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| Meeting 6, 13 October 2006
The University Council met at the Newnham Campus on Friday 13 October 2006. This is a report from that meeting. Agenda items included-
Tour of AMCProfessor Tom Hardy, Acting Principal and President, and Mr David Crockett, Corporate General Manager and Registrar, Newnham, took Council members on a tour of the Australian Maritime College. Deputy Chancellor positionsCouncil made the Ordinance amending Ordinance 2, to provide more clearly for the authority of a second Deputy Chancellor position. University Governance ConferenceCouncil received the Chancellor’s report on the University Governance Conference and the meeting of University Chancellors that preceded it. PhilanthropyCouncil received a discussion paper on ‘Increasing Private Support for Australian Universities’ from Business/Higher Education Round Table (BHERT). Fire on University premises at Mount NelsonCouncil received the report on the fire at Mount Nelson, and asked the Executive Director Finance and Administration to bring a report to the next meeting, via Audit Committee, on learnings from the fire, with the report to cover the overarching risk management program and to include the resources available to that program. Council also asked the Executive Director Finance and Administration to alert Lyons Architecture to any implications for the Master Planning consultancy. 2007 Council Conference datesCouncil noted that the 2007 Council Conference will be held on 23 & 24 February 2007. Governance FrameworkCouncil received the report on the Governance Framework project, noting that the Executive Director Finance and Administration will report to the next meeting on UTAS general drug and alcohol policy. Enrolment Load ReportCouncil received the Vice-Chancellor’s report on enrolments as at Tuesday 3 October 2006. Budget ProcessCouncil received the Vice-Chancellor’s report that the 2007 Budget process is proceeding as planned. The Benchmark triennial budget, incorporating student load and research targets and other critical assumptions, has been circulated as part of the budget pack. Templates, having been distributed to faculties/schools/divisions and sections, have been returned following appropriate discussions regarding targets and the results have been collated for the attention of the Budget Review Committee (BRC). In conjunction, the Benchmark has been revisited to provide an overview of the broader financial implications, again in the first instance for BRC. BRC has identified the key issues arising from the returned templates and have undertook a program of interviews with Deans and Heads of Division leading up to the Planning and Resources Committee (PRC) meeting on 14 September. A preliminary report was made to PRC, with finalisation of the draft anticipated at its next meeting on 19 October, proceeding to Finance Committee on November 9th. Launceston BlueprintCouncil received the Vice-Chancellor’s report on the Launceston Blueprint, noting that it will be synchronised with the master planning exercise. Visit by Professor Richard Johnstone, Executive Director, Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher EducationProfessor Richard Johnstone, Executive Director of the Carrick Institute for learning and Teaching in Higher Education visited UTAS on Monday 28 August at the invitation of the PVC (T&L) to provide an information session to interested staff in the morning and to engage in a discussion with the Senior Management. Professor Johnstone outlined the mission and current programs of the Carrick Institute Team and invited in input regarding future directions. Carrick GrantsAssociate Professor Margaret Barrett was awarded a Competitive Grant from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching for a project developed in collaboration with colleagues from Deakin University entitled "Bridging gaps in music teacher education: developing exemplary practice models using peer collaboration". The project team was awarded the full amount requested ($150,000) for the project. Recommendation to increase numbers of Discipline Panel membersCouncil approved the recommended changes to Ordinance 9 (Student Discipline) to increase the numbers of discipline panel members, and asked the legislation committee to draft the necessary amendments. Making of Rules by Academic SenateAt its 1 September 2006 meeting Council revoked Rules 111 (Academic Assessment), 112 (Admission and Student Progress), 113 (Rules of Higher Degrees by Research) and 127 (Registration of Graduate Research Supervisors). Academic Senate made the replacement Rules at its 15 September 2006 meeting: Academic Senate Rule Number 2: Rules of Academic Assessment (Academic Senate Rule Number 1: Rules of Awards was made by Academic Senate at its February 2006 meeting.) Changes to DEST Learning and Teaching Performance Fund for 2007The Hon Julie Bishop MP announced changes to the DEST Learning and Teaching Performance Fund for 2007 at the conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) in Perth on 10 July 2006.
There have also been some minor amendments to the performance indicators-
For full details on the Teaching and Learning Performance Fund for 2007, see the 2007 Administrative Information for Providers document found at- http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/policy_issues_reviews/key_issues/learning_teaching/ltpf/2007ltpf.htm Campus Master PlanningPresentations of campus master plans to staff and the public have taken place in Launceston and Burnie. The plans were well received, with staff and members of the public taking an active interest in how the campuses might be developed and the elements that have been taken into account in their planning. There was a general feeling that not only had input from extensive consultations been included, but that the proposals on display capture a ‘feel’ for UTAS. News from the Faculty of ArtsThis report arises from a Faculty of Arts Teaching and Learning Planning Day held at Campbell Town in August 2006. In line with the University's EDGE Agenda and the Faculty Plan, the key themes for the Faculty of Arts in forthcoming years are 'quality' and 'distinctiveness' ('excellence' and 'differentiation' in the language EDGE agenda), seen as the key conditions of growth. The focus of the Faculty discussions is on spelling out the nature of our distinctive excellence. In our view, this distinctive excellence is articulated in our main research orientation (Community, Place and Change), distinctive student experience, and these features of our UG and PG programs- We try to integrate more closely our teaching and research - mainly, but not exclusively, through activities of our research entities, such as TILES, CAIA-CEH, HACRU, CTHS and DEACRU, and through the expansion of our PG programs in the areas of our research focus and market/community demand (e.g. Criminology & Corrections, Ageing and Social Planning, Public Policy, Heritage Management, etc.). We offer a very broad choice of disciplinary and area studies, and maintain strong links between social sciences, humanities and art. This allows us to offer more 'rounded', more comprehensive educational experience to our Arts students than other universities, except for the largest ones. We maintain strong links with community stakeholders (through advisory committees, partnerships and consultations) and explicit emphasis on generic skills in our UG degree programs (especially analytic skills, problem solving, international orientation, communication, including visual communication, and information literacy). We broaden the educational experience of our students by developing team-taught, multi-disciplinary 'generic/summative' units in our BA degree program, in particular in the areas of core institutions and inter-cultural knowledge/understanding. We combine disciplinary education with professional and career-related training by widening the availability of placements/internships (workplace links) in our UG, honours, and PG programs. We create broad educational avenues (rather than narrow paths) allowing students to traverse easily the disciplinary and institutional divisions. Thus we assure a smooth transition and articulation between UG and PG studies, as well as facilitate the entry from secondary and vocational education (eg. the Prelude) and from tertiary education to careers (eg. the internships). We provide special streams for top performers, as well as assistance to students who experience difficulties (eg. Advanced Honours, Catalyst), thus catering for the entire spectrum of abilities and talents. We provide a wide range of visual and performing art events, as well as events in disciplinary 'caffees' and cross-disciplinary colloquia - all available as supplements and 'backups' to our programs. We emphasise strong links with the community, as reflected in the widening availability of placements/ internships, strong community engagement in program design, and the sponsorship of such community-oriented initiatives as the Edge Radio, open symposia and public lectures. News from the Faculty of BusinessThe Faculty has been successful in receiving a $100,000 Carrick Grant in its collaborative bid with the Associate Deans Teaching and Learning Business Council Network for an initial scoping investigation proposal titled "Business as usual?: A collaborative and inclusive investigation of the existing resources, strengths, gaps and challenges to be addressed for sustainability in teaching and learning in Australian university business faculties." PG Coursework numbers in the Faculty for 2006 are 171% of the agreed targets. This is mainly made up of full fee paying international students where the Faculty currently has 228 Equivalent Full Time Students compared to a 2006 target of 100. The Faculty has instituted a short term visiting scholars scheme in the second half of 2006. Visitors to date and those coming are Professor Dr. Wim Van Grembergen from the University of Antwerp, Dr. John O'Neill from Massey University, Professor David Boje from the University of New Mexico, Professor Mike Hall from the University of Waikato and Dr. Johan Sandstrom, University of Umea in Sweden. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and CPA Australia are visiting the School of Accounting and Corporate Governance on 2 October as part of the 5-year reaccreditation of the accounting courses offered by the School of Accounting and Corporate Governance. The CPA annual research lecture will be held in October this year in both Launceston and Hobart. The lecture has been renamed the Kate Stanton (nee Tamayo) CPA Annual Research Lecture in memory of Kate, a past president of the Tasmanian Division of CPA Australia and long time contributor to the Faculty of Business and School of Accounting and Corporate Governance, who was tragically killed in a bicycle accident earlier this year. The presenter will be Professor Brendan O'Connell from James Cook University, who will be presenting a governance paper on corporate activities of HIH, Enron and James Hardie. The current intake of 369 students at Shanghai Fisheries University in the Bachelor of Information Systems and the Bachelor of Business commenced in early September 2006. This brings the total number of students currently enrolled in Faculty courses at SFU to 1177. News from the Faculty of Science, Engineering and TechnologyNational Science Week The Science & Engineering Challenge Grand Final in Launceston at which 8 schools competed for the right to compete in the National Championship in Tamworth in October. Over 1,100 high school students from 27 schools competed in this challenge. Faculty Getaway The meeting discussed the two high-impact priorities that will have an impact on the EDGE agenda (Unit and course rationalisation, and Launceston campus and AMC integration), University restructuring, amendments to the faculty’s strategic plan, domestic marketing plan, international marketing plan, as well as considering proposed programs for introduction in 2007. The project undertaken by CALT to improve the quality of the Faculty websites (scheduled for completion in September) was also discussed. The Academic Registrar attended to provide details of the Catalyst Program, the Director of the Graduate School attended to provide information relating to CALT and potential for post graduate coursework programs in the Faculty, and the Faculty’s Employee Relations Adviser was invited to discuss a range of HR issues. Two major capital management projects for 2007 are-
Appointments
Academic Senate meeting – 15 September 2006Council received the report on the Academic Senate meeting of 15 September 2006. The major items discussed at Academic Senate (other than those forwarded separately to Council) were -
Council also received the draft minutes of the meeting of Academic Senate held on 15 September 2006. GRADUATION IN ABSENTIA AND CONFERRING OF AWARDSThese students graduated in absentia at the Council meeting-
Last Modified: 24-Oct-2006 |
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