News Archive

Over the past year, members of Convocation Council have given a great deal of consideration to how Convocation can most effectively fulfil its purpose to “add value to the relationship between members of Convocation and the University of Western Australia.”

These deliberations commenced with a Strategic Planning Forum in February in which we mapped out a vision for Convocation in 2020. One outcome of this Forum was the formation of a Strategic Plan Working Group which has been monitoring the development of our strategic initiatives.

Recently Council accepted recommendations made by this Working Group to forge a closer alignment between the committee structure set by Convocation Council and the five key roles assigned to Convocation in the UWA Act and Statutes. These can be summarised as follows:

Representative Role

• To represent the interests and opinions of members through effective communication and to present such views to the University and the community of Western Australia;

Governance Role

• To encourage members of Convocation to participate in the governance of the University through the election of Convocation members to the Senate and the review of amendments to University statutes;

Contribution Role

• To encourage members to support and contribute to the intellectual and cultural prosperity of the University community;

Engagement Role

• To promote professional and social links between members of Convocation by creating and supporting opportunities for graduate interaction; and

Promotion Role

• To promote the ideals and purpose of the University and Convocation to graduates and undergraduates, other members of the University and the community of Western Australia.

As a result of this realignment, we believe that there will be a far more direct relationship between our Strategic Plan and the governance structure established to implement these roles and functions.

Electronic Voting?

Another way in which we are attempting to fulfil our charter to “add value” is to be more cost-effective in fulfilling our

statutory responsibilities. One initiative currently being pursued by Convocation Council is to investigate the cost savings that could be available through the introduction of electronic voting.

When I was elected as Warden in March 2013, I stated that I would like to reduce the cost of conducting Convocation elections. We have achieved some reductions in cost ($30,000 – $40,000) by out-sourcing the conduct of these elections to the WA Electoral Commission.

However, it still costs approximately $177,000 to conduct these elections each year, primarily due to the detailed arrangements prescribed in the Statutes, which require the elections to be undertaken using paper based voting forms which must be mailed to every member of Convocation.

Having had the good fortune to be born in a democracy like Australia, I am a passionate and resolute advocate for democratic elections. However, I also believe that a democratic election should be able to be conducted for far less than $177,000.

Electronic voting would enable us to fulfill our legal responsibilities in a democratic manner at a cost far less than we are currently paying. Electronic voting is routinely used for a number of staff-elected positions within the University and the new software used to maintain the graduates’ database for UWA will shortly be able to provide this capability for members of Convocation.

During the past two months, we have held discussions with the responsible personnel within the University to explore how a change to electronic voting can best be achieved.

Part of the changes required will necessitate a redraft of UWA Statutes 9 and 12 to enable electronic voting to legally be used rather than the cumbersome paper-based arrangements currently specified. This will require the agreement of the UWA Senate, as it is the only body permitted under the UWA Act to initiate amendments to the Statutes.

As a result we are currently preparing a submission for consideration by the Senate for the necessary amendments to these Statutes, so that we can have the capability to use electronic voting if we decide to proceed with this initiative.

To get us to this point, there has been some excellent work carried out by the Statutes Committee. Hopefully, their work will enable the changes proposed to the Statutes to become a reality during 2016 and therefore for Convocation to evaluate the benefits of introducing electronic voting for future elections during the following year. As part of these arrangements, we are currently considering options for those who wish to continue to receive a paper ballot form.

However, in the meantime please let us know if you change your email address so that we can continue to keep you in touch with your University and offer you the opportunity to vote in future Convocation elections. Just send a quick email to [email protected] and we will update your details.

As we will continue with the paper-based voting system for the 2016 elections for Convocation Council, I wish to encourage everyone who feels they can make a contribution, to stand for election by nominating for a position on Convocation Council. The advertisement on page 39 provides all the details.

We would welcome your active participation on Convocation Council.

Adjunct Professor Warren Kerr AM Warden of Convocation