Aligning the University Legislative Framework to meet the new Higher Education Competitive Environment

Mr Peter Marshall Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice-President

Contents

Monash University

Background

Impact of deregulation

Partnerships with Private Providers

Course and Unit offerings

Review of Monash Statutes and Regulations

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Monash University

Total student enrolments – 60,000

Total staff FTE – 3,300 academic & 4,500 professional

10 Faculties across 7 campuses (5 Australian and 2 International)

International Centres in Prato, India and China

Global network – Monash Warwick Alliance

Research Income of more than A$300million

In the top one per cent of world universities – 91st in the world – according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2013-2014)

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Background

Increasing competition in traditional Higher Education models:

In particular:

– On-line offerings – cost/convenience; – Private providers; – International providers; – Fee (price) deregulation.

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Australia’s relationship with private providers

In particular, Australia has seen significant growth in private providers:

– Navitas – the industry leader in pre-university and university pathway programs offering 32 university programs in Australia, UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and Sri Lanka;

– Pearson – more than 11 million students have used their learning technologies worldwide over the past decade;

– Laureate – a network of more than 75 campus-based and online universities offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs to over 850,000 students around the world spanning 29 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Private providers operate as partners (with public universities) and competitors in different market segments.

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Deregulation

Opportunity for more private providers into the market

Universities facing will be competing against more providers with capacity to offer similar courses for less

Access to Commonwealth Support Places (70% of CSP funding)

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Partnership approach

Monash already has partnerships with private providers:

– Monash South Africa and Laureate – Monash Online and Pearson

This is driven by their key features of:

– Price competitiveness – Focus on retention – Strong technically heavy recruitment and student service processes – “Slick” processes to bring their product to the market “on demand”

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Monash processes – Unit and course offerings

Monash 2009: took 12 – 36 months to introduce new unit or course offering

Private providers were able to do this in 3 months

Slow, manual, duplicated processes (Department, Faculty Board, Academic Board – overlaid with a patchwork of committees)

A governance structure which made it almost impossible to introduce new offerings as well as abolish old

Monash was missing out on market share

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The state of Monash Legislation in 2009

1 Act (Monash University Act 1958)

33 Statutes (requiring Ministerial approval to change)

20 sets of regulations (Council approval to change)

68 faculty regulations (faculty board oversight – generated more than 1 million A4 pages each year)

110 Policies in the Policy Bank

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Review of Statutes and Regulations

To survive in the market we had to bring our governance structures to remain competitive In January 2013 the University commissioned a review and redrafting of its statutes

and regulations

Principles of the review: – Balancing good governance, efficiency and competitiveness – Reducing the regulatory and cost burden on Monash staff – Including only what is agreed as required and/or sufficient weight and

importance to be in Statutes and Regulations and making more extensive use of Policies, Procedures, Guidelines and delegations

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What do we need to regulate?

What is required under the Act?

What is required or expected by the Minister?

What does Council require?

What is required by senior management?

What is required according to principles of good governance? What should be removed from the statutes and regulations?

Are the current statutes and regulations still relevant and fit for purpose?

Would the content of any current statutes and regulations be more appropriately contained in University policies or delegations?

Where are there opportunities to streamline?

Can the number and complexity of statutes and regulations be reduced?

Can administrative burden be reduced through streamlining?

Can governance and compliance be improved?

Are there areas where governance and compliance can be improved by updating and simplifying or rationalising statutes and regulations?

Are there other ways we can better deliver the requirements of the Act, the Minister, Council, Vice-Chancellor and senior management?

Key lines of enquiry for the recommended review

Review of Statutes and Regulations

For a matter to remain in statute – must meet the following criteria:

– Matters required by the Monash University Act 2009 – Matters which Council determines should be in statutes – Matters which are required to establish the authority of the University to

enforce rules about individual conduct and rules for its premises, facilities and services

– Allocations of powers (ie specifying or clarifying the roles and responsibilities of Council, the Vice-Chancellor, the Academic Board, and the relationships between them)

– Authorisation for regulations (regulation-making power should be given by statute)

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The new regulatory framework

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Core reform in statute – clarifying the role of Academic Board and the VC

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Statute 2.2 – The Academic Board

The Academic Board is to inform the Vice-Chancellor before putting any report or recommendation to Council and before the Board makes any regulations

Statute 3.2.1 – The Vice-Chancellor and President

• Affirms that the Vice-Chancellor is the chief academic officer of the University, as well as its chief executive officer

• Deletes references to faculty boards

• Gives the Vice-Chancellor explicit power to delegate his or her powers and functions to senior officer(s) of the university

The Statute sets out the allocation of powers between the Council, the Vice-Chancellor and the Academic Board

The criteria or principles applied in making this allocation are: • Where the matter needs University-wide governance oversight - the

regulations are made by Council • Where the matter encompasses academic issues but also requires

considerations or involves issues about university governance, administration, and/or university operations (including finance and infrastructure resourcing) - the regulations are made by the Vice-Chancellor

• Where the matter is primarily one of academic quality and standard - the regulations are made by Academic Board.

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Matters covered by Council Regulations include:

The Council: meetings; committees The Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellors Awards: degrees and other awards The Academic Board including its powers, functions and procedures Faculties: membership; Deans: Appointment by the VC, and powers of delegation Student discipline Revocation of degrees or other awards Recognised Student Associations Campus Service Councils The Common Seal Gifts, grants and bequests

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Matters covered by the Vice-Chancellor Regulations include:

The Faculties and Deans

Additional requirements for admission to courses of study

Graduate Research Committee

Intellectual Property

Exclusion for health reasons

University Library

Fees

Miscellaneous (Trespass; University Holidays; Student Loans; Monash University Equity Fund)

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Matters covered by the Academic Board Regulations include:

Entrance and admission requirements

Units, coursework degrees and other awards

Exclusion for unsatisfactory progress or inability to progress

Higher degrees by research

Candidature progress management

Outcomes of the review

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Outcomes of the review 1. 30+ statutes and 20+ sets of regulations have been

reduced to 1 statute and 3 sets of regulations

2. Together the Act, the statute and regulations set out clearly the roles of the Council, the Vice-Chancellor, Provost, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Vice-Provosts, Deans, the Academic Board and the Graduate Research Committee

3. The abolition of faculty boards (and their committees) – saving enormous time and resources

4. Clarifies responsibility for decision-making about the establishment of new courses of study, and thus supports greater flexibility and speed in responding to market opportunities

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Questions

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