Monash University

Education Committee Meeting 4-2004

Meeting No. 4/2004 of the Education Committee will be held on Wednesday, 14 July 2004 in the Sir George Lush Room, ground floor, Administration Building 3A, Clayton Campus, commencing at 2.15pm.

Apologies: Please telephone: 9905 5061, or e-mail to: Samantha.Rose@adm.monash.edu.au

Ms Shana Chong

Secretary

Members having a direct commercial or financial interest in any item before this meeting must declare that interest to the Chair via the Committee Secretary prior to consideration of the item, and must not take part in a vote on any matter concerning it.

Agenda

PART A PROCEDURAL, POLICY & COMMITTEE MATTERS

1. APOLOGIES & ATTENDANCE

Apologies

Associate Professor John Hurst, Associate Professor Michael Page, Associate Professor Louis Roller, Professor Max King, Dr Heinz Kreutz, Professor Chris Browne and Ms Ann Healey.

Invited to attend

Mr Terry Hogan, Student and Staff Services

Welcome

Dr Gaell Hildebrand, Faculty of Education

Associate Professor Ilana Snyder, Faculty of Education

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, CeLTS

2. STARRED ITEMS

The Committee should note that certain items have been starred as requiring discussion. Additional items may be starred at the discretion of the Committee.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Committee nominates any additional items to be starred, and endorses the recommendations for all items other than those starred.

3. MINUTES

The unconfirmed minutes of Education Committee Meeting 3/2004, held 19 May 2004, have been circulated.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Committee approves the Minutes of Meeting 3/2004.

*4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

4.1 Learning and Teaching Performance Fund

The Chair will provide an overview of progress to date.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Education Committee notes the advice of the Chair.

5. ITEMS OF INTEREST FROM ACADEMIC BOARD MEETING 3/2004

The Academic Board noted all matters that were reported for information from Meeting 3/2004 of the Education Committee.

*6. 2005 CENSUS DATES AND MONASH TEACHING CALENDAR p 1 - 8

Documentation is attached. With the introduction in 2005 of the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) 2003, the concept of semesters has been removed and higher education providers will need to establish their own census dates from 1 January 2005, in accordance with DEST reporting requirements. To ensure that Monash is ready for the introduction of HESA 2003, the Census Date and Calendar Working Group has worked in consultation with Student Systems to consider possible models which could be utilised to determine census dates and teaching calendars for 2005.

Mr Peter Yates, Director of Systems and Services, Student and Staff Services Division, will speak to the item.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Census Dates and Teaching Calendar 2005

4.1.1 That the teaching periods and census dates in the document titled ‘Teaching Calendar and Census Date Model’ be adopted as presented.

Principles - Census Dates and other Date Aliases

4.2.1 That the following principles that were used to establish the census dates in the above mentioned document are accepted:

The standard University census dates are: 15 January, 15 February, 31 March, 30 April, 30 June, 31 August, 30 September, 31 October and 30 November.

The census date should fall on a mid-month (eg. 15^th) or end of month date (eg 30^th or 31^st).

Census Dates for Semester 1 and Semester 2 remain at 31 March and 31 August.

Where possible all Census Dates are set in a range of 20 – 45% into the semester and comply with one of the standard University census dates

When calculating the census date as a percentage range into the period, the period will consist of all dates from the Teaching Calendar Start Date to the Teaching Calendar End Date ie. Weekends, mid-semester breaks or public holidays will be included.

4.2.2 For all current and future established teaching periods if a census date must be set over the 45% range then it is to the next best standard census date available.

4.2.3 Where a teaching calendar has a census date that is more than 4 weeks into the teaching period then a date alias of WD-NO-LD will apply from the 4 week period until the census date. (Note: this is a reconfirmation of current University policy.)

4.2.4 The Withdrawn Late (WL) Date Alias is set as an off-set of one day (ie. Next day) after the census date.

4.2.5 The Withdrawn Fail (WN) Date Alias is set as an off-set of against the teaching period start date. For a standard 13 week teaching period (eg. Semester 1 and Semester 2) this off-set would be the first day of the 10th week of semester (as per current University policy) and for all other teaching periods with a different duration the WN Date Alias would be set pro rata.

Principles - Teaching Calendars

4.3.1 That the following principles that were used to establish the teaching periods in the above mentioned document are accepted.

The University has a ‘standard’ set of teaching Calendars which include: *Semester 1, *Semester 2, *Winter, *3 Summer Periods (C, A and B), *Full-Year, a Trimester arrangement, Northern Hemisphere Calendars, Research Calendars and a Four Term arrangement. All other teaching calendars are considered ‘non-standard’ and a strong business case must be established before additional non-standard calendars are established.

*Note: These teaching periods will also have an identical ‘Alternate’ Teaching Period established for fee assessment purposes only.

Teaching Calendars are not named or specifically allocated to a Faculty.

The current ‘FLEX’ teaching periods and S%30 Medical Institute for Reproductive Development are disestablished as these can be subsumed by other pre-existing teaching periods.

4.3.2 The University accepts that not in all instances will the Teaching Calendar Start and End Dates match exactly with the teaching delivery.

4.3.3 All Teaching Calendars must have at least the Withdraw Early, Withdrawn No Load (where appropriate/in line with the policy), Withdrawn Late, Census Date and Withdrawn Fail Date Aliases.

*7. BLIND MARKING

The Chair will introduce this item.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Education Committee discusses and provides comments on issues in relation to blind marking assessment.

*8. ACADEMIC POLICIES ON NON AWARD PROGRAMS AND GRADUATE STUDIES p 9 - 10

Documentation is attached. The Academic Policy Sub-Committee recommends that the Non-Award Programs and Graduate Studies policies be rescinded and that a new Non-Awards Programs policy be developed.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Committee:

notes and endorses the recommendations of the Academic Policy Subcommittee to rescind the policies on Non-Award Programs and Graduate Studies; and

provides advice on whether to establish a new working group to develop a new Non-Awards Programs policy or refer it to an Education Committee subcommittee/working party for further consideration.

*9. REPORT OF THE FLEXIBILITY SUBCOMMITTEE AND DRAFT FLEXIBILITY DEFINITIONS AND MEASURES p 11 - 44

The first report of the Flexibility Subcommittee is attached. The Subcommittee has submitted a draft report on Flexibility Definitions and Measures, in relation to its work on Term of Reference 1, to develop and disseminate an agreed set of definitions and indicators of flexibility in a standard format for reporting on implementation by faculties and divisions (documentation is attached).

Following comprehensive discussions at its meetings and trials conducted to test the time taken to record data gathered from undergraduate and postgraduate units in the faculties of Law, Arts and Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, the Subcommittee has recommended that flexibility data from all faculties and divisions be compiled to act as a baseline study.

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, Chair of the FSEC, will speak to this item.

RECOMMENDATION:

That the Education Committee:

notes the report of the Flexibility Subcommittee;

approves its amended draft Terms of Reference;

that the draft Flexibility Definitions and Measures be discussed and adopted as a base line of flexibility across the University; and

that the Offices of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) and Deputy Vice Chancellor liaise to establish a position dedicated to assist faculties and divisions to compile flexibility data to act as a baseline study both for reporting to AUQA against the Learning and Teaching Plan, and for future time cycle progress. It is recommended that the position be located and supervised by CHEQ.

10. OTHER BUSINESS

PART B: FACULTY REPORTS AND PROPOSALS

No items have been submitted under this section for this meeting.

PART C: NEXT MEETING

The next scheduled meeting of the Education Committee (Meeting 5/2004) will be held at
2:15 pm on Wednesday, 8 September 2004.

All final submissions for the agenda, including submissions for faculty bi-annual reports of approved courses and units, for that meeting are due by Wednesday, 25 August 2004.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Membership:

Professor Alan Lindsay (Chair)

Associate Professor Karen Bensley

Dr Heinz Kreutz

Associate Professor Alan Farley

Ms Sally Joy

Dr Gaell Hildebrand

Associate Professor Ilana Snyder

Professor Robin Alfredson

Professor William Young

Associate Professor John Hurst

Mr Chris Avram

Mr Leighton Morris

Associate Professor Tony Luff

Dr Louise McCall

Associate Professor Michael Page

Dr Tony Patti

Associate Professor Louis Roller

Dr David Taylor

Professor Max King

Professor Chris Browne

Professor Merran Evans

Professor Denise Kirkpatrick

Professor Graham Webb

Ms Mary Aldred (MONSU – Caulfield)

Ms Taryn Macfarlane (MONSU – Peninsula)

Ms Angie Wong (MSA – Clayton)

Mr Timothy Szalek (MUBS – Berwick)

Mr Sean Mc Loughlin (MUGSU - Gippsland)

(Pharmacy Students Association) – position vacant

Mr Tim Stephens (MPA – masters by coursework)

Ms Ann Healey (MPA – graduate/postgraduate diploma)

In Attendance:

Mr Clive Vernon

Mr David Secomb

Mr Peter Yates (alternate for Mr P Marshall)

Ms Cathrine Harboe-Ree

Associate Professor Valerie Clifford

Associate Professor Yoni Ryan

Associate Professor Marg Lindorff

Ms Shana Chong (Secretary)

Further Distribution:

Faculty Managers/Registrars (*9)

Mr T Calder

Ms P Williams

Ms P Herman

Ms S Stafford

Ms B Le Grand