Dean's Report

Annual Planning and Budget conference

Yesterday I attended the University’s Annual Planning and Budget conference, which builds on the work conducted over the year by the University Executive. The day-long conference looked at a range of key priorities for the University including the consideration of the University’s next Strategic Plan as we approach the final year of the Growing Esteem strategy and with a new Vice-Chancellor at the helm. It was a great opportunity for us all to work with Duncan Maskell and to hear some of his ideas about the future of the University of Melbourne. The Deans of each of the Faculties gave a five-minute presentation on the future growth of our faculties, how we can work better together and, more broadly, what our public purpose is and how it is best expressed. The conference also determined the divisional budgets for 2019 and the financial forward estimates for 2020 and 2021.  Further details on the outcomes from the conference will be communicated over the coming weeks, including through the new staff forums, and when the Vice-Chancellor visits MGSE on Thursday 1 November.

Quarterly Conversation Forums

The Strategic Planning workshops, held earlier this year, showed an enthusiasm and willingness by MGSE staff to take time from our busy days to reflect and discuss our work priorities and to examine how we can ensure a successful future for MGSE. While our Dean and Staff Forums provide the opportunity to bring staff together for more formal communications, it has become apparent that we also need some smaller regular opportunities for discussion. To this end I am introducing a new series of quarterly conversation forums with the first sessions commencing in late October. The forums are intended as an opportunity for regular dialogue between staff and the executive to discuss the issues that are important to you, and to hear from you directly about the Graduate School and our work together.

Science and Maths Education Cognate group

I was delighted to hear that the first meeting of the new monthly Science and Maths Education group took place last week with a great response from the participants who expressed the expectation that they will be inspired by one another. They were very keen to explore the possibilities for collaborative work and professional learning, across research, teaching and engagement. The Science and Maths Education Cognate group was established recently as part of the new supervision structure at MGSE and the group will organise monthly lectures (often with guest speakers) and research seminars for staff and graduate researchers.

Talking Teaching

Don’t miss the latest episode of Talking Teaching which is out now and looks at what it takes to be an effective school principal. In less than a week this episode has had over 1,000 listens as interest continues to grow in our podcast series, with more than 14,000 listens to various episodes over the past six months.

Jim