UoM invites wide input to Melbourne Agenda
[ UniNews Vol. 14, No. 2
21 February - 7 March 2005 ] By Christina Buckridge
The University of Melbourne community will contribute to the next rendering of the Melbourne Agenda.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis told the recent Conference of Deans and Heads that, over the next three months, the University community will be invited to reflect on the meaning of the Melbourne Agenda and the longer-term strategies needed to achieve it.
Professor Davis said that this broader consultation process across the University community will be based on the themes from the conference and will include a discussion paper and campus meetings.
The final stage of the process will be a report to the University Council.
Professor Davis noted that areas of strategic focus for the University in 2005 and beyond include teaching quality, international recruitment, knowledge transfer, funding-raising and alumni relations.
The conference, which brought together members of the Universitys senior management, deans, heads of department, and heads of administrative units, examined a broad range of issues critical to the Universitys positioning in the higher education environment as it works to realise its vision of being one of the finest universities in the world.
As well as reviewing performance over the past 12 months, the conference considered and debated the Universitys challenges and opportunities in a changing higher education environment.
Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Professor Peter Dawkins, identified a range of tensions remaining in the higher education sector.
These included the current distinctions between full-fee and Commonwealth-supported students, and between research-intensive and teaching-based universities.
Professor Dawkins also noted the tension between greater diversity and deregulation on one hand and government interference and control on the other.
A highlight of the conference came with the Melbourne Business Schools Professor Ian Harper putting the Melbourne Agenda to rigorous interrogation with a panel of senior University management fielding his probing questions.
Strategic issues for 2005 were also given attention at the conference. For instance, participants were asked to review the draft portfolio for the Universitys Australian Universities Quality Agency audit set down for August 2005.
Dr Sue Elliott, director of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Education Unit, and Dr Julie Willis, senior lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, reported on a review of international models of research assessment carried out by participants in the Universitys Academic Women in Leadership program. The review explored implications for the University and assisted the University in preparing a submission for a proposed national research quality framework.
The key challenges facing teaching and learning, and research and research training were also discussed.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Peter McPhee, identified six challenges for teaching and learning in 2005 and beyond. These, he said, are aligning academic assessment with the development of graduate attributes, the implications of internationalisation of education, defining research-led teaching, furthering e-learning in a campus-based university, attracting and retaining the best students (including the new category of Access Melbourne students) and creating small learning communities.
A key focus for research in 2005, according to Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Frank Larkins, will be preparation for the Research Quality Assessment Exercise, due in 2006-07, which will measure the quality and impact of research in Australias universities and publicly funded research agencies.
Two members of the Uni-versitys enterprise bargaining team, Vice-Principal Human Resources Ms Liz Baré and Dean of Science, Professor John McKenzie, gave the conference an update on enterprise bargaining, and Bio21 Institute Director, Professor Dick Wettenhall, outlined recent advances for the Institute.
Among the operational hot topics reported on were the University system project, the Universitys tsunami response, land use management strategy, strategic plans for the University Library and for Human Resources, the Faculty of Land and Food Resources, and Universitias 21 and Universitas 21 Global.
Papers given at the conference can be seen at: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/staff/deansandheads/2005/index.html
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