RMIT BUSINESS PORTFOLIO

PORTFOLIO EXECUTIVE GROUP MINUTES

Minutes of Meeting No. 8/2006: Thursday 27 April, 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm

PVC (Business) Board Room, Building 108, Level 11

In Attendance: Eveline Fallshaw, Colin Bent, Sinclair Davidson, Shirley Spiteri, Sheila Bellamy (chair), Kevin Adams, Tim Fry (for Tony Naughton), Brian Corbitt, Lynne Bennington, John Toohey, Rebecca Reece, Jenelle McMahon, Suzy Ballantyne.

Apologies: Chris Whitaker, Tony Naughton.

Present by invitation: Trish Hughes (item 4.1), Viv Neufeld (item 5.2).

Item / Discussion Summary / Resolution/Decision / Follow-up Action /
1 / Minutes
(A2) PEG Minutes 13 Apr 2006.doc / PEG considered the minutes of meeting 7 (13 Apr). / The minutes of meeting 7 (13 Apr) were approved subject to minor amendments. / Suzy Ballantyne
2 / Business arising/outstanding
2.1 / Research Supervisor Register / Sinclair Davidson shared his thoughts on the current state of the University Research Supervisor Register (handout). / HOS to provide any additional feedback to Sinclair by 12 May 2006.
Sinclair to advise Robin Usher of the issues identified, and that the Business Portfolio, in line with University Policy and Procedure, will in future collect information and maintain its own Portfolio Supervisor register, and provide him with a copy on a regular basis. / HOS / Sinclair Davidson
Sinclair Davidson
2.2 / Lifts / Ongoing concern expressed regarding lift usage. Consultants have been engaged to review lift usage and suggest improvements. / Rebecca Reece to arrange for main foyer lifts to no longer stop on levels 4-6 (except during exam periods). Access to these levels will be available by lifts in the arcade only. / Rebecca Reece
3 / Pro Vice-Chancellor’s update
N/A
4 / Presentations
4.1 / Services Integration
(B1) Services Integration.doc / Trish Hughes provided an update on the activities within the Services Integration project (casual pay, IT services, and accounts payable & purchasing).
Given that the focus over the past 12 months was with the 180 project, little work has occurred on services integration during this time. The steering group is currently determining future priorities.
PEG expressed concern with the project and with the selection of individual priority issues.
Trish to discuss with Steve Somogyi - Vice-President (Resources), and pass on our concerns regarding the fragmentation and perceived inequality of the project outcomes to date. / It was suggested that Trish Hughes, Carol Boas, Karen Thompson and Linda Jackson attend a meeting with the School admin managers to resolve outstanding issues.
PVC to escalate Portfolio concerns to VCE, particularly regarding the lack of importance placed on feedback provided by Deans and HOS. Also of concern is the randomness of the activities being analysed – is difficult to see the ‘integration’ being achieved. / Ev Fallshaw
PVC
5 / New Business
5.1 / Academic Staff – Deeming of Annual Leave
(C1) Deeming Academic Leave.doc / Jenelle McMahon discussed the process of ‘deeming’ and provided additional handouts to PEG members.
HOS expressed concern over the dates selected – 15 Dec 2006 to 22 Jan 2007, as this could cause issues for offshore teaching commitments. / Jenelle to raise our concerns with Michael Hansen and advise outcome at next meeting. / Jenelle McMahon
5.2 / Profile Planning / Viv Neufeld distributed Profile planning documents to each HOS, with a request for revision to fee for service targets (Sem 2, 2006 through to 2011)
Schools are requested to maintain over-enrolment of intake over future years (revised benchmark), to ensure Business Plan targets are exceeded.
Confusion exists around international strategy direction – are we growing Vietnam or all offshore activity?
Additional assistance is available on request from Viv and also Roni McDowell (re: offshore modelling). / Viv to distribute additional information to Schools regarding local marketing by Field of Education.
HOS to revise targets by 12 May, notify Viv to collect.
PVC to escalate concerns to VCE – how are we to increase our numbers given little growth in the market, and our current physical and staffing restraints? / Viv Neufeld
HOS / Viv Neufeld
PVC
6 / Other Business
6.1 / HR Business Support – Ways of Working / Jenelle McMahon offered to schedule meetings with individual HOS on a regular basis, if there was a need. / HOS to continue interacting with Jenelle on an ‘as-needs’ basis. / -
6.2 / Individual Workplace Agreements / The deadline date has passed. Have individual workplace agreements been offered to all staff? What are the implications? / Jenelle to advise at future meeting of PEG. / Jenelle McMahon
6.3 / Advanced Standing / Ev Fallshaw has received requests from RMIT International and David Bartlett’s office to formally determine advanced standing pathways. / PEG agreed that formal approval for advanced standing pathways is important and all requests should be investigated, based on a set of basic guidelines that are to be developed. / Ev Fallshaw
6.4 / International Student visit / John Toohey advised that 30 students from the University of Grenoble (France) will be visiting the GSB during the month of May (arriving Sunday 30 April). / For information. / -
6.5 / EQUIS / A query was raised regarding follow-up activity from the EQUIS review. / PVC to advise next steps regarding internal outcomes and learnings gained from the EQUIS review. / PVC
7 / Next meeting: 4 May, 2.30 pm - 4.00 pm, PVC’s Board Room, Building 108, Level 11.

PEG Mtg No. 9/06: 4 May 2006 Page 3 of 3

H:\PEG\2006\060504.9\A2. PEG minutes 27 Apr 2006.doc 2 May 2006