TARDIS was affected by quality of data entered into an interfacing system, ‘dirty’ data from a legacy system, lack of data, and lack of available fields. Other relevant matters included the need for better data at Faculty level and IT systems issues.

The next step in the project’s implementation would be the development of a plan for solving data-related problems.

Members were also advised that:

Information relevant to the RQF may be obtained from the following website:

In discussion, members commented that:

The Committee then

Ms Lisa Steny then provided further information regarding the rationale for introduction of the single card, selection of the Westpac MasterCard and details of the phase in process.

In response to questions from members, Ms Steny indicated that:

The next meeting of the Senior Management Committee is scheduled for 2.15 p.m. Tuesday 7 June 2005 in the Council Room (Clayton campus).