Academic board
February 2005
by Peter Cardwell
Review of the school of communication, information and new media
Academic Board received and noted the Report of the Nominated Review of the School of Communication, Information and New Media and the School’s response. The Report was introduced by the Pro Vice Chancellor (Education, Arts and Social Sciences).
The Pro Vice Chancellor reported that the Nominated Review examined the School of Communication, Information and New Media’s last three years of planning and review documentation, other relevant materials and current information to assess the School’s planning and overall performance. The review panel concluded that the School is educationally very successful, intellectually sophisticated, financially strong and administratively efficient. Likewise the School was found to have met all Key Performance Indicators.
The review panel further concluded that in its recent history and immediate plans the School of Communication, Information and New Media reflects, and gives effect to, Divisional and University plans, both in developing a distinctive ‘new humanities’ presence in South Australia as well as internationally, and in attracting significant funding from non-recurrent sources. At the same time, the School enjoys a positive relationship with the Division and, clearly, is a showcase for its activities, both locally and offshore. Research output has also increased significantly in the past three years, another indicator of a well-managed and industrious unit.
A number of recommendations were made by the review panel, most relating to the internal structure and procedures of the School. Others addressed its relationships with Divisional bodies. These were intended to improve or to consolidate what the panel believed is a most productive and academically successful School.
Compliance with the work experience provisions of the higher education support act
The Board approved an amendment to the Program Approval Manual involving an addition to the Course Statement in Chapter 10.
The amendment is designed to ensure that teaching in all clinical and work experience courses of the University is conducted in such a manner as to make them compliant with the requirements of the Higher Education Support Act (HESA) 2003.
HESA contains a number of requirements with regard to clinical and work placement courses, which determine when these courses are counted toward Commonwealth Grant Scheme funding load, and when the University is required to charge a contribution or tuition fee to domestic students enrolled in these courses. The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) has determined that unpaid external supervisors who are granted adjunct status at the University will be regarded as ‘persons engaged’ for the purposes of ‘directed learning’ and students will therefore not incur any fees or charges.
Student and Academic Services have conducted an audit of all University courses that involve work experience or placement to ensure that all such courses are correctly categorised on Medici, and subsequently reported to DEST in compliance with HESA. The audit revealed that the relevant courses are largely concentrated in the Divisions of Health Sciences and Education, Arts and Social Sciences, and that most meet the directed learning criteria or will require only minor changes to supervision in order to do so. Divisional staff are in the process of ensuring that all external supervisors gained adjunct status and that the deeds of their appointment determine that supervision is at the level required to meet the directed learning criteria of the Act.
Program development
The following program development proposals were approved:
Division of business
The Doctor of Philosophy Recreation Management and the Master of Applied Science (Recreation and Planning Management) were withdrawn with effect from 2005.
Division of education, arts and social sciences
The Bachelor of Arts (International Studies) will be offered in Hong Kong in conjunction with the City University Hong Kong from September 2005.
Minor changes will be made to the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) effective from July 2005.
The Confidentiality of Students’ Personal Information Policy has been amended to comply with the information privacy principles set out in the Privacy Act in respect to personal information obtained for the purposes of administering Commonwealth student loans and support schemes, and to provide more general compliance with national Privacy Principles for Commonwealth agencies.