Dean's Report

Teaching Workloads for 2020

Since the MGSE Teaching Workload Taskforce report was released in July the Associate Dean Staffing, along with the Staffing committee, have been working to remodel the current teaching allocation tool.  The remodelling will result in an overall reduction in teaching allocations in 2020 through revising the allocation for delivery type and associated teaching time, marking and coordination. MGSE will need to make an increased investment in staffing in order to address the subsequent gap. After this we will work towards the development of a single workload model that will reflect the full range of academic activities including research, leadership and service. I appreciate all the hard work and thought that has been put into delivering the recommendations of the Workload report and I’m confident that we are working towards a fairer and more equitable workload model.

MGSE Functional Review

Phase Two of the Functional Review of professional staff roles at MGSE was released yesterday and the Workforce Plan, Q & A’s and other information is available on the Intranet. The review has been conducted in the context of the development of the 2020 budget, the need to operate within our professional staff FTE and in order to implement our strategic priorities and projects.

Student Life White Paper

Last week the Vice-Chancellor released the Student Life white paper which sets out the six major initiatives which will be undertaken during 2020- 2021 to enhance the experience of undergraduate students at the University. These initiatives focus around commencement ceremonies, first year discovery subjects, a new Melbourne ideas festival, a program of academic advice and peer mentoring, activated and recognised co-curriculum and new generation capstone subjects. While the White paper is aimed at improving the undergraduate experience, I expect as a Graduate School we will watch with interest and benefit from these initiatives as they are rolled out. Future work is planned across the University, and at MGSE, to focus attention on the graduate student experience and our recent creation of the Student Experience professional staff area demonstrates our ongoing commitment to this important aspect of our offering to MGSE students.

Level C Academic Promotions

Congratulations to our MGSE colleagues who have been promoted to Level C in the recent round of academic promotions. This achievement means that Dr James Waghorn, from the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (MSCHE), is now a Senior Research Fellow and Drs Jenny Chester, Jo Blannin, John Quach and Kathryn Coleman are now Senior Lecturers. Well done to all.

AFR Higher Education Award for Community Engagement

Congratulations are also in order for Dr Tan Chyuan Chin and the Centre for Positive Psychology who have recently been awarded the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award for Community Engagement. This Award recognises initiatives that bring together students and external communities in a way that delivers significant and demonstrable benefits to both while contributing meaningfully to the educational and social goals of the Higher Education sector. In receiving this Award, the Centre was recognised for its development and the success of The Well-Being Profiler – a measurement and reporting service developed for schools to examine the well-being of their students from ages 10 to 25 years old.

New Talking Teaching Episode

This month’s Talking Teaching features an interview with Emeritus Professor Barry McGaw, who has spent a lifetime advocating for greater equity in Australian schooling. In the one week since the podcast was published it has received over 1,500 listens so clearly the public are interested in hearing his authoritative views on recent funding policy failures and the way Australian schooling has become so segmented and stratified.

Finally, as many of you know, our Executive Director, Keryn Negri is on leave for the month of September enjoying a holiday in Europe. I would like to thank Roland Wunder for stepping back into the role during this time.