MGSE staff news

Who's travelling?

The following MGSE staff will be travelling soon. If you have colleagues, potential RHD scholars, prospective students, events, or opportunities in or near the locations that they are travelling to, you are encouraged to get in touch with these staff directly to explore the potential for collaboration.

NameDepartureRouteDestinationPurpose
Sandra Milligan 17/12/19 HAN/HKG/SYD Sydney Conference
Cuc Nguyen 22/12/19 HAN SGN MEL Melbourne  Conference
Matthew Harrison 4/1/2020 MEL SYD BKK SIN MEL Thailand Teaching
Anthea Naylor 4/1/2020 MEL SYD BKK SIN MEL Thailand Teaching

Travel advice

A reminder to staff that all University-related travel must be booked in the UniTravel system, which enables the University to fulfil its duty of care to staff and students travelling on our behalf. This is particularly important where risk to travellers can escalate quickly, such as in the case of recent advice regarding the risk of travel to Iran.

Booking travel within the UniTravel system also eliminates the need for a travel diary for staff, where the dominant purpose of travel is University business.


Reminder of supervisor responsibilities - Travel

The University's Travel Policy requires supervisors to ensure that staff they supervise undertake travel in accordance with the policy and in a manner that ensures that the University is able to maintain its employer duty of care and fringe benefits tax (FBT) compliance.

Staff intending to travel for business must communicate their travel plans with their supervisor and the supervisor must: ensure the traveller books flights and accommodation through the University's endorsed booking platform; confirm that the travel is being undertaken for legitimate University business; and, if there is a personal component to the travel, confirm that the dominant purpose of travel is for University business. Guidance on supervisor responsibilities, and dominant purpose definition and common examples can be found on the UniTravel webpage. For any enquiries contact: gareth.payne@unimelb.edu.au


Congratulations to Melitta Hogarth

Last week Melitta Hogarth was awarded the 2019 Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education at the annual Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) conference held in Brisbane.  Her thesis, Addressing the rights of Indigenous peoples in education: A critical analysis of Indigenous education policy was nominated by the Queensland University of Technology after receiving both the Faculty of Education as well as the University Outstanding Thesis Award. The study critically analyses the most current National Indigenous education policy, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Strategy 2015 through the lens of the Coolangatta Statement on the rights of Indigenous peoples in education.

Melitta was also awarded the Betty Watts Indigenous Researcher Award for her paper, Education is everybody’s business or is it?: An analysis of education academics’ attitudes and preconceptions about Indigenous content. The small project was conducted in collaboration with Mr Ali Drummond, an Indigenous academic in the field of Health, investigating the attitudes and assumptions held by Education and Health academics at one university when embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge within their teaching and learning.  The paper looked solely at the data from participants working within Initial Teacher Education.  Members of the AARE Conference Awards Committee who read the paper commented that “the paper opens the door to an analysis of much that is wrong with Indigenous education today”.


Giblin Library closure over the Summer

The Giblin Eunson Library is closing for repairs to the ceiling and walls from Saturday 7 December 2019 to Monday 3 February 2020. For information about interim arrangements during this period, please visit the News & Events page. Staff can also contact Kat Frame or Fransie Naude for mediated access to collections.


Donations for school shoes and bags

This year as part of the University's partnership with the Jawun Development Program Keryn Negri (Executive Program) and Gemma Barry (Employees Secondment Program) visited Ceduna in South Australia to learn from key Indigenous leaders and provide support to Indigenous organisations. The community has a goal to increase school attendance.

One of the reasons that kids sometimes miss school is because they don't have a pair of school shoes or a school bag.

Gemma was fortunate to work with the Ceduna Youth Hub as part of the Remote School Attendance Program to help the community work towards more kids attending school. Keryn had the opportunity to speak to the Ceduna Youth Hub manager, Pete Jericho, to find out how MGSE can help.

If you have school aged children in your family or know any school aged children who have outgrown their school shoes or school bag, please consider donating it to the Ceduna Community Youth Hub. Your donations can be left at the ground floor reception in the Kwong Lee Dow Building.

MGSE will be holding a shoe shining afternoon in the new year, more details to come in 2020.


Staff Hub design upgrade

This week all Staff Hub pages below the homepage will be upgraded with a new brand-compliant design. These upgrades will improve the readability and presentation of information in Staff Hub. There isn't anything Staff Hub editors need to do to enable this upgrade and nothing in the editing screen will change. More information and instructions on how to preview Staff Hub content in the new designs are available online. For any enquiries make a request via Web Support.


MGSE Graduation celebration

Students of professional programs and non-masters courses have been invited to celebrate their course completion alongside graduating students. Staff are warmly invited to attend this celebration that will be commencing immediately after the formal graduation ceremony.

The Student Experience team is looking for any interested staff who may be able to assist on Saturday 14 December from around 9.30am-12.30pm for event registrations and general help. Subject to agreement with your manager, and in line with University policy, you may be eligible to receive overtime pay, or time in lieu. For further information, please contact mgse-experience@unimelb.edu.au.


Now Open - Nominations for Aspire Awards

Nominations close Tuesday 24 December.

Nominations for the 2019-20 National Aspire Awards are now open. The awards recognise Australians who identify with a disability and whose work and achievements have made a significant contribution to their profession or to the community. Dr Rita Hardiman from the Melbourne Dental School is a previous recipient of the Best Achievement in University Teaching Award and is the ambassador for the awards this year. Nominations are open in a broad range of categories. Visit the Aspire website for more information.


Survey - Go in the draw to win $100 VISA card

Business Services wants to check how familiar staff are with finding staff services. This information will help ensure services are easy to access when you need them. Staff who complete the survey will go into the draw to win one of three $100 VISA gift cards. The survey will close on Tuesday 24 December and can be accessed via: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/965r. For any enquiries contact: marasaa@unimelb.edu.au.


Themis planned outage

Business Services advise that Themis will be unavailable from 7am - 11pm on Saturday 18 January 2020. During this period, the University will be completing 2019 Notional Cash and Encumbrance Carry-forward. Changes will also be made to support the rebuild of the GL Summary templates. Themis will be made available earlier if this activity is completed ahead of schedule.


eQuotes now available in eMarket

Staff can now easily request quotes and negotiate prices for customised products and services via eQuotes. Select 'Get a quote' found on the right-hand side of the eMarket homepage and follow the prompts. An email notification will be sent when selected eMarket supplier/s respond with pricing. The proposed price can then be accepted, and a PO can be generated at the click of a button. Please note: eQuotes are only available for eMarket suppliers. More information: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/ko5r


University car parking rates and permits

The University recently approved adjustments to car parking rates for 2020. These account for the rising costs of running the car park service, including the state congestion levy. The last time car parking rates were adjusted was in 2014.

The staff salary sacrifice rate will increase from $2650 p.a. to $2850 p.a. This new rate will apply in the pay period commencing on 11 January 2020.

The staff casual parking discount rates will also change in 2020. A full comparative schedule of these rates are available on the Staff Services Portal. All ‘pay at the gate’ rates, including the staff casual discount rates, will change on 1 January 2020.

Find more information on these rate adjustments and your transport options on the Staff Service Portal. If you have any further questions, please contact the transport and parking team via the Staff Services Portal, or phone 834 40888.


Extension of the Free Tram Zone initiative

Help support the extension of the Free Tram Zone to the University's Parkville and Southbank campuses by lodging a submission to Parliament before Friday 20 December. The Parliament of Victoria has opened an inquiry, which will consider expanding Melbourne's Free Tram Zone, to include routes surrounding UoM - Swanston Street to Elgin Street, and Royal Parade to College Crescent in Carlton, and St Kilda Road to Commercial Road in Prahran. You can support this extension by making a submission to Parliament via: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/xm5r or by sending an email to: tramzoneinquiry@parliament.vic.gov.au telling the Committee why you think the Free Tram Zone should be extended, or why public transport should be free for our students. The University has advocated previously on this issue and the Vice-Chancellor welcomes the Inquiry. More information:
http://go.unimelb.edu.au/xm5r


Changes to students.unimelb.edu.au

A new and redeveloped version of the students.unimelb.edu.au (Students) website will go-live today. Students is the University's primary website for current students, with information to help students support their studies, course admin and university life. The Student Information team has spent over a year redeveloping the site, in order to make key information easier for students to find. The new website has a different structure which has been designed to be more user-friendly and easier to navigate. This means the location and URLs of most pages in Students will change. The visual look and feel of the site will also change to align more with other University websites. For any enquiries contact: nicholas.miller@unimelb.edu.au.


Compliance Update - University-wide gifts register

As we approach the end of the year it is more important than ever for University staff to be familiar with the University's policies and processes around the acceptance of gifts from third parties. Gifts include gifts of entertainment, hospitality, travel or other benefit; or a gift of an item of property, whether of a personal nature or otherwise. All gifts offered or received by University staff from a third party that are above $100 AUD in value, must be recorded in the online University-wide Gifts Register in accordance with the Appropriate Workplace Behaviours Policy MPF1328, the Procurement Policy MPF1087 and associated practices. For more information, visit the Staff Hub.


New Freedom of Information (FOI) professional standards

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (the Act) promotes openness, accountability and transparency by granting the public the right to request access to documents held by public bodies, including the University. The new Freedom of Information Professional Standards took effect from Monday 2 December 2019 and have been developed to ensure the Act is administered by agencies in accordance with its objectives. All UoM staff are obliged to assist colleagues who process Freedom of Information (FOI) requests under the Act and adhere to strict legislative processing timelines. It is important that everyone:

  • Keeps good records - make full and accurate records and keep them in accordance with the University's Records Management Policy
  • Provides prompt and accurate assistance - if the FOI team contacts you in relation to an FOI request, ensure you provide them with the advice they require, and that you conduct a prompt, thorough and diligent search for all documents at their request.

What are the consequences of not complying with our obligations?

The Information Commissioner can investigate complaints concerning inadequate searches for documents or delays in processing requests. As UoM employees, we are all subject to the Act and the FOI professional standards and have a role to play in supporting the University's legislative requirements. For more information go to our Staff Hub page.


Multi-factor authentication

Attackers are continually attempting to gain access to your UoM account through scam emails, trying duplicate passwords you might have used elsewhere or by otherwise taking advantage of users' insecure practices. To help us confirm that the person logging into your account is really you and to add another layer of security to your University account, we will soon be introducing multi-factor authentication (MFA).

MFA is straightforward to use. In addition to your password, you might occasionally be prompted to click 'Yes, it's me' in a dedicated application on your smartphone. MFA won't happen every time you log in to an application, but it will step in anytime there is something unusual - maybe you logged in from a new country or you're logging in on a new device for the first time - MFA will check in to make sure it's really you.

The University is conducting a pilot of MFA for a small cohort of staff users over the coming months. From there MFA will be deployed in phases until all staff and students are protected. When you're busy, change can be hard, and we understand that security can be a hassle when it gets in your way. To make it easier, the University is investing in a partnership with Okta, a leading MFA provider, and there will be lots of help on hand to get you up and running. More information will be made available as planning progresses, so please visit the Cybersecurity site for further updates.


New health and wellbeing photos available on Imagebank

A selection of health and wellbeing photos was recently uploaded to the University's photographic Imagebank. These images feature our students and were taken around UoM's Parkville campus. The images are available for all staff to download for use in publications and presentations. To view, visit
Imagebank and search 'latest uploads'.


Graduate Union Membership

MGSE has had a long-standing membership with the Graduate Union offering any MGSE staff member discounted rates for booking a venue for conferences/workshops or if you have a visiting scholar in need of accommodation.

Our Organisational Membership gives Not-for-profit and Profit Organisations a number of in house and external benefits.

The Membership is open to University Departments and Schools, and Corporate Business Benefits -  All Members of the Organisational entity have access to:

  • Use the premises for catered meetings and functions facilities
  • Free room and equipment hire for catered functions and meetings
  • Members rates
  • Use accommodation at Graduate House, bar and dining  facilities
  • All Graduate House events and functions at member rates
  • The use of our reciprocal arrangements and in-house discounted services.

Download the Meeting and Function Services Information booklet for information about room layouts and prices.


Update your Windows 7 computer

All eligible Windows 7 computers must upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft is rolling back its support for Windows 7 in 2020, which means it will become increasingly difficult to support and use these computers. You can initiate the upgrade via the Software Centre application on your computer. Contact the Service Centre via the Staff Services Portal for assistance or call 8344 0888. For more information: http://go.unimelb.edu.au/65dr.


Updated information Security Policy

The University is constantly working to bolster our cybersecurity capability to prevent, detect, and respond to cyberthreats. As part of this, we have revised the Information Security Policy (MPF1270) to ensure that we continue to maintain an open and collaborative workplace while addressing key security risks. The policy has been amended to:

  • Improve internal consistency and clarity
  • Ensure policy statements and procedural principles align with industry best practice, including: ISO27001 control objectives; NIST cybersecurity framework; privacy related legislation including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014; Privacy Act 1988, and the Health Records Act 2001, Copyright Act 1968 and Public Records Act 1973.

Thank you to staff who provided their valuable feedback during the policy consultation process. The submissions were thoroughly reviewed and considered during the finalisation process. The policy has now been approved by the policy approver and is effective immediately. The policy will be supported by a range of processes and guidelines. If you have any queries, please direct them to: policy-help@unimelb.edu.au. To learn more about the steps you can take to become more secure, visit the Cybersecurity @Melbourne page.


Cybersecurity eLearning module roll out

The 'Managing Information - Cybersecurity' module is being rolled out in stages. This new module aims to make staff more aware of common cybersecurity threats and steps they can take to reduce their, (and the University's) vulnerability online. The new module is mandatory for ongoing and fixed-term staff. If managers would like their casual staff to complete the training, they can assign the training through TrainME. If you receive any unusual emails use the report phishing button in Outlook to report phishing or spam, or email: spam-report@unimelb.edu.au. If you think you've been affected by a cyber threat log a request with ServiceNow.


UniWireless troubleshooting advice

Due to a recent network setting change, you may need to reconnect to UniWireless if you haven't accepted the terms of use on your device. Use your device settings, enter your username and password and accept the terms of use to connect. If you're unable to connect following these steps, you can find additional UniWireless troubleshooting advice on the wireless website (search wireless Unimelb) or contact the Service Centre via the Staff Services Portal or call 8344 0888.


Compliance update - commencement of Labour Hire Licensing Scheme

To ensure compliance with the Labour Hire Licensing Scheme, staff who engage new suppliers must complete the ServiceNow supplier request form. Finance Services can no longer set up suppliers on behalf of staff. For questions on the supplier onboarding process, please contact Finance Services: or call ext. 54000 (Option 2). Staff should continue to use the existing preferred suppliers and eMarket in iProcurement, and must ensure the supplier is set up and onboarded prior to invoices being paid. If you receive direct enquiries from suppliers, please redirect them to: procurement-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au.


Expressions of interest - Science of Learning Network 2020

Expressions of Interest are now open to be part of a partnership initiative with the Science of Learning Hub. In 2020 the focus of the Science of Learning Network will be to support schools to build metacognition in their learners. The program will offer a range of online modules, supported with online focus sessions with leading education researchers, consultations and personalised support, to develop teacher understanding of:

  • Metcognition
  • The concept of surface
  • Deep and transfer learning
  • Learning strategies that support effective learning at each stage.

Based on this, teachers can engage students with high level learning strategies at the right time, and teach students when the appropriate time is in learning to access these strategies.