Prior to the meeting, members received a presentation from Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldburg, Director of the Global Change Institute on the Institute's first year of operation.
Senate received a report from the Finance Committee, presented by the EDO, on the preliminary budget for 2011. The final budget will come to the first meeting of Senate in 2011, after 2010 accounts have been closed off and the final 2010 position is clear. The key message was that the University's overall operating position is stable for 2011 - a small surplus is expected, despite a lot of construction spending happening during the year. The anticipated drop in international student income is not expected to hit with any significant impact before 2012.
My fellow elected staff representative (academic), Andrew Bonnell, pointed out that the increase in funding to central operations outstripped that to the Faculties and Institutes significantly, and that some Schools anticipate running a deficit in 2011 and having to cut back on things like casual tutors, thereby exacerbating the acknowledged student-to-staff ratio problem. No meaningful explanation of the discrepancy in funding between central and academic units was given by senior management. This is something to be pursued in the new year.
Other business was routine in nature - reports from sub-committees, Academic Board, Vice-Chancellor. In relation to the strategic plan, which was approved, one external Senator asked that a 'warts-and-all' summary of the progress of Faculties and Institutes against their objectives be given to Senators during the coming year - this was agreed to and should be a good thing if the right data is presented, as it could expose issues that Senators can debate.
