ACADEMIC BOARD REPORT 8/97 - 26 NOVEMBER 1997 Yesterday's Academic Board meeting was the last of the year, and the slightly better than usual attendance was, I am sure, in no way influenced by the finger-food and drinks that follow such occasions. It was a usual sort of agenda; a mere 440 pages, most of which accompanied items which were passed without discussion. For example, the Information Technology Faculty's Board structure, etc. were in this group. I noticed that for some arcane reason Rob Willis's appointment as AD (International) has been held over. As ever, almost all of the business of the meeting was in the "Vice-Chancellor's Group Business", but we began with Robert Pargetter going through the initial VTAC popularity figures. On first preferences from scored Year 12 students, Monash is up 5.6%, but there is a large concern about a 26% drop for Berwick. Mutterings about Melbourne, where first preferences have risen 24%, although this in part reflects the incorporation of some hitherto "associated" institutions. From our (IT) position, a major concern is the 30% drop in "Others", as these include the E-types from whom we have got quite large numbers in the past. A good deal of the meeting was spent on the report and recommendations of Alan Lindsay's Academic Board Working Party. Most of this is of little concern to non-Board members, but we may see for next year more use of online papers, and an agenda built up by members flagging items for discussion. The more interesting topic of changes in the devolution of approvals of various things to Faculties is awaiting further study & legal advice. There was some discussion of whether the Board should have a standing Research Committee", instead of or as well as CADRES. This is for later consideration too. (I apologise for leaving anything out. It was warm, the room was stuffy, Alan Lindsay delivers a totally unmemorable monotone, and I kept succumbing to what Oscar Wilde called the "post-prandial lapse into the arms of Morphius.") Of far more interest was the Budget. We had a draft budget of considerable detail for 1998, and for the first time, indicative budgets for two further years. The detailed Faculty budgets were of interest, as it was good to see where the money was coming from. As usual, Medicine leads the way with over $64M of which only half is recurrent (DEETYA plus fees.) A particularly interesting point for us techos is the IT & Infrastructure item, which rises by nearly $7M to $22M. Peter Wade spoke at length, and boringly, then it was time for the attack. Predictably Ray Cas from Earth Sciences led on behalf of the Science Faculty, which is looking at a net drop of about $2M after a drop of about $2.5M on formula budget (i.e. their teaching has dropped.) Ray's arguments included: - they had been too kind, allowing their students to study subjects from other Faculties - the cut was too much for one year, and should be phased in (in other words, subsidize us longer, please.) - the formula didn't pay enough attention to research, and should be changed to allocate more on research quantum (this has a strangely familiar ring). Ray's pleas were received in respectful silence, but it was obvious the VC and crew weren't going to change anything, and no other Faculty was foregoing a shekel. Wade drew attention to some restructuring money in the budget, so expect Science to be offered loans to help shed staff. By this stage, members had begun to drift away, the clink of glassware could be heard from outside, so an attempt was made to get the rest over quickly. No way! we had a good 45 minutes to go yet. The rest of the VC's Group items were: _ a quick report on the Strategic Innovations Fund. 21 submissions, 8 clearly in, 4 clearly out, and the rest under consideration. News in a week or so. - the West Report. Read it on the DEETYA web page. Don't give it as a Christmas present. Disappointing and fragmented quoth DVC Lindsay. - Peninsula. A longish report full of recommendations of Peninsula, following from the VC's 5-year plan. Lots of good words about initiative like the BNC (which everyone knows is a type of connector for coax cables) and the Grad Cert in Medical Informatics. Exhortations for more senior staff and research. I am afraid to me the report was long on high hopes and short on critical analysis of Peninsula's problems and prospects. John White's appointment as Campus Director of *both* Caulfield and Peninsula was announced, and Peter Wade made warm noises about John's support for him since the merger. Applause. (Any bets on JSW's retirement before 1998 is over?) - Director, Information Technology. The search goes on, since an offer has been made and declined. Mention of the load being shouldered in the meantime by Annal/Dobson/et al. No applause. - ARC/NHMRC League tables. In past years this was a matter for much comment, but it passed quietly this time. Monash was 5th in the ARC grants and 4th in NHMRC. Comments that Sydney had headed off UNSW, and UQ was close to overtaking UofM for 3rd. - Council. The amended Act is now in force (do the people pumping out email from the TRAG realise this?), so our Council has to shrink significantly. The VC announced the 12 (6+6) Governor-in-Council and Monash Council appointees, and Council's recommendation for selecting the staff/student reps from the existing Councillors. By now the room was about half empty but we couldn't go yet: - a recommendation from the Dean of Medicine to disestablish the Centre for Bioprocess Technology was opposed very forcefully by Professor Milton Hearn, who just happens to be the Director of the Centre. The saga of, er, disquiet in the Biochemistry Department is clearly far from over. It was referred back to Faculty. - The VC cleared the room of non-members (none were left to leave), and read out the names of the 1998 Honorary Degrees, which we had to vote on without discussion; surely one of the most absurd procedures around. We are bound to secrecy as to the names, but they all seemed worthy to me. Then it was out to attach the sushi and satay. Jim Breen 27 November 1997. PS: No pen portrait this time. After my tour de force last time, which was rapidly passed to Lou Waller, I was having trouble thinking of the next subject. I wondered about Neil Cameron, who I saw tip-toeing out early from his last Board Meeting (he retires next month), or possibly the out-going Dean of Medicine, Robert Porter. If Rob Willis will lend me a copy of Porter's famous memo about decanal academic dress (it has unflattering references to Mickey of the house of Mouse), I might mention him next time. [The collected Academic Board Reports can be found at: http://www.dgs.monash.edu.au/~jwb/aca/]