7 June 2012

The Board of Trustees met offsite on Wednesday 7 June 2012, prior to its annual Board Strategy Day. A summary of matters discussed at the Board meeting is provided below.

Confirmation of Minutes
The minutes of the 11 April 2012 (opens in a new window) (PDF, 47kb) meeting of the Board of Trustees were confirmed and can be downloaded from this page.

MAIN ITEMS CONSIDERED BY THE BOARD

Chancellor's Report

The Chancellor, Professor Peter Shergold, reported to the Board about his recent activities which included:  giving the Welcome to the Prime Minister’s announcement about the Government’s $7m funding to complete the restoration of the Female Orphan School; being the MC at the Gough Whitlam Oration (which this year was delivered by Malcolm Fraser); officiating at seven UWS graduation ceremonies; being the MC at the AC Grayling event for the Sydney Writers’ Festival; participating in the Workshop on Philanthropy in Australian Schools hosted by Senator Jacinta Collins at Parliament House Canberra; and meeting with Jan Owen, the CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians. The Chancellor also gave:

 

Interviews to:

  • Australian and New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne about Connected Government
  • TVS for Celebrity Bookshelf and
  • Andrew Trounson for The Australian

Keynote addresses and speeches at:

  • the launch of the Institute for Culture and Society at Parramatta campus
  • the launch of the Western Sydney Community Forum Resource Handbook at Mt Druitt Community Hub
  • the University of Tasmania Forum and Link-up Community Conference in Burnie Tasmania
  • the Reform Club luncheon in Sydney on Renewing Public Service
  • Parramatta Economic Development Forum, Sydney Opera House
  • Higher Education Summit in Melbourne

Some of the Chancellor’s speeches are available on his web site: http://www.uws.edu.au/about_uws/uws/chancellor

 

Vice-Chancellor’s Report

The Vice-Chancellor's regular report to the Board of Trustees included the following items:

  • At the 2012 Autumn Graduation Ceremonies 3000 graduands were awarded degrees in a wide range of disciplines and the first UWS Community Awards were awarded to 17 members of the Greater Western Sydney community for outstanding contributions to the region
  • The Institute for Culture and Society was officially launched by the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor in April
  • The Hon Julia Gillard and the Hon Chris Evans met at the Female Orphan School on 1 June to announce the Government’s $7m contribution towards the cost of restoring the East Wing of the Female Orphan School
  • Professor Beverley Raphael, Disaster Response and Resilience Research Group and Professor of Population Mental Health and Disasters has been named an International Distinguished Fellow by the American Psychiatric Association
  • The fifth UWS Sculpture Award and Exhibition was officially opened in May
  • UWS was shortlisted as a finalist in the 2012 Australian Human Resources Institute National Diversity Awards for its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment and Engagement Program
  • Senior representatives of the Glasgow Caledonian University visited UWS in May to discuss areas of potential collaboration

The Vice-Chancellor:

  • has accepted an invitation from the VC of the University of Melbourne to present the Annual Sir Robert Menzies Oration on Higher Education in October
  • chaired her first meeting of the NSW Vice-Chancellors’ Committee
  • was invited by PricewaterhouseCoopers to participate in ‘The Sydney Collective’
  • attended the inaugural lecture in the Thinking Out Loud Lecture Series in May at the NSW State Library

Student Services and Amenities Fee

The Board of Trustees had an initial discussion of the guiding principles for the SSAF expenditure and noted the SSAF consultation processes with students to date. The Board agreed that at its September meeting it will further consider the mechanisms by which enrolled students and student representatives have participated in the decision making process regarding SSAF from 2013, as required under the SSAF Guidelines.

It was further agreed that the President of the SRC should be invited to present the views of the SRC to the Board.

Academic Staffing in Schools

Dr George Morgan spoke to his paper in which he raised concerns about funding for academic units and the delivery of high quality education for UWS students. He responded to questions from fellow Board members. The Board also noted the management response to Dr Morgan’s concerns and Dr Morgan accepted the Chair of Academic Senate’s invitation to meet with him regarding standards and assessment. The Board requested UWS graduate destination data and agreed that academic standards should be a topic for further discussion by the Board.

Campus Development Committee

The Board noted the report of the 10 May meeting and approved:

  • the final version of the 10 Year Estate Development Plan, noting that this is an evolving document which will need to be re-presented on a periodic basis;
  • the Hawkesbury Campus Master Plan and Conservation Management Plan.

2013 Meeting Dates

The Board of Trustees noted that its meeting dates in 2013 are:

Wednesday 27 February 2013
Wednesday 10 April 2013
Wednesday 5 June 2013
Thursday 6 June 2013 (annual Strategy Day)
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Wednesday 4 December 2013

Other Reports and Items Considered by the Board

  • 17 May 2012 meeting of Finance and Investment Committee
  • 4 May 2012 meeting of Strategy and Planning Committee
  • 22 May 2012 meeting of Audit and Risk Management Committee
  • 4 May 2012 meeting of Academic Senate
  • 16 May 2012 meeting of Board Standing Committee and Remunerations and Nominations Committee
  • 10 May 2012 meeting of the Campus Development Committee
  • Staffing Matters
  • Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on Education and Sustainable Development

Date of Next Meeting

The Board’s next meeting will be held at 9.00am on Wednesday 5 September in the Boardroom, Building AD, Werrington North.