27 February 2008 - Senate Minutes

Present:	Mr Terry Budge (Chair) Prof John Yovich (Vice Chancellor) Ms Janice Bowra Ms Alison Gaines Mr Gerry Georgatos Mr Steve Harris Mr Philip Hocking Mr Garry Hunt Mr Tony Iannello Dr Lyndy Scott Ms Eva Skira
Secretary:	Mr Jeremy Rigg
Observers:	Mr Ian Callahan (DVC – Corporate) Prof Gary Martin (DVC – Enterprise & International) Prof Jim Reynoldson (DVC – Research) Prof Jan Thomas ( DVC – Academic) Mr John Pike Mr Robin Lees Mrs Julie Keene (Items 5 & 6 only) Mr Mike Conry (Items 5 & 6 only) Ms Basha Stasak (Items 5 & 6 only)
Apologies	Prof Nick Costa Mr Brian Aitken Dr Marian Kemp Mr Reece Harley Mr Russell Gibbs and Dr Stewart Washer

1. MEMBERSHIP
2. APOLOGIES
3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (MURDOCH UNIVERSITY ACT s17A)
4. VICE CHANCELLOR'S REPORT
5. 2007 ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY
6. UNIVERSITY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2007
7. CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
8. SENATE COMMITTEES AT 01 FEBRUARY 2008
9. CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES
10. ACADEMIC COUNCIL
11. AUDIT & RISK MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
12. LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
13. RESOURCES COMMITTEE (PAPERS & DISCUSSION COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
14. RESOURCES COMMITTEE
15. OFFICIAL SEAL
16. SENATE MEETING DATES FOR 2008

1.MEMBERSHIP

The Chancellor informed the Senate Ms Eva Skira and Mr Russell Gibbs had been appointed to Senate by the Governor with effect from 26 February 2008 and formally welcomed both to the Senate.  Ms Skira has been appointed Chair of the Audit & Risk Management Committee.
Ms Skira provided a brief overview of her background and expertise, adding that she felt it was a privilege to become part of the Senate and that she greatly appreciated the invitation. 
The Chancellor further noted that Professor Stuart Bradley had recently retired from Senate following his appointment as Faculty Dean for the Faculty of Sustainability, Environmental and Life Sciences.  The Chancellor noted that Prof Bradley had spent almost 6 years on Senate, and that his wise counsel will be missed, but the University will be well served to have him in the role of Faculty Dean.
Senate agreed that the Chancellor should write to Prof Bradley and express its appreciation of his service.

Resolved: S/01/2008

The Chancellor, on behalf of Senate, to write to Professor Bradley and thank him for his valuable contribution during his time as a member of Senate.

2.APOLOGIES

Prof Nick Costa, Mr Brian Aitken, Dr Marian Kemp, Mr Reece Harley, Mr Russell Gibbs and Dr Stewart Washer were apologies for the meeting.

3.DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST (MURDOCH UNIVERSITY ACT s17A)

There were no declarations of interest.  However, the Chancellor requested an in camera session to update members of Senate on an important matter and Senate agreed to this proposal.  See the separate confidential minute on this item.

4.VICE CHANCELLOR'S REPORT

The Vice Chancellor spoke to the following items in his report.
Workplace Productivity Programme
Confirmation has recently been received from the Federal Government that the entirety of $4.5M grant to fund the costs of the Murdoch 2010 project will be received during 2008, and not in instalments through to 2010 as previously advised.  This gesture was appreciated and augured well for the future relationship with the Government.

IRUA
It was noted that both the Deputy Prime Minister (who holds the Education, Employment, Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion portfolios), and the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research attended the recent IRUA conference in Adelaide.  Even though it is early days for each Minister in their new portfolios, their attendance was an important signal to the IRUA group.

Federal Government policy
A recent move by the new Government has been to scrap the Research Quality Framework (“RQF”). The dismantling of the RQF was a result of incoming government policy which had previously strongly opposed its implementation. The Government has decided to allow Universities to retain the funds advanced for the project, although Murdoch’s costs incurred to date in anticipation of implementation may exceed this. 
Attention is now turning to development of a metric based model readily applicable to hard science data with further work required in relation to suitable metrics for research in the humanities arena.
Research hubs will be a particular focus of the new government and will not be the domain of Universities alone with industry and University consortiums providing concentration of research activity.  Murdoch has been proactive in inviting Government Ministers to visit and understand our capabilities and strategies in this area.
It is early days in terms of developing an understanding of the detail behind the various new Government policy announcements, but Murdoch is maintaining regular, direct communication to assist with this.
[Commercial-in-confidence material embargoed until May 2008]

2008 Student Load   
The projections for 2008 student numbers, although at an early stage, suggest that the increased TER cut off score has not had any significant adverse impact.
In response to a query regarding alternative entry pathways, it was noted that only around 30% of entrants come through the standard TER pathway, and agreed that OnTrack numbers will be reported at a future meeting of Senate.

Asbestos re-roofing
A query was raised in relation to the asbestos re-roofing project.  The removal of asbestos roofing has been a staged project over the past 3 years at a cost of around $13m in total.
The Veterinary and Biological Sciences building had been cleared by the contractors, and subsequently swab tests identified the presence of asbestos dust in the building.  None of the airborne testing has identified the presence of airborne asbestos fibres.  The third floor of the building remains closed while steps are taken to seal gaps in the ceiling as far as possible.
Efforts are being made to ensure staff concerns are addressed, and as much information as possible is made available to the University community in relation to the issue.

Resolved: S/02/2008

[Commercial-in-confidence material embargoed until May 2008]

5.2007 ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY

Senate noted the 2007 un-audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2007. Resources Committee have reviewed the statements and will be conducting a close-out meeting for the 2007 audit with the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) on 13 March 2008.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Corporate), outlining the primary factors affecting the 2007 financial  condition and performance as follows:

• The consolidated headline profit of $64M is not representative of underlying profits due to several one-off factors that have again skewed the true position.  Allowing for these events the underlying profit approximates $6.5M;
  
• The balance sheet has been negatively impacted by the change in accounting treatment that requires the University to now recognise as a current liability the obligation to make payments to St Ives residents who sell their leases.  This has resulted in currently liabilities significantly in excess of current assets.  As the risk of all tenants selling their leases at the same time is negligible, the resulting deficit does not accurately reflect the status of the retirement village project as a going concern;
  
• The financial statements are likely to be qualified by the OAG this year due to the treatment of research grant income.  The University prefers to capitalise research grant income and only recognise it as the related expenses are incurred.  The OAG requires that all grant income is recognised upon receipt, irrespective as to the longevity of the research work.  The University of Melbourne has had a qualification for similar reasons for the past 2 years.  A strategy to manage the perception that may be created with key stakeholders by the qualification is in place and has been circulated to both the Resources Committee and the Audit & Risk Management Committee.
  

The Chair of the Resources Committee, Mr Iannello, confirmed that the Committee had spent considerable time looking at the qualification issue and ultimately believed a true and fair view of the University’s financial condition would only be reflected using management’s preferred accounting treatment.  It was noted that KPMG had also independently looked at the issue and recommended the University’s treatment over the OAG’s preferred practice.  On 13 March 2008 a meeting is being held with the OAG, as part of the close out of the annual audit process, and this issue will be discussed in detail, along with any other issues emanating from the audit.  With that caveat the Committee were happy to recommend the statements to Senate.     

It was noted in discussion that the Senate Briefing Paper form required amendment to reflect the dissolution of the Senior Executive Group under the new administrative structure. The General Counsel & University Secretary undertook to address this issue.

Resolved: S/03/2008	(i)	To approve the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2007 subject to no additional material issues being raised by the auditor on 13 March 2008;
	(ii)	To authorise the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor to sign the Statement of Compliance;
	(iii)	To authorise the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Chief Finance Officer to sign the Certification of Financial Statements; and
	(iv)	To authorise the Chancellor to sign the Report by the Members of the Senate.

6.UNIVERSITY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2007

The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Corporate) spoke to the paper, explaining that the key performance indicator report was prepared in the format dictated by the OAG to allow peer comparisons to be made with local institutions.  The indicators are not a meaningful management report for Senate as they are largely based on historical information and more recent data was awaiting compilation from various government agencies.

As the KPI’s were reflective of OAG requirements, they are in essence seen as a compliance issue.  While members of Senate expressed an interest in seeing more pertinent measures and more detailed analysis, this information would need to be provided separately.  Discussions with the OAG continue in relation to changing the nature of the KPI report to be of more utility and relevance to University management.

In response to a query, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) advised the relative performance of Murdoch on the graduate employment figures underscored the difficulties with the metrics as presented in the OAG required format.  In this instance they did not properly reflect whole of University differences in the mix of study disciplines, and there was no allowance for full time or part time work choices which affects Murdoch’s outcomes.  Other and more recent data such as that contained in the Good Universities Guide provides more meaningful comparisons and  Murdoch’s improvement in graduate employment rates has been significant in recent years. 

Subject to amending a typographical error identified in the report, Senate approved the report.

Resolved: S/04/2008	(i)	To approve the University performance  indicators for the year ended 31 December 2007;
	(ii)	To authorise the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor to sign the certificate of performance indicators for 2007 for inclusion in the 2007 annual report; and
	(iii)	To authorise the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor to sign the Statement of Compliance.

Mrs J Keene, Mr Michael Conry and Ms Basha Stasak left the meeting.

7.CONFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS MINUTES

The minutes of the meeting held on 05 December 2007 were approved.

8.SENATE COMMITTEES AT 01 FEBRUARY 2008

The composition of Senate sub-Committees for 2008 were tabled and noted.

9.ACADEMIC COUNCIL

Senate noted the minutes of the Academic Council meeting held on 30/01/2008.  It was noted that Item 3 of the Minutes referencing Professor Wronski should have referred to Professor Dooley. There were no recommendations from the meeting to go directly to Senate for approval.

10.AUDIT & RISK MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

Senate noted the minutes of the Audit & Risk Management Committee meeting held on 12 February 2008.  There were no recommendations to Senate arising from the meeting.

11.CHANCELLOR’S COMMITTEE

Senate noted the minutes of the Chancellor’s Committee circular resolution of 18  February 2008 relating to the Vice Chancellor’s 2008 performance objectives.  The Remuneration Sub-committee process was discussed.  It was noted that the agenda papers incorrectly suggested that these objectives were put to Senate for approval, when in fact approval lay with the Chancellor’s Committee and they were put to Senate for noting.  There were no recommendations to Senate arising from the resolution.

12.LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Senate noted the circular resolution of the Legislation Committee (LC/01/2008) and resolved in accord with the recommendations as follows:

Resolved: S/05/2008	(i)	Postgraduate Coursework Regulations Schedule 2 (Postgraduate coursework qualifications) (AC/137/2007) amendments attached
	(ii)	Postgraduate Coursework Regulations, Schedule 2 (Postgraduate coursework qualifications)(AC/5/2008(v)) amendments attached
	(iii)	Bachelor Regulations 1.(1) (AC/5/2008 (v)) amendments attached
	(iv)	Bachelor Degree Regulations 18. (1) (AC/16/2008) amendments attached
	(v)	Academic Progress Rules for Postgraduate Coursework Qualifications (AC/18/2008) amendments attached

13.RESOURCES COMMITTEE (PAPERS & DISCUSSION COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)

The 2007 financial statements and 2007 key performance indicators resolution were considered by Senate at item 5 and 6 of the agenda.

Mr Georgatos raised an issue for discussion in relation to the Resources Committee minutes.  Discussion had commenced when a fire alarm sounded in the building.  As the building needed to be evacuated, the Chancellor put the en bloc motion to Senate and it was passed.  Mr Georgatos was advised that the minutes were in draft, and he could discuss any queries he may have with the Chair of the Committee. Senate resolved in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee as follows:

Resolved: S/06/2008	To recommend Senate authorise the Vice Chancellor to sign a letter of support from Murdoch Retirement Services Pty Ltd, to address the net asset deficiency arising from adoption of revised accounting treatments in 2007.
Resolved: S/07/2008	To recommend Senate authorise the write of debts in the amount of $64,706 from the Veterinary Hospital accounts for the period ended 31 December 2007.
Resolved: S/08/2008	(i)	approves the allocation of $1,300,000 in 2008 discretionary funds for the research management project; and
	(ii)	approves the purchase of the University office research management system
Resolved: S/09/2008	To approve the attached payments for the period 10/11/2007 to 08/02/2007 inclusive

14.OFFICIAL SEAL

Senate noted the official seal report provided in accordance with resolution S/54/2004 and S/51/2007.

15.SENATE MEETING DATES FOR 2008

The meeting dates for 2008 were noted.

The meeting concluded at 6:20pm