The meeting proper was preceded by a presentation from the DVC (Research), Max Lu, on a potential joint venture with a university in China. Senate authorised continued investigation of the proposal. I related some observations on joint ventures in China from a seminar I'd attended at the recent Association of Tertiary Education Managers and Facilities Managers national conference.
Declaration of interests, statements by the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor on recent UQ achievements; PPL changes; reports of Senate sub-committees and Academic Board; Faculty Review progress update; gifts and grants report; annual report of UQ environmental sustainability; nomination for UQ Gatton Gold Medal.
The Qld Education Minister has written to all universities in Queensland to input to a review of the nine acts that cover the nine unis in Qld and the status of the public ones as statutory bodies (which implies certain other state legislation must be observed, such as the State Procurement Policy, etc). The minister has acknowledged that universities receive most of their government funding from the Federal Government, to which a whole raft of reporting is required, with TEQSA coming. Issues of duplication of reporting arise which cost the universities money.
One likely area of debate is the size of the Senate, currently 22 members. The State Government might loosen legislative constraints on the size of governing bodies, giving UQ more freedom to decide the size and composition of Senate. Some members are in favour of a reduction to the size of a private enterprise board of directors, say 12-15, while others make the point that the objects of a university are much different to those of a company and that the substantial sub-committees load of Senate needs to be carried by its members. At this stage, the elected positions of stakeholder groups - staff, students, alumni - are not threatened per se.
The OH&S Council, established in 1984, is seen to have run its course. It will be disbanded and its role encompassed in a Vice-Chancelor's Risk and Compliance Committee, which will also encompass the current USMG Risk Management Sub-Committee. The new committee will report to the Senate Risk Committee, which will decide the membership, terms of reference and order of business to ensure enterprise-level OH&S matters are dealt with.
To me, this suggests staff involvement in Faculty, Institute, Divison and School OH&S committees just became a little more important. Make sure yours is active.
Senate was told that the report of the review of the Equity Office is expected to be out soon.
The 360-degree performance feedback concept being used at senior executive levels will pleasingly be extended to all leadership levels in the organisation. The University is developing its own, more cost-effective version of the instrument the top bosses have been subject to.
The working party received 40 applications, including 6 from academic staff, to join in order to increase its representation, which had previosly been fairly top-heavy. I applied but was unsuccessful, but in November was invited to join an additional working party aimed at building a UQ Staff Community. It met once late in 2013 with some great ideas put up by the members. I will continue to participate in the working party and will also monitor reports from the other working parties, given that Building a Stronger Workplace Culture at UQ is a standing item on Senate agendas now. You can see the membership at http://www.uq.edu.au/reform-program/working-group.
The winners of the ballots for the elected positions of academic staff, professional staff, undergraduate student, postgraduate student and alumni members of the next Senate (commencing 2014) were announced. I was successful for the professional staff ballot. I thank those who voted for me and assure others that I will participate in the governmenet of UQ with all professional staff in mind.
Some members claimed there had been technical problems with the alumni election, run for the first time as an electronic ballot, although no evidence was produced. An investigation will be conducted.
