At its recent meeting, Executive Committee of Academic Board (ECAB) agreed on a possible composition for Academic Board, based on a consideration of the wide range of feedback received in the course of the current review. The proposed model is as follows:

Since the meeting of ECAB, there has been discussion of the proposed ex officio category, and the Chair has received suggestions for the inclusion of:

• 'Director, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning' in place of 'A senior Indigenous academic staff member, nominated by the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor', and
• 'Director, Institute for Interactive Media and Learning',

as these positions can be described as academic in nature, rather than 'infrastructure'.

If you have any comments and feedback on (a) the proposed composition as set out in the above table, or (b) on the specific issue of the ex officio membership as detailed in the preceding paragraph, please email your comments to academicboard@uts.edu.au before Friday 29 August 2008.

By way of background, ECAB developed the new Academic Board model in line with a range of considerations, including:

• That the new Academic Board should be more strongly and directly involved in discussion of strategic academic issues and policies from an early stage of their development.
• That the new Academic Board should not be too operationally focused or captive to the work and agendas of its committees and should maintain a higher level focus on the wider strategic issues.

Given that the Board had grown to a current membership of 100, and has been criticised for being too operationally focused and not sufficiently engaged with strategic academic issues, it is essential to re-think the membership to ensure that it reflects the agreed mission of Academic Board. The adoption of a high level strategic focus for Academic Board, rather than the currently more operational focus, diminishes the need for a range of ex officio positions that reflect the current infrastructure support for Academic Board. Thus the approach taken has been to include in the ex officio category only those positions for which there is a compelling case for their direct input into the core strategic academic work of the Board.

While the Academic Board, as the voice of its members and as the body responsible for the academic work of the University, should be reflective of a community of scholars dedicated to teaching, learning and research, there is nevertheless a range of senior staff who are actively involved in implementing and supporting a wide range of academic matters, who should be kept informed of Academic Board's deliberations and be able to contribute as appropriate to its work. Thus there should be a standing invitation for a range of Directors and identified positions to receive Academic Board papers, attend meetings and participate in discussion as appropriate to their expertise and area of responsibility.