A presentation by each of the Deans of the Faculties of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and Health & Behavioural Sciences on how the new faculties are travelling since their formation at the beginning of 2014.
Declaration of interests, statements by the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor on recent UQ achievements; reports of Senate sub-committees and Academic Board; gifts and grants report; PPL changes; bequests, donations and prizes, UQ Press annual report, change to Official Visitor position (with change in Governor of Qld).
Senate was provided with an update on the almost-certain transfer of the campus to USQ. Most of the important information is in the public domain. UQ will teach out some programs at Ipswich over the next two years by renting facilities from USQ. A special meeting of Senate will be held mid-July to make final decisions.
Senate was provided with a fuller update of the transition from staff-dominated Culture Working Party sub-committees to management-inspired working groups focused on re-interpreted workplace culture priorities, including the student experience, under-performing academic staff, and integrating teaching and research. Huh?
While the underlying objectives of a more positive workplace culture are probably still in tact (or example ethics workshops for staff are a-coming), there are signs that the agenda is increasingly being set by participants of the VC's management conference (Heads of School equivalent and higher).
One member observed that the proof of the pudding will be the results of the next staff engagement survey. Maybe, if it is subtle enough to measure what needs to be measured.
Following on from Workplace Culture, it seems that some in the upper echelons are not too pleased about the existence and content of this blog. Wish I could say more, but will have to save it for the book (or the open resignation letter, whichever comes first).
As announced in one of those infamous 4.55pm Friday email announcements recently, the functions and staff of the Equity and Diversity office are to be incorporated into operational areas like HR and Student Affairs. The Provost will become the spokesperson for equity and diversity issues. Diversity Week has been killed off and an Equity & Diversity Forum put in its place.
One member spoke at the April Senate meeting of their concern that giving already busy UQ commmittees responsibility for oversight of UQ's equity and diversity KPIs risked those KPIs only being dealt with when there was time. I said that while it is natural that eventually equity and divesity should be ubiquitous enough to be mainstreamed into everyday operations, there was a risk that embedding it too soon, when UQ still has a long way to go with some of its measures (eg, participation by ATSI students, low-SES students, women in senior staff positions), would be damaging.
The student union president said that UQU would be running a Diversity Week this year - good on them.
There was a commercial-in-confidence presentation regarding a new overseas venture that UQ is looking at. We would not be the first to venture into this territory and, provided the due diligence is done, it could be a good thing for us. Film at 11. (Google it if you don't know what that means.)
'Leadership' triumphed again over collegiality when this item was considered.
Academic Board put forward terms of reference and composition of a review committee for Senate consideration. There was discussion of the composition of the review committee, but rather than the discussion continuing and being resolved in the Senate, the Chancellor announced that he, the V-C and the President of the Academic Board would form a sub-committee of Senate to determine the composition of the review committee. Wonder why that is necessary? Any problems with what was put forward by the Academic Board? If so, why can't we discuss and resolve it in the Senate?
Well, as I've said before, you can't have too many Senate meetings go by without car parking being mentioned or you'd know that something was seriously wrong with the world. A member rose to say that the timing of the cutover of casual parking in the multi-level carparks on Schonell Drive to permit-only parking could have been better. It happened on the first Monday of exams when "already-stressed students were even more stressed to see security and parking staff stopping them from getting in." The member made the comment in the context of UQ valuing the student experience.
