A meeting of the Committee of Convocation was held in the Council Chamber, Old Law Quadrangle, University of Melbourne, on Wednesday 17 April, 2002 at 5.45pm.

Present

Dr RJ Condron in the Chair,
Mr MJ Anderson, Ms M Austin, Mr G Bartle, Dr D Brownbill, Ms HM Cohn, Ms CF Connan, Mr RE Cook, Ms JM Crowe, Mr BFB Dance, Mr GF Dawson, Mr AT Douglas, Dr SC Ducker, Ms JH Elton Brown, Mr AG Handberg, Dr JK Harcourt, Mr RTA Hardcastle, Mr PR Hirst, Mr J Humphrey, Dr AA Jones, Mr JC Jones, Mr FAM Lees, Dr PA Lowe, Mr JG Meehan, Mrs AM Neal-Adam, Mr JF Nicholas, Dr IR Price, Dr NMcH Ramsey, Dr JT Robinson, Mrs MC Robinson, Dr B-A Rodan, Ms AS Rusden, Dr S Sahhar, Mr GH Thomas, Ms MA Weston, Ms C Willis.

Professor P McPhee, President of the Academic Board, Professor BA Sheehan, Chair of Melbourne University Press, Mr LN Currie, University Secretary and Ms H Davies, Minute Secretary, were in attendance.

BUSINESS

0. Preliminary Matters

0.0 Welcome to Professor Peter McPhee

The President welcomed the President of the Academic Board, Professor Peter McPhee to his first meeting of the Committee and advised that he would be reporting the April Council meeting.

0.1 Welcome to Professor Barry Sheehan

The President welcomed Professor Barry Sheehan who, as Chairperson of Melbourne University Press Board of Management, would be speaking to the Summary Review of that University organization which had been circulated.

0.2 Report from Returning Officer

The University Secretary referred members to his Report that had been distributed with the Agenda, and declared Mr Allan Handberg duly elected as Deputy President, effective from 1 May, 2002 and expiring on 31 April 2003. He also declared Dr Cecily Close duly elected to fill a casual vacancy in Arts and Social Work with a term expiring on 31 December, 2005.

0.3 Welcome to New Member

The President welcomed Dr Cecily Close, the new member, to the meeting as she was taking up her position following her election to represent the graduates in Arts for a term expiring in 2005. Dr Sophie Ducker said a few words in introduction.

0.4 Minute of Appreciation

Dr Condron announced Dr AJW Moore's resignation from the Committee and moved a Minute of Appreciation for the 23 years' service that Dr Moore had contributed as a representative of the graduates of Science.

1. Apologies and Leave of Absence

Apologies had been received from Ms LJ Boston, Ms H Cohn and Dr J Stillman,

There had been no Leave of Absence previously granted for this meeting, but it had been granted to Dr D Brownbill for the May meeting and to Dr P Lowe for the June meeting.

Leave of Absence was granted to Dr A Jones for the May meeting, Mr J Jones for the May and June meetings as well as Ms M Neal Adam and Dr S Sahhar for the June meeting.

2 Starring of Additional Items

Item 8.4 was starred to receive a verbal report.

3. Minutes of Meeting 1/02 (17.3.2002)

The minutes of meeting 1/02 held on 17 March, 2002 were approved, subject to a correction recording Dr Jenny Stillman as the Committee's member of the Faculty of Veterinary Science and Ms Catherine Willis as the Committee's member of the Institute of Land and Food Resources.

4. Matters Arising

4.1 Casual Vacancies to be Filled (Minute 4.2)

The President advised that as there remain two casual vacancies to be filled, the May 2002 meeting will be declared a Special Meeting to fill these positions: one in Arts and Social Work for a term expiring in 20003, and another in Education and Music for a term expiring in 2005.

[The President subsequently decided to cancel the May meeting due to lack of business. However, it will be necessary to declare another meeting a Special Meeting in due course.]

4.2 Review of Standing Orders of Convocation (Minute 11.4, Meeting 6-01)

The Chairperson referred members to the Standing Orders of Convocation that were circulated with the March meeting papers and invited Mr John Nicholas to speak to this item. After discussion, it was agreed that Messrs A Douglas and J Nicholas would join with the University Secretary in forming a Working Group to review the Standing Orders of Convocation, and report back to the Committee the results of their review together with any recommendation they may consider appropriate for consideration by the Committee.

4.3 Governance of the University (Minute 4.3)

The President advised that the Working Group to consider Governance of the University had received a paper from the University Secretary on the Statutes, Regulations, Standing Resolutions and accepted University practices providing for election to, or selection by, the Committee. It was expected that the Working Group would report back to the Committee after this additional material had been examined.

4.4 "Representing Graduates Effectively" (Minute 4.4)

The Deputy President, Mr Allan Handberg, advised that not all Faculty representatives had provided reports detailing how their Faculty "represented graduates effectively", and that some reports submitted required more data. However, he was very pleased with most reports received. Before the Committee next meets, Mr Handberg would be contacting the respective representatives for the missing reports and will be collating the reports to hand. This needs to be done before the proposed Workshop to consider the material can be held.

5. Report of Meeting 1/02 to Council

The Committee received the report of meeting 1/02 held on 17 March, 2002 that was presented to April Council.

6. Legislation and Standing Resolutions of Council

6.1 Statutes made by Council at its April meeting

No statutes were made by Council at its April meeting.

6.2 Regulations made by Council at its April meeting.

Council made the following Regulation detailed in the report:

(1)

Amendment of Regulation 5.4.R1

To add a degree in Regulation 5.4.R1 (12/02)

6.3 Standing Resolutions made by Council

No Standing Resolutions were made by Council at its April meeting.

6.4 Statutes proposed for consideration by Council at its next meeting

There was no legislation for consideration by Council at its next meeting.

6.5 Regulations proposed for consideration by Council at its next meeting

The following regulations were for consideration by Council at its next meeting.

(1)	Making of Regulation R6.XXX	To make a regulation to govern The William and Kate Herschell Bequest (5/02)
(2)	Amendment of Regulation 6.1.R1	To add a Health Agency as a Recognised Institution in the Schedule to a Regulation (14/02)
(3)	Amendment of Regulation 8.1.R9	To amend Appendix 1, Schedule of Fees, to the Parking and Traffic Rules (15/02)
(4)	Amendment of Regulation 5.1.R1	To amend the membership of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences (16/02)
(5)	Amendment of Regulation 7.1.R2	To add a Chair to Schedule B of the regulation governing academic and general staff ranks and titles (17/02)
(6)	Amendment of Regulation 6.1.R7	To make provision for the School of Rural Health (18/02)
(7)	Amendment of Regulation 12.6.R1	To update the regulation governing Academic Dress colours (19/02)
(8)	Amendment of Regulation 5.1.R4	To amend the regulation governing the Institute of Land and Food Resources (20/02)
(9)	Making of Regulation R7.XXX	To make a regulation to govern the fund for the Fitzgerald Chair of Accounting (21/02)
(10)	Making of Regulation R7.XXX	To make a regulation to govern the fund for the Chair of Social Work (22/02)
(11)	Amendment of Regulations R7.146, R7.173, R7.175, R7.147, R7.177, R7.77, R7.9, R7.184, R7.99, R7.73	To amend regulations to make express provision for research as a purpose in the regulations governing trusts the income of which is to be used for the University's general purposes. (23 - 32/02)
(12)	Amendment of Regulation R6.98	To amend the regulation to update the terms of the Lizette Bentwitch Scholarship (33/02)
(13)	Amendment of Regulation R6.72 (109)	To amend the regulation to update the terms of the Monica Elizabeth Reum Memorial Prize (34/02)
(14)	Amendment of Regulation R6.72 (183)	To amend the regulation to update the terms of the Woodward Medal in Science and Technology and the Woodward Medal in the Humanities and Social Sciences (35/02)
(15)	Amendment of Regulation R6.17	To update the regulation governing the David Syme Research Prize (36/02)
(16)	Amendment of Regulation R6.72(18)	To update the regulation to correct the name of the John Grice Research Prize (37/02)

7. Report of Council Meeting 2/02 (8/4/02)

7.1 Vice-Chancellor's Report

7.2 Oral report on Council Meeting

The President of Convocation invited the President of Academic Board, Professor Peter McPhee, to speak to this item. He commenced with reference to the Melbourne University Press Board of Management Review, then alluded to recent developments in relation to Melbourne University Private, announced that staff had received a 2.5% salary increase in line with the University's Enterprise Agreement. In addition, he mentioned new and renamed courses and, in referring to the latest information on the 150th Anniversary Celebrations provided by its Advisory Committee, added that the President of Convocation was a member of that Committee.

8. Reports of Faculty Meetings and Committee Meetings

8.1 Planning and Budget Committee 11/01

The Committee received the report for information.

8.2 Finance Committee 11/01

The Committee received the report for information.

8.3 Faculty of Economics and Commerce

The Committee received the tabled report for information.

8.4 Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences

The Committee received the verbal report for information, which highlighted some of the problems being experienced by the School of Dental Science. Dr Sahhar advised that he would be seeking further information on these problems and would report further to the next meeting of the Committee.

9. President's Report

The President gave a brief verbal report in which he publicised the Annual Ordinary Meeting of Convocation being held on 8th May in conjunction with the joint Alumni/Convocation Dinner.

10. Guest Speaker

10.1 Guest Speaker at Meeting

Professor Barry Sheehan, the Chairperson of the Melbourne University Press Board of Management, spoke on the Review recently conducted into the operations of that publishing house. A summary of the Review had been circulated for information.

10.2 Guest Speaker at Dinner

Dr Jeffrey Pressing, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology in the School of Behavioural Sciences, an acknowledged expert in the field of Artificial Intelligence, was guest speaker at dinner and spoke on various projects with which he was currently involved in that field.

11. Annual Reports

11.1 University of Melbourne 2001 Annual Report

The Committee received the 2001 Annual Report for information.

11.2 Committee of Convocation Draft 2001 Annual Report

The Committee received the 2001 Annual Report for the Committee of Convocation and resolved that the report be adopted, subject to minor editorial amendments.

12. Any Other Business

12.1 Newspaper Article Idealism is losing out to the reality

The President referred to a tabled newspaper article entitled Idealism is losing out to the reality written by Robert Manne, an Associate Professor of Politics at LaTrobe University. Ms Neal Adam had requested that the article be tabled and opened discussion on the item. She requested that Associate Professor Manne be invited to a future meeting as guest speaker as she believed he had much to say on universities which could interest the Committee.

12.2 Newspaper Article The Business of Learning

Another tabled newspaper article concerned with universities and entitled The business of learning written by Geoff Sharrock was received. Mr Sharrock was currently completing a PhD on leadership and change in universities, in the School of Management at RMIT,

12.3 Parking Permits

The President announced that members should have received their on-campus University parking permits after the last meeting and asked that anyone without a parking permit, or who had any other parking problem, contact the Minute Secretary in order to have this or any other parking problem rectified.

13. Receipt of Unstarred Items

The Committee received all unstarred items.