What is the Academic Board?
The Academic Board serves as the principal academic body of the University, responsible for maintaining high standards in teaching and research. It operates under the Monash University Statute and Council Regulations. Membership of the Board includes the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Faculty Deans, Deputy Deans, Heads of Department, and elected staff and students.
The Board establishes Standing Committees to assist in its functions, including the Steering Committee, University Education Committee (UEC), Monash University Research Committee, and the Graduate Research Committee (GRC). These committees oversee various aspects of academic affairs, from managing urgent business to ensuring excellence in education and research strategy implementation.
The Academic Board meets eight times each year. The Board encourages submissions and engagement from its members to inform decision-making processes. Overall, the Academic Board plays a pivotal role in shaping academic policies, maintaining high standards, and ensuring excellence across Monash University.
Undergraduate Members of Academic Board
Demitri Kaminis (until 31/12/2025), 5th year Law/Commerce student
Hi All! I’m Demitri, one of your Academic Board representatives in 2024. I’m incredibly passionate about making the student experience the best it can be, and want to ensure that the student voice is placed at the forefront of teaching and education. Outside of Uni, I work in the education sector and as a part-time tennis coach, and my hobbies include playing sports, chess, cycling, and reading novels and autobiographies.
Dilhan Simsek (until 31/12/2024), 4th year Commerce/IT student
Hey! I’m Dilhan, one of your undergraduate Academic Board student representatives for 2024. I’m dedicated to ensuring Monash is as accessible as possible. I have been committed to ensuring your time at University is the best it can be. Through my involvement with Clubs & Societies as an Executive and having served on club committees, student life and engagement have been a priority of mine throughout my time at Monash. I’m also currently on the Monash Student Association Executive, working on developing welfare initiatives and big projects. In my life away from Uni, I’m an SES volunteer, work in the Public Service, and spend time advocating for better community outcomes.
As part of our ongoing commitment to student welfare, university experience and academic excellence, we have actively engaged in advocating for several important initiatives aimed at enhancing the overall student experience and academic environment at Monash. This piece provides an overview of the various issues we have raised at the first 2 meetings of the Academic Board and highlights some key areas of progress.
- Establishment of More 24/7 Study Areas:
One of the primary concerns we raised was the diminishing access to on-campus resources and the reduction in library hours. We know how important it is to have accessible study spaces, particularly during peak academic periods. Our proposal to establish the Sir Louis Matheson Library and/or the Learning and Teaching Building (LTB) at Clayton as a 24/7 Study Area sparked an investigation into the use of study spaces on campus. The aim is to provide students with uninterrupted access to essential resources and conducive study environments.
Paired with advocacy from the Monash Student Association (MSA), we are proud to share that the university has agreed to transforming a new space into an extended access study lounge.
- Accessible Class Options:
We have expressed concern and have emphasised the importance of offering a diverse range of class options to accommodate students’ varying needs and schedules. This includes advocating for flexible scheduling, greater diversification in class offerings, online learning opportunities, and alternative class formats to ensure accessibility for all students.
We will continue to work with the University to ensure students are given a choice and can schedule their Uni around their life and not the other way around.
- Universal Submission Time (UST):
We have proposed the establishment of a Universal Submission Time (UST) of 11:55pm to streamline assignment submissions and alleviate student stress. By standardising submission deadlines across units, us students can better manage our workload and plan our study time effectively.
We will continue to follow up progress of the feasibility review into this initiative and hope to have some positive updates in the near future.
- Extensions and Special Consideration:
Efforts have been made to review and improve the process for granting extensions and special consideration to students facing extenuating circumstances. Due to the recent large changes in these processes and policy, the university has committed to reviewing data as it comes through and continues to make data driven decisions.
- Unit Feedback Procedures and Reforms:
We have scrutinised the current unit feedback procedures (SETU) due to a noticeable decline in responses received. We have attributed this trend to students providing feedback after the semester concludes, which limits the benefits they can derive from it. In response, we have been advocating for reforms to enhance the transparency, timeliness, and effectiveness of feedback mechanisms. This includes exploring new approaches to gather and act upon student feedback earlier, thereby improving teaching and learning outcomes and reducing the current lag in feedback implementation.
We are pleased to share that Allie Clemans, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), has confirmed a trial for early semester unit evaluations in semester two. While the specifics of this trial are still being worked through, it will offer students the opportunity to provide feedback on units early in the semester. We anticipate that this initiative will lead to positive steps being taken to address feedback in a timely manner and pivot teaching methods to best accommodate the current teaching period.
- Semester 2 Mid-Semester Break:
We have raised large concerns with how late the semester two mid-semester break occurs. The mid-semester break during semester two is supposed to allow students time to recharge and manage their workload effectively. When this break happens after nine weeks of a twelve week semester it can not be said to be properly scheduled. It is our opinion that a mid semester break in the middle of a semester is crucial for promoting student well-being and academic success and we will continue to advocate for this shift.
We are glad that the University Chief Operating Officer, who is responsible for semester periods and key dates, has been engaged and will work with us to review the current timelines.
- Late Submission Marking Penalties:
The late submission marking penalty of 10% per day for a maximum of seven days has been a point of contention. We have benchmarked the university and compared this policy with other universities. What we found was that out of the 37 universities in our country only three have a penalty between 6-10% per day and 28 have a penalty of 1-5% with the rest being faculty dependent.
We want to make sure that when you find yourself in a situation where you aren’t eligible for special consideration, the late submission policy does not discourage you from submitting and continuing to persevere and engage with your studies and assessments. We will continue to engage and ensure the review of the existing policies lead to outcomes that ensure consistency and fairness.
- IBL Credit Points:
While industry placements and experience vary from faculty to faculty, we have identified the Faculty of IT’s Industry Based Learning (IBL) program to be one of the best in terms of experience but one of the worst when it comes to unit credits.
The IBL program spans a duration of 105 days or six months of full time work but only credits 18 credit points. Whilst on IBL placement, students cannot be undertaking any unit of study. Comparatively, students in the Faculty of Business and Economics can complete 55 days of industry placement, and are awarded with 24 credit points.
Advocacy efforts have been made to recognise and award fair and well deserved credit points for students participating in IBL programs.
- Remarking Policy:
We have requested the University revisit the remarking policy to ensure our concerns about transparency and consistency in the remarking process are heard. We are working towards implementing clear guidelines and procedures for requesting and conducting remarking of in semester assessments which currently is not allowed.
Summary:
As your undergraduate members on the Academic Board, we haven’t wasted a moment and have been actively advocating for various initiatives aimed at enhancing the student experience and academic environment. We’ve kept at it and through ongoing collaboration, significant progress has been made on several fronts.
Student representation in decision-making processes is vital, and we will continue to ensure that the needs and voices of students are central to the priorities and initiatives of Monash. Please feel free to reach out to any of us with suggestions, feedback or if you’d like to find out more.
