Education

The Faculty has farewelled Professor Frank Hardman and Dr Jan Hardman who are moving back to UK where Frank takes up a research position at York University. We thank them most sincerely for the contributions that they both made to the Faculty during their time here and wish them well for the future.

We also welcome Professor Roger Wales who has taken up the role of Academic Director (Bundoora) until a new professorial appointment to that position is made. We are very grateful to Roger for agreeing to take up this role at a crucial time for both the University and the Faculty and we look forward to working with him whilst he is with us.

Another person we welcome to the Faculty is Subashni Sharma who is the Faculty Services Manager at the Bundoora campus. Subashni comes with a wealth of experience in this role and we look forward to the contribution and wisdom she will bring to the Faculty.

Sharn Donnison has recently joined the Faculty at the Bendigo Campus and we welcome her warmly. Sharn comes to us from Queensland.

The Faculty as a whole has met its EFTSL targets and as of April 7 the data were: Bundoora campus 117%; Bendigo campus 97%; Albury-Wodonga Campus 106.5%; Mildura campus 148.7%; Shepparton campus 112.4%. The Faculty overall is at 103% of target. The calculation which means more than the EFTSL targets however is the funding cluster target figures and this is what our faculty funding relies upon. We will be closely monitoring both the EFTSL targets and the cluster funding targets, especially with regard to priorities for mid year intakes which provide another opportunity to boost our enrolments. The University as a whole is at 102.2% of target at this stage. The postgraduate and research targets for this faculty are of some concern and we need to make every effort to attract students in these areas to meet targets.

The University Operational Plan is currently being finalized and it will then be our task to finalise a Faculty Operational Plan for the year. This is already under way and we will be calling for staff input into this Plan as soon as we receive the final version of the University Operational Plan.

Directors of the 4 academic units in the Faculty in conjunction with Faculty Services Managers will be meeting with administrative staff over the next few weeks to discuss alignment into proposed administrative teams as per the briefing paper which was sent to all staff earlier this year. The plan is still to provide the second phase of the Organisational Change Impact Statement to staff in May. This OCIS relies upon the outcomes of the discussions with staff during the next few weeks.

As you have been informed through the message from the Vice Chancellor, he is now making a written report to Academic Board each time it meets and these reports are available on the web. I commend these reports to you as a means to ensure that all staff has a clear knowledge of the directions in which the University is going and of the major issues that the university is facing in the current climate. It is especially important to read these given that the funding of Universities into the future relies upon 2 major reviews of Higher education which are about the be carried out.

Minister Gillard has also indicated that each university will negotiate its budget according to its distinctive mission. This negotiation will be in the form of 'compacts' between the University and the government. This is another compelling reason to have a clear Strategic Plan and Operational Plan at all levels, as it will be against this that the distinctive mission of the University and its faculties will be assessed.

An audit of unit outlines as they appear on the official database of the University is being carried out across the Faculty as a means to ensure that the details that are on those outlines coincide with the practice in terms of the delivery of those units. The number of hours stated and the mode of delivery must agree with the on-the-ground practice and where there are discrepancies, these will need to be addressed at the practice level. With the next AUQA audit taking place in Semester 2 next year, all processes and compliance issues will need to be audited as part of the “self review” which is required as a pre-cursor to the AUQA official visit.

Course co-ordinators will be contacted shortly to discuss these issues as they pertain to the specific course they co-ordinate. There is also to be a working part formed by the Deputy Dean to examine the Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) across the campuses on which it is offered, so as to ensure that this course is compliant with the University imperative to have a common course taught across all iterations rather than campus distinctive models. Vaughan will be in touch with course co-ordinators on this in the next few weeks. This is also an area upon which AUQA will focus very closely.

We are hoping this year after this first Newsletter, to move towards a format whereby staff across the Faculty will be invited to put forward items for inclusion in this Newsletter. It would be in the form of an e-newsletter and potentially encourage broad communication of newsworthy issues across the whole Faculty. We will provide details of deadlines and other matters, in the near future.