From the President
Happy New Year! I do hope that you have been able to have a refreshing break before all the activity of admissions and orientation for the start of the academic year!
Congratulations to those taking up new senior appointments in colleges and halls, as outlined in this newsletter, and best wishes to those whom they have replaced. Particularly, I want to commend Gary Doyle for his 10 years of service to The John Flynn College (James Cook University); Helen Fletcher for her work since 1998 at Flinders University and, prior to that, at the Universities of Queensland (Gatton) and Newcastle; and Associate Professor Jane Munro AM for her 11 years of Headship at International House (University of Melbourne). Each has promoted and affirmed in special ways the collegial nature and character of university residence beyond just mere student accommodation.
As mentioned at the end of last year, two significant reports supported by the UCA are soon to be released: (1) the National Census of Colleges, Halls and 100+ Commercial Student Accommodation providers, and (2) the ARC Linkage Grant Research Project on Alcohol Use in the Student Population. Dr Carla Tromans (International House UQ) and I have been part of a panel to review the draft Census Report, prepared by 'Tertiary Balance', prior to its anticipated release early in March.
A number of our members attended that first 'Collegiate Way' Conference in Durham UK last November, and I look forward to giving news of related conference developments and plans for this year and for 2016. While noting the special focus of UCA in supporting the senior leadership in colleges and halls, I also want to say how much we look forward to continuing positive and productive collaboration with our partner associations AACUHO and NAAUC, each of which will have conferences in Brisbane this year.
We begin this year with little clarity around current Higher Education legislation, but nevertheless with a determination to advocate for and promote the best possible student experience in our collegiate and wider campus communities.
With warm regards,
(Dr) Ian Walker
Chapter Updates - new Heads of College
Australian Capital Territory
* Mr Dave Segal - Head of Residence, Ursula Hall (replacing Dr Ian Walker who will now concentrate solely on the graduate community at Toad Hall.
Queensland
* Mr Michael Bongers - Principal, The John Flynn College, JCU, Townsville (replacing Gary Doyle)
South Australia
* Br Paul Gilchrist - Head, Aquinas College, (replacing Br John Furlong who is now Deputy Head)
* Dr Paul Tosch - Dean, Flinders Living (replacing Helen Fletcher)
Victoria
* Dr Darcy McCormack - Principal, St Mary's College (replacing Dr Paul Gallagher, Acting Principal)
* Dr Deborah Seifert - Head of College, International House (replacing Associate Professor Jane Munro)
New Deans & Deputies
New South Wales
* New Vice-Master announced for Wesley College - Mr Areti Metuamate, fomerly Deputy Head to Dr Ian Walker at Toad Hall, ANU
* New Vice-Rector announced for St John's College - Dr Paul Gallagher, formerly Acting Head of St Mary's College at the University of Melbourne
Victoria
* Dr Brenda Holt, Dean of Studies, Queen's College - previous appointments at Robert Menzies and Whitley Colleges and most recently, Dean of Staff & Head of Education Strategy, Trinity College
* Dr Tim Corney, Dean of Student Well-being, Queen's College - previous appointments at Ridley and Whitley Colleges and most recently, Associate Professor, Victoria University
Access to IAS Grants for Indigenous students
Advice from Peter McDonald, Tertiary Balance:
Under the previous Australian Government Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) program (an initiative of the former Federal Labor Government), affiliated residential colleges were not permitted to access funding to pay for tutors employed directly by the college to provide special tutorial (one to one) assistance to Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander students in residence.
The ITAS program was replaced by the Abbott Government's Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) and all future funding of this sort will be via IAS.
A Senior Adviser from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has now confirmed that in any future IAS funding rounds the affiliated colleges will have the ability to put forward applications for grant funding for direct employment of tutors for this purpose.
Save these dates
UCA Mini-Conference 2015: Wednesday 30 September - Friday 2 October, 2015. Conference location TBC.
GST Tool & misreporting of student meals
UCA requested advice from Peter McDonald on the circumstances in which colleges and halls that have elected to use the ATO's Residential Colleges GST Tool to determine how much Goods and Services Tax (GST) to remit to the ATO, have a taxation liability if they fail to report bundled student meals to the Tool.
Catered colleges potentially exposed to this issue are those that have elected to use the GST Tool and have answered 'No' to question 17 in the contracts worksheets in cases where students are subject to mandatory charges for meals.
Please find a copy of Peter McDonald's advice here, or contact the Executive Officer to request a copy of this advice by return email.
Should you have difficulty with the initial 'login' process at the Members Section of our website, please contact Deborah Pugh at Executive Officer who can set up the initial login for you.
Legal Employment Status of RA's
Peter McDonald's advice on the legal employment status of College RAs can be found here.
|
