School Manager's Report
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue21 1–31 October 2021
This month Mount Stromlo had its 110 year birthday. It is a sober reminder to all of us, highlighting the rich history of the place. I do know that everyone who is unable to go to Stromlo due to the lockdown misses it dearly. I can confirm that the place is still standing just the way you left it! It won’t be long before we are all back at site, as outlined in the ACT Pathway Forward. I know the last two months have not been easy on many of us and I hope that in December we will start to enjoy the freedom that we took for granted all our lives. This too shall pass!
The solar panels have been installed and are waiting to be connected to the grid (100kW). This is the first step towards RSAA becoming carbon neutral and we are already negotiating an expansion of the panels. This expansion hopefully will be installed by the end of this year. We should all be proud of being the first School to install a 100kW system and being on track to becoming carbon neutral by 2025. The rusted railings at Stromlo are being fixed along with multiple other minor works this month. While Stromlo misses its occupants, it has been busy getting a minor facelift.
We are currently preparing the 2022 budget for RSAA. As previously mentioned, RSAA will receive approximately the same amount of funds as this year for its 2022 recurrent budget ($6.4M). Out of this, about 80% will go towards salaries and the rest will be for student scholarships and operational expenses. It is tight to say the least. Of course, this allocation is much smaller than what we would have received if the old revenue budget model was still in place (about $8M). It has been communicated that in 2023 we will have a hybrid budget model (including some earned revenue), in which case we would potentially receive more funds. As we have grown our student load and block grants in the last two years, I am quite optimistic that we would get a whole lot of more funds than we have been allocated in 2022. AITC and SSO remains financially viable and going from strength to strength. These are all good signs for our School in these challenging times.
This year we have already made significant investments to revitalise RSAA’s activities. Where we can, we will still be making significant investments to make sure RSAA's economy remains strong and supports outstanding scientific work and excellence in teaching. Matthew and I are still interested in hearing about any ideas from you about future investments, so if you have any ideas, please talk to us. We will continue to make significant investments
We are very open to hearing all ideas that would make RSAA stronger and better.
Rafat Alam
