2007 Annual report (PDF 8.1 Mb) - University of Melbourne

Performance Against 2007 Targets (continued)
Strengthen alumni relations
The University launched the Alumni Web Community allowing alumni to register for a lifelong @alumni.unimelb email address. More than
4500 are now registered. The audience for GradNet was expanded to over 40,000 alumni. Ways to transition to more regular and chiefly
paperless communication with alumni were developed for implementation in 2008. A new alumni association was launched in China, a new
alumni committee was formed in the USA and a new state branch is forming in Queensland.
Achieve a student profile and teaching revenue position that best
prepares the University for the launch of the Melbourne Model in 2008
DEST agreement for allocation of Commonwealth Supported Places to graduate students, together with the Federal budget decision to
extend Youth Allowance and Austudy to students undertaking first professional degrees at graduate level and rent assistance to students
aged over 25, have ensured that students in the new Melbourne Model professional graduate programs will not be disadvantaged and
has expanded the pool of potential students. Consolidated income of $1.43 billion in 2007 was up by 11.7 percent on 2006, due largely to
continuing growth of fee-revenue and research and investment income. A total fee revenue target of $279 million was exceeded by
$14 million. A new budget model to be implemented in 2008 will provide support for Melbourne Model initiatives.
Increase efficiency of University administration
through academic and IT shared services implementation
The Melbourne Student Services Model for student – centric administration was designed and significant progress made with
implementation. Three projects will investigate ways to implement a decision to move $15 million in costs from administration to
research activity over a three-year period. An external review of the University’s integrated administration system,Themis, provided
recommendations to improve performance and utilise the latest technology. The IT Shared Services Service Framework was ratified with
work underway towards a combined student IT Service framework. A comprehensive model was drafted for Information Services to
enhance service performance measurement and implement improvement programs.
Consolidate and adjust planning and budget processes
which support the University’s strategic direction
A revised planning framework ensures stronger sequencing and linkage between University and divisional levels, and between planning,
budgeting, risk management, quality assurance and reporting. A new strategic risk framework and program focusses on identification, rating,
mitigation and reporting. The program embeds risk management in business planning and review. The Risk Management Committee was
re-constituted in December 2007 to provide greater strategic focus. Special risk programs made significant progress: EH&S risk was reduced
through a budget penalty to divisions with poor performance; crisis simulation testing occurred and a continuity plan was developed.
BINDING THE
stranDS TOGETHER
The three strands of the Growing Esteem
Strategy connect and inform each other
and are reflected in the structure and
management of the University. The
Strategy’s implementation depends on
enablers that bind together the strands.
These enablers: support for staff ;
communications and marketing; campus
infrastructure; finance and fundraising;
planning and University administration
help shape all aspects of the University’s
activities. Growing Esteem efforts in 2007
concentrated on preparing for the best
possible transition to the Melbourne Model
in 2008.
People
Implementing Growing Esteem involves an
enormous amount of institutional change,
in turn creating significant additional work
for staff across the University. Ensuring
that workloads remain manageable during
the transition to the Melbourne Model has
been a major focus of HR initiatives during
the year.
Full-Time Equivalent 2006 2007
Academic 3258 3371
Professional 3619 3778
Total 6876 7149
While national staff data is not yet available
for 2007, the University of Melbourne
was the largest employer in the higher
education sector in Australia in 2006. The
University of Melbourne also employs the
largest number of academic staff on an
equivalent full-time basis of all Australian
universities. Growth in the number of
academic staff employed by the University
of Melbourne continued to outstrip that
at the three next largest employers of
academic staff in the country: Monash
University, the University of Sydney and
the University of Queensland.
In 2007 the University continued to comply
with the Commonwealth Government’s
Higher Education Workplace Relations
Requirements (HEWRRs) through
arrangements including the offering
of Australian Workplace Agreements.
Compliance was essential to gain additional
funding of 7.5 per cent in 2007 of the
Commonwealth Grant Scheme.
It is significant that at a time of great
change, staff turnover figures have been
running at or below their historic pattern
over the past three years. Benchmarking
staff data shows that in 2006 Melbourne
had a total staff turnover of 16.36 per cent,
less than the Australian average of 19.02
per cent and the Go8 average of 19.38 per
cent. No time was lost through industrial
action in 2007.
Ensure that the University’s
employment policies and
procedures reflect the
goals of Growing Esteem.
HR Strategy
Strategic Priorities
> Identify and implement recruitment,
performance and promotion criteria
which reflect Growing Esteem priorities
including knowledge transfer