Academic Board Digest

Membership

The Chair:

• welcomed Professor Elisa Martinez-Marroquin, new External Member, to her first ACU Academic Board meeting
• thanked Professor Wayne McKenna for his service to Academic Board as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), as this was his last meeting as a Board member.

Report from the Chair of Academic Board

The Chair:

• congratulated Professor Meg Stuart on her appointment as Deputy Provost, and Associate Professor Anthony Whitty as Director, Learning and Teaching Centre
• reported on the first meeting of the Faculty Board Review group, chaired by the Chair of Academic Board including two external academics, the Deputy Provost, and involving collaboration with the faculties
• thanked all staff members involved in the ongoing “Policy Fest”, a project aimed at consolidating and restructuring the policies approved by the Academic Board
• expressed his appreciation for the consultative approach being taken with respect to two major reviews currently underway: the Course Approval, Amendment and Review (CAARD) Policy and Guidelines, and the Assessment Policy.

Academic Board:

• provided advice on the proposed revisions to Statute 2.5: The Academic Board, with a specific focus on its membership.

Vice-Chancellor and President’s update

The Vice-Chancellor:

• welcomed Professor Elisa Martinez Marroquin to the Academic Board as the new External Member
• reported that ACU is planning to align its planning and budget cycles in the future, with the 2022 planning and budget exercises to be synchronised
• expressed confidence in ACU’s financial position under the present circumstances
• reported that the Federal Government is progressing its reforms to introduce cost recovery arrangements for TEQSA’s regulatory and quality assurance activities
• reported that ACU has been working with Member of Parliament Tanya Plibersek concerning a number of matters that an alternative government could progress in the higher education space; for instance, Commonwealth-supported places. 

Office of the Provost

The Provost reported:

• that the Academic Promotions Policy is currently under review
• that planning ACU Online has progressed with for a launch of courses planned for 2022
• that the Global Recovery plan is now being initiated with the 2022 Student Enrolment Load Intake planning also underway
• that results around the ACU Guarantee are pleasing, with those students who commence under the guarantee more likely to be retained
• that the Thomas More Law School has been ranked in the top 200 institutions globally
• that ACU is currently working with Vygo, a mentoring platform that offers a range of services to students. The Provost suggested integrating these services into ACU’s offers to students.

Academic Board:

1. discussed and endorsed the report “Adoption of Digital Badging for Non-award Achievements at ACU”
2. noted the Educational Partnerships Report
3. noted the paper “Digital Uplift of 202060 units: a comparison of selected indicators for targeted student cohorts with others”.

Student Administrative Lifecycle and Policy Committee

Academic Board:

1. approved the amendments to the Student Conduct Policy and Managing Student Misconduct Procedures
2. approved the amendments to the Student Complaints Procedures.

Courses and Academic Quality Committee

Academic Board recommended the following New Course to Senate for approval:

• Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Academic Board approved the following major course changes:

• Bachelor of Youth Work
• Diploma in Liberal Arts
• Bachelor of Psychological Science / Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Biomedical Science (with consequential changes to associated double degrees and nutrition science programs
• Graduate Certificate in Digital Health
• Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science/Bachelor of Nutrition Science
• Bachelor of Nursing (Enrolled Nurses)
• Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics

Academic Board approved the following course reviews:

• Bachelor of Creative Arts
• Master of Teaching (Secondary) and Master of Teaching (Secondary)/ Graduate Certificate in Religious Education
• Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Primary) and Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Primary)/ Graduate Certificate in Religious Education
• Master of Teaching (Primary) and Master of Teaching (Primary)/ Graduate Certificate in Religious Education

Academic Board approved the following discipline reviews:

• Bachelor of Arts – Geography Discipline
• Bachelor of Arts – Mathematics Discipline

Academic Board approved the following course discontinuations:

• Bachelor of Arts – Criminology Major and Minor
• Master of Teaching (Early Years)
• Diploma in Business Information Systems
• Certificate in Business Information Systems
• Diploma in Commerce
• Certificate in Commerce
• Postgraduate Certificate in Religious Education

Academic Board approved minor amendments to the Microcredential and Short Course Policy.

Office of Planning and Strategic Management (OPSM)

Academic Board:

• noted the ACU Renewal of Renewal of Registration Readiness Status Report
• discussed and provided feedback on the QILT Student Experience Survey 2020 results
• considered and provided comment on the approach to monitoring, reporting and analysis on student experience and outcomes
• noted the briefing document on the HESF (2021) | Part B Criteria for Higher Education Providers (Provider Category Standards), and noted the implications of the revised Higher Education Standards Framework (2021), Part B - Provider Category Standards
• noted the Student Enrolment and Load Report as at 16 June 2021
• noted the ACU Quarterly Performance Report – Q1 2021 (March)
• noted the Quarterly Staff Trend Report.

Reporting Committees

Academic Board noted minutes submitted by subcommittees:

• University Learning and Teaching Committee
• University Research Committee
• Student Administrative Lifecycle and Policy Committee
• Student Experience and Retention Committee
• Courses and Academic Quality Committee
• Faculty Boards

Next meeting

Meeting 05/2021 of the Academic Board will be held on Wednesday 15 September 2021 at 10am, in-person, Peter Cosgrove Centre, Level 18, Tenison Woods House, North Sydney Campus.