Prior to the meeting a number of general staff and Senators met informally. The staff members got to know a little more about the workings of Senate.
We discussed the roles of the staff members present and issues for their organisational units, such as the upcoming relocation of the Vet School to Gatton. We also discussed some matters arising from a Senate retreat held earlier in the year, including the development of a HR strategy for UQ.
If you would like to participate in an informal meeting with Senators, email me.
Prior to the formal meeting of Senate itself, Senators listened to a presentation from the Head, School of Medicine, about directions for the School.
It was announced that Prof Trevor Grigg, DVC(I&D) will not seek to renew his contract expiring June 2009. As he has accrued leave to take, he will effectively depart in January 2009.
Mr Douglas Porter is retiring, effective January 2009.
The one-off $500M allocation in 2008 to improve campus infrastructure in Australia�s universities will see $30.2M come to UQ. The Vice-Chancellor expects most of this to go to relocation of the Vet School.
Enrolments at Ipswich are not what they were hoped to be and it costs a lot of money to keep the campus going. The facility is seen to be a good longer-term asset for UQ, particularly given projected population growth in the Ipswich corridor.
In the meantime, an action plan for making better use of the campus was endorsed. Some of the key features are:
beefing up Health Sciences programs at the campus;
partnering with a senior school and with TAFE to increase articulation into UQ programs; and
developing an on-campus college offering associate degree programs that articulate to UQ programs.
The report of the review of Student & Academic Administration and an implementation plan developed by the Academic Registrar were noted. Most of the implementation steps are already in train, so staff of SASD would be familiar with them.
Other business was routine in nature - reports from the various sub-committees of Senate for noting, reports of professorial selection committees, a report of the use of monies collected under the Enhanced Student Plan in 2007, a report from UQ Holdings on performance in 2007, a couple of HUPP policy updates, etc.
