Melbourne Student Services Model (Student Service Centre) Implementation Project
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18 September Interim Report to Faculty Executive
Background
At meetings with the Senior Vice-Principal and the University’s MSSM Implementation Team on 27 July 2007 it was determined that all student-facing administrative and support services currently delivered through schools and secretariat offices will, from semester one 2009, be delivered from student services hubs. The design of student hubs will be informed by Boston Consulting Group recommendations outlined in its Report to the PBC Budget Conference earlier this year. Details about the process from a central University perspective can be found at https://staff.growingesteem.unimelb.edu.au/mm08/#1.4 (staff email login required).
Introduction
The impact of the implementation of the MSSM on Arts schools and the secretariat will be significant in both cultural and operational terms. The overarching principle is that student-facing services must be primarily provided through Student Centres. Referrals to academic staff and well being services will be managed by Student Centre staff but the number of ‘handovers’ of students should be kept to a minimum.
A Project Reference Group with School representative has been set up in the Faculty of Arts to ensure participation from across the Faculty. A sub-group has also been set up to examine more closely support and enrichment services delivered to graduate students and to clarify the relationship between the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the student service Hub.
Project Plan
It is proposed that the ‘Arts/Music Student Centre' will be located in an Arts Precinct in 2009. It will be designed to absorb activities and staff from the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Music. It will be expected to deliver a range of student services that are currently provided by Arts’ seven schools and its Student Support Centre. The hub will also be designed to deliver some services that are currently provided centrally.
From semester one 2008, the University expects an ‘interim’ Student Centre to be operating out of the Old Arts Building, with some student services transferred into the Student Centre from Arts schools and from the Faculty of Music.
Which services will be transferred in the short-term will largely depend on how many additional staff can be housed in the Old Arts Building. It will also depend on the results of a University-wide process mapping exercise designed to identify current student-facing services, how many equivalent full-time staff (EFT) are required to deliver the service, and where greater efficiencies can be made through co-location, IT solutions and process engineering. The Faculty has already commenced this process and the latest version of the process mapping document will be made available on this site.
The University is moving fast to ensure that the MSSM is implemented without delay and all faculties are expected to facilitate the process. Project Managers have been nominated by all faculties and will be employed by the University until the end of March 2008. It is their role to implement the required changes.
While Arts is not in a position to implement short-term changes as quickly as some other faculties, the University has made it clear that it must make some changes for 2008 and all hubs will, by 2009, be uniformly configured to offer the same or similar student services
Craig Bird
Project Manager
Student Services Implementation
c.bird@unimelb.edu.au
ph: 03 8344 5249
Project Reference Group: Terms of Reference
What services will a student services Hub provide?
Project Reference Group: Meeting Schedule
Project Reference Group: Process Mapping
Project Reference Group: Additional Documents