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Ancora Imparo, March, 2008

5 March 2008

The first two graduations for 2008 have been held at South Africa and Gippsland. The progress made by both these Campuses in the last 5 years has been quite remarkable. At the South African graduation, 178 students graduated in a moving ceremony. Most of the graduands were the first in their families to attend university and their experience will have a transformational effect on their families. The graduands came from all the southern African countries. Over 2400 students are expected at the Campus by second semester this year, a far cry from the 480 of 2004.

The Gippsland Campus is also making stunning progress. New student commencements are about 100 above target. The Graduate Entry Medical School has taken its new students in state of the art new facilities. A large, environmentally friendly new auditorium and function centre is nearing completion. It will replace the "Binishell" which although distinctive has reached the end of its lifespan and will be demolished. The new auditorium will be the site of the regional meeting of the Victorian Legislative Assembly in October this year. New student residences will be constructed with the help of Commonwealth and State funding. Research activity is increasing markedly. Contrary to many regional campuses, Gippsland is now breaking even financially and its future is bright. The new Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Helen Bartlett will take up her post in August. The Acting Pro Vice-Chancellor, Associate Professor Harry Ballis is doing a wonderful job in the interim.

With the new Federal Government, it is a frenetic time in relations between the universities' sector and government. The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr has announced a broad-ranging review of innovation strategy. He has also announced that the Research Quality Framework (RQF) in the form which the previous government intended is to be abandoned and a new approach has been signalled. The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative, is to be developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in conjunction with the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) and will assess research quality using a combination of metrics and expert review. Health and medical research will have evaluation driven by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Guidelines for the allocation of funding from the Higher Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) are to be released and consultations will be held in relation to them. The Government is also undertaking consultation following the introduction of the so-called "VSU" legislation on how student support activities and facilities are to be supported. The Federal Government has signalled that it will use individually negotiated funding "Compacts" with each university to drive diversity in the sector and to support the individual missions of each university. There is no clarity about how these will work and it is possible that there will also be a review of higher education funding. The 2020 Summit has education as one of its subthemes. In addition to this activity at the Federal level, the State Parliament has announced a review of the legislative framework for Victoria's universities.

These activities are occurring at a time when the Federal departments are in a state of great change with the former functions of the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) now distributed between the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and the Department of Innovation, Industry and Research (DIISR). It is clear that policies relating to universities will be split between two departments and that there will be many aspects separate from universities and indeed from education that will compete for the attention of these Departments. Effective advocacy will be required.

Meanwhile, at Monash, Orientation Week activities have been completed successfully and the teaching year has begun. The Senior Management Summit and Council Summits conducted during February have identified the priorities for the University for the next five years as it works towards its goals for 2025.

Despite the turbulence in the sector, all the signs for Monash University in its 50th year are positive.

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