Dean's Report

COVID-19 Update

The announcement on Sunday of the Victorian government’s COVID-19 roadmap means the University has reviewed its own return to campus roadmap to align with the government steps. The updated roadmap, Stage Gate System: UoM Response, is now available for staff to view. While we may all feel disappointed that the lifting of restrictions will be taking longer than we hoped, it is reassuring to know that the lockdown is working, and the daily numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths are tracking downwards.

At the same time as we are all dealing with the pandemic, I appreciate that the University’s Pandemic Reset program has brought added uncertainty to many staff, particularly regarding the Professional Services Redesign. While it was initially expected that the Change Proposal would be communicated to staff in mid-September, it is now likely to occur in the week following the University Executive meeting which is being held on Wednesday 23 September. I will schedule an All Staff webinar once the Change Proposal is released so we can discuss the proposal together. In the meantime, we have established a new section on our MGSE Intranet which will be updated as the Pandemic Reset program progresses. As always please feel free to contact me, Keryn Negri and any of our Executive team if you would like to raise any issues. I know you will all continue to support one another as you have done so throughout this challenging year.

Back to Basics Week

Last week was our inaugural ‘Back to Basics’ week where staff were encouraged to set aside time to focus on core work and minimise emails and meetings as much as possible. I hope most of you adopted the spirit of the week and that this released a bit of pressure. I certainly appreciated the extra time that my freed-up diary allowed me, and I estimate there was about a 30 per cent decrease in my email inbox. I’m keen to hear your experiences of the week and particularly any ideas you have about how we can integrate these changes more permanently into our work lives.

Graduate Open Days 2020

Next Monday 14 September sees the start of the virtual postgraduate Open Days across the University. In this year of endless adaptation and creativity the MGSE marketing team has done an excellent job of devising an enjoyable and informative online experience for our prospective students and their families. Thank you to all the academics who have participated in various recorded webinars, bite-sized lectures and other forums. And a particular thanks to the marketing team led by Kim Nance, with Chantelle Shaw co-ordinating Open Day, assisted by Georgie Carter-Smith, Patrick Soo and Paul Vassiliadis, and Karl Smith from the Strategic Communications team, for all their preparation and contribution to MGSE’s Open Days.

Jim