NCUG - Conference Program

2012 Conference Program

A copy of the most up to date conference program (27th September) is available here.

All sessions at the Holme Building - The University of Sydney

Tuesday 9th October 2012

8am Registration at venue - Holme Building, The University of Sydney -

The Withdrawing Room

9am Conference Opening - The Refectory Room

9.30am Futurologist, Mr Mark McCrindle

10.45am Morning Tea break

11.15am Best Practice Small Group Discussions and Reports Back

12.55pm Lunch introduction - Sponsored by LH Martin Institute

1pm Lunch

2pm Universities Australia - Update

3pm Council Dynamics. Vignettes on Resolving Conflicts - Small Group Discussions

4pm Afternoon Tea

4.30pm Director Accountabilities and Responsibilities - Alan Cameron

5.30pm Close for the day

7pm Conference Dinner - Emeritus Professor Peter Swannell, After Dinner Speaker

Venue = The Great Hall, The University of Sydney

Coach transfer available after dinner to Mercure Sydney and Darling Harbour

hotels.

Wednesday 10th October 2012

8am Registration, Arrival tea/coffee

9am Mr Ian Hawke - TEQSA Commissioner

9.50am Discussions of Topics of Special Interest - Session 1

10.20am Morning Tea

10.50am Topics of Special Interest - Session 2 (repeat)

11.20am Retrospect and Prospect - Leneen Forde and Trevor Waring

12.15pm Conference Close

12.25pm Lunch

(correct as at 20th September and is subject to change)

Best Practice Topics - Tuesday 9th October from 11.15am

Where possible delegates are allocated to their first preference from the registration form for the small group discussions on Best Practice Topics.  Delegates are notified of a group number both prior to and on arrival at the conference.
·         Identifying and appointing Council members and induction procedures
      for Council members
·         Governance relationships
·         Evaluating Council performance:
·         Council’s role and approach to managing the Vice-Chancellor:
·         Council's role and approach to appointing the Chancellor
·         Risk and compliance management – good practice approaches
·         Conducting Council meetings:
·         Oversighting controlled entities
·         Role of Council vs. Management

Best Practice Topics - Discussion guide notes are availbale here.

Vignettes on Resolving Conflicts are available here.

All discussion notes will be available in the conference program booklet which will be available as delegates register for the conference.

Topics of Special Interest - Wednesday 10th October from 9.50am and repeated at 10.45am

Four topics, framed as questions, have been identified for inclusion in this session.:

1 Do dual sector universities face unique governance challenges?

2 Are Australian universities genuinely autonomous?

3 Is the “teaching-research nexus” a “sacred cow”?

4 What do governing bodies need to know about academic freedom?

It is inevitable that there are other topics that may have been of interest. For this reason, a fifth session without a specific topic has been scheduled for those delegates who for whatever reason choose not to attend any of the four sessions named above. The Facilitator for the fifth session will attempt to “chair” the discussion.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Mark McCrindle

Social Researcher
BSc (Psychology), MA, QPMR.

Mark McCrindle is Principal of McCrindle Research, a full member of the Australian Market and Social Research Society and accredited with their highest qualification: Qualified Practicing Market Researcher. He holds a BSc (Psychology) from UNSW and a Masters degree in social trends. He is bound by the AMSRS ethics, privacy, and professional charter.

After Dinner Speaker - Emeritus Professor Peter Swannell AM

BSc (Bristol), PhD (Birmingham), HonDUniv (USQ), FIEAust, CPEng(Ret)

Peter Swannell was the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Southern Queensland from November 1996 until September 2003. He joined that University as Foundation Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying in 1990 and was Chair of the Academic Board from 1990-1995.Born near London, he studied Civil Engineering at the University of Bristol and worked as a steel design engineer with Dorman, Long and Company in the North of England. From 1962 – 1970, he was a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham from where he obtained a PhD in 1966. He joined the WSAtkins Group UK, in mid-1970 as Head of its Technical Services Department, a well-paid, boring job.He came to Australia with his wife, Janice, and daughter, Cathy, in 1971, taking up a Senior Lectureship in Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland. He was appointed Reader in Civil Engineering at that University in 1981. His specialist interests were in non-linear structural behaviour, the dynamic behaviour of engineering structures and the stress analysis of welded structures. He is the Chair of the Board of the Queensland Museum and Chairman of the Board of Empire Theatres Pty Ltd. He is a Director of Heritage Building Society and a former Deputy Chair of the Australian Research Council’s Research Training and Careers Committee. His ‘after hours’ interest is in saying silly things and he has talked for far too little money in many of the best venues around Australia and overseas. He also writes a weekly column, ‘Swannell on Wednesday’, for the Toowoomba Chronicle. In 2005, he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), “For services to higher education, particularly through the advancement of distance education and on-line learning opportunities, to engineering as a researcher and teacher, and to the community”.