Education Committee Meeting 4-2007

Meeting No. 4/2007 of the Education Committee was held on Wednesday 8 August 2007, in the Council Room, Building 3a, Clayton campus, between 2.15pm and 3.35pm. 

There were present:

Professor M Evans (Chair), Associate Professor G Codner, Associate Professor B Doecke, Ms C Harboe-Ree, Ms R Harris, Professor O Hughes, Associate Professor J Hurst, Associate Professor S Joy, Ms G Key, Professor T Luff, Associate Professor P O’Connor, Professor M Peel, Dr J Roberts, Ms K Roth, Professor P Stewart, Ms K Styles, Dr D Taylor, Dr C Varsavsky, Professor W Young

By invitation:

Mr C Moraitis (for Ms J Tyler), Ms N Mitchell, Ms Lisa Smith, Ms Kate Duyvestyn (for item 8.3)

Apologies:

Professor D Arnott, Ms S Bell, Professor R Devenish, Professor T Dingle, Ms C Grigsby, Dr K Kariippanon, Professor M King, Associate Professor H Kreutz, Mr T Masocco, Associate Professor L McCall, Professor D Murphy, Dr T Patti, Ms A Phelan, Professor P Steele, Ms J Tyler, Professor G Webb

In attendance:

Ms M Soederberg (Secretary), Mr P Yates

Observers:

Ms M Petrass, Sichuan delegation: Professors Guangxian Li, Jian Shi, Shijing Yan, Bing Chen, Ying Jiang, Xianyi Pan, Jiang Yang, Shunqing Cao, Fan Ao, Dagang Shu, Jinhui Huang, Kailai Xu, Zongxian Huang, Shuguo Zhabg, Jun Zhu, Changwei Hu, Bisong Yue, Xinzhi Zhou, Jiliu Zhou, Ping Lin, Ying Liu, Shiping Zhao, Qingyuan Wang, Guochun Hua, Jianwu Lan, Jianxun Chang, Jingqiu Chen, Meng Mao, Yajia Lan, Junming Fan, Lei Tang, Li Liu, Bin Tian, Yan Li, Qianming Chen, Shuyan Ran, Associate Professor Ping Guan

The Chair opened the meeting by noting that Professor Robert Pargetter, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), has recently passed away.

Two new members Ms Joanne Tyler, Director, Careers & Employment (not in attendance) and Ms Cathrine Harboe-Ree, University Librarian were welcomed. The Chair thanked Ms Kim Styles for demonstrating the Faculty of IT unit guide editor before the meeting.
 

Additional starring of items 8.3, 9, 13 and 17 was proposed.

Two new items were added to the agenda:

19. Unit Guide Template

20.1 Meeting dates

There were no matters arising.
 

The Committee noted that Academic Board Meeting 4/2007:

• Approved the Plagiarism Policy subject to amendments;

• Approved the Unit Evaluation Policy;

• Approved inclusion of the University Librarian in the membership of Education Committee;

• Approved repeal of the Language Policy;

• Approved ‘Withdrawn Fail’ as a formal university grade which will only be awarded to students who withdraw after Week 10; and inclusion of ‘Withdrawn Fail’ into the university’s Grading Scale Policy and Procedures;

• Approved the Graduate Attributes subject to amendments.
   

RESOLUTION 4-2007/3:

7.1  Receipt of Report

RESOLUTION 4-2007/4:

Education Committee received and noted the report of meeting 4/2007 of the Education Policy and Programs Committee.

For Action/Information: Ms M Soederberg

7.2  Zero Credit Point Coursework Units Report

RESOLUTION 4-2007/5:

Education Committee endorsed for submission to Academic Board the following

1. That zero credit point coursework units only be permitted where:

   1. the work undertaken by the student is not at Monash University (viz. students undertaking work experience in industry at a business);

   2. the work undertaken by the student at Monash involves minimal resources by the University (e.g. equivalent to 2 credit points or less, no supervision by academic staff, minimal to nil assessment of work);

   3. an activity has to be undertaken by a student as a compulsory pre-requisite to undertake a future coursework, load bearing unit (e.g. Hurdle requirements);

   4. students require an extension to an already enrolled thesis unit and for which they should be charged as they are consuming University resources. (e.g. Thesis extension units where ‘enrolled credit points’ equal a value > 0 and achievable credit points equal a value of 0); or

   5. the unit is established to allow the recording and approval of a final Honours grade; and

That these zero credit point units should be included in the Education Committee biannual report proforma.

For Action/Information: Ms Cathryn Bunney

7.3  Credit (including RPL) policy and Credit Transfer procedures

RESOLUTION 4-2007/6:

1. Education Committee approved the new dot point 23 added to the Credit Transfer procedures: "Credit may be granted for Certificate IV study, based on an academic assessment of the comparability of study undertaken, up to a maximum of 24 credit points. Faculties must specify on their website the name and the place of offering of such Certificate IV units which will be granted credit by the faculty".

2. Education Committee endorsed for consideration at the next Academic Board meeting the amendment to dot point 6 of the Credit (including RPL) policy: "Students may apply for credit transfer where they have successfully completed units (i.e. achieved a mark of 50% or above) at a similar level and standard in previous studies…".

3. Education Committee noted the reporting arrangements in relation to the Credit Policy and also 2008 DEST requirements.

For Action/Information: Ms Natalie Mitchell

7.4  ESOS

This item arose from EPPC Meeting 3/2007.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/7:

Education Committee:

Approved the definition of ‘High Managerial Agents’

Approved the inclusion in the University Course Proposal Template in the ‘CRICOS’ and ‘Handbook Entry’ sections the ‘Registered Duration of Full-time Courses on CRICOS’ statement.

For Action/Information: Mr Rob Barrett, Ms Cathryn Bunney

*7.5  Report from EPPC meeting 5/2007

The Secretary informed the Committee that a report from EPPC meeting 5/2007 would be available for the next meeting. Items that required immediate attention of Education Committee had been included in the agenda.

7.6  EPPC Terms of Reference

RESOLUTION 4-2007/8:

Education Committee approved the following inclusion into the Education Policy and Programs Committee Terms of Reference:

8. Consider matters and approve university proformas submitted by the Exclusion Procedures Advisory Committee (EPAC).

For Action/Information: Ms Madeleine Soederberg

7.7  University Course Proposal Template

RESOLUTION 4-2007/9:

Education Committee approved:

1. Extracts of the ‘Registered Duration of Full-time Courses on CRICOS’ statement to be included into the following sections of the University Course Proposal Template:

• CRICOS Section - 5 (b) (i); and
• Handbook Entry Section.

2. Inclusion of CUPID reference in the Course Proposal Checklist.

For Action/Information: Ms Natalie Mitchell

7.8  Plagiarism Policy and Procedures

RESOLUTION 4-2007/10:

Education Committee noted the amended plagiarism policy and procedures and associated appendices.

For Action/Information: Dr Cecilia Hewlett

7.9  Academic and Administrative Complaints and Grievances Policy and Procedures

RESOLUTION 4-2007/11:

Education Committee endorsed the revised Academic and Administrative Complaints and Grievances Policy for submission to Academic Board and approved the revised Complaints and Grievances of Coursework Students Procedures.

For Action/Information: Dr Cecilia Hewlett, Ms Natalie Mitchell
 

8.1  Receipt of Report

RESOLUTION 4-2007/12:

Education Committee received and noted the report of meeting 2/2007 of the Coursework and Admissions Scholarships Committee.

For Action/Information: Ms Jacqueline Perdriau

8.2  Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admission Test

RESOLUTION 4-2007/13:

Education Committee approved the Graduate Australian Medical Schools Admissions Test (GAMSAT) for use in selection of graduate entrants to the Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery.

For Action/Information: Ms Jacqueline Perdriau

*8.3  Monash University Merit Scholarships

A member requested clarification to how the new proposal differs from existing scholarships. Ms Duyvestyn replied that the centrally offered Merit Scholarships would complement the existing Faculty Scholarships and would remedy the problem where some students who were granted faculty scholarships in the first round of offers miss out when they are offered a place in a course in a different faculty in later rounds. The number of faculty scholarships will be decreased to provide resources for the central Merit Scholarships.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/14:

Education Committee approved the proposal to introduce Monash University Merit Scholarships.

For Action/Information: Ms Kate Duyvestyn
 

Ms Mitchell informed the Committee that feedback on proposed amendments to the Examinations Regulations had been received. While faculties were generally supportive of the proposed change, ie to allow Chief Examiners to send alternates or nominees to Board of Examiners meetings, many respondents felt that it would be better to make more extensive changes to the Examinations regulations. Ms Mitchell invited discussion and requested further feedback from faculties.

During discussion the following comments were made:

• The current problem with the Board of Examiners could be solved by allowing Chief Examiners to send alternates or nominees.

• The regulations refer to the no longer existing title of Registrar.

The Chair noted that the Assessment Policy Working Party is undertaking a comprehensive review of the Examinations regulations and would report later in the year. However, the meeting agreed that due to the urgent need to update the provisions for Boards of Examiners that a working group be formed to recommend changes to this section of the regulations.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/15:

10.  FACULTY EDUCATION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES COMPLIANCE AUDIT REPORT – MAY 2007

RESOLUTION 4-2007/16:

RESOLUTION 4-2007/17:

Ms Harboe-Ree introduced the Progress Report and attached documents on the establishment of the Learning Skills Service. The Committee was invited to provide feedback on the Learning Skills component of the service statements and KPI’s.

During discussion the following comments were made:

• The second KPI, concerned with appearance of students before Academic Progress Committee, applies to a limited number of courses/students, rather than the whole university. Further, Academic Progress Committee numbers can vary for many reasons and may not be an accurate measure of Learning Skills outcomes.

• The long timeframe for the MEQ, used in the third KPI, would give a "coarse" indication of outcomes.

• The LTPF Generic Skills indicator used in the fourth KPI is influenced by a large number of factors of which learning skills provision is only one.

• The Learning Skills Unit does not provide English language teaching, however there is an overlapping area which includes grammar skills, English as a second language issues, communication, etc. It was suggested that this be reflected in the Description of Services.

• Learning skills support is provided both via the Library Learning Skills Unit and Faculty based learning support services. This adds complexity to overall reporting of outcomes across the university for these services.

• The Library regularly conducts a major biennial survey of its users which includes benchmarking against other Australian university libraries. Learning skills services will be included in the next round of the survey.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/18:

The Chair noted that the scores and rankings outlined in the briefing paper are based on unadjusted data but gives an indication of Monash’s performance in the respective discipline groups. Information on Monash’s adjusted results would be circulated to members after the meeting, however, adjusted data for other universities is not yet available. The LTPF data is based on the students who completed their course in 2005. The Chair noted that data on progression and retention is not yet available nationally.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/19:

RESOLUTION 4-2007/20:

Following the recommendations from Academic Board meeting 4/2007, the university-wide graduate attributes had been amended and key terms/concepts associated with each one had been developed. It was noted that the Education Plan had assigned the Director of CALT to "Implement the outcomes of the review of graduate attributes. The Chair proposed that Education Committee establish a Graduate Attributes Implementation Group, chaired by the Director of CALT, to guide the implementation of the graduate attributes and propose further refinements if needed.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/21:

The Chair informed the Committee that the Education Technology Framework progress report had been sent out with the agenda to inform members of the current discussions relating to the Education Technology Strategic Initiatives.

During discussion, one member suggested that flexible teaching spaces is an area that needs special attention.

Associate Professor S Joy, Chair of the Inclusive Practices Disability Committee (IPDC), had forwarded the Guidelines to Education Committee for information as the IPDC had identified some issues with current teaching practice.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/22:

18.  2007 B-HERT AWARDS

Members were invited to note that applications are being sought for the 2007 B-HERT Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Collaboration in Research & Development and Education & Training, Best Entrepreneurial Educator of the Year and Outstanding Philanthropic Support of Higher Education. An additional award will be made this year for the first time for Best Community Engagement Collaboration. Details and application forms can be found at www.bhert.com. Entries close 30 August 2007.
 

The Chair informed the Committee that a policy guiding the implementation and use of the Unit Guide Template was under development and would be presented at a later meeting.

RESOLUTION 4-2007/23:

*20.1  Meeting dates

Education Committee meeting dates until the end of 2008:

12 December 2007

05 March 2008

30 April 2008

11 June 2008

30 July 2008

03 September 2008

15 October 2008

03 December 2008

RESOLUTION 4-2007/24:

Education Committee noted the dates for meeting 7/2007 and meetings 1-7/2008.
 

Final submissions for the agenda for Meeting 5/2007 are due by Wednesday, 22 August 2007. Meeting 5/2007 will be held on Wednesday 5 September 2007 at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room, Building 3a, Clayton Campus.