School Manager's Report
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue11 1–31 December 2020
As the year comes to end, we should reflect how we have managed to survive, and in most cases thrive, in one of the most difficult years in living memory. All RSAA academic, technical, and administrative groups have supported each other throughout the year as we worked through bushfires, smoke and health issues, as well as the financial impact of COVID-19. We can pat ourselves on the back, as we have managed everything 2020 has thrown at us relatively well as a School. Our research output, including our revenue-earning contracts (internal and external; research and non-research) has not stagnated and neither has our student load decreased significantly. This is no minor feat when we compare ourselves with counterparts who have not been as lucky as us.
The RSAA community, including its friends, has also come together and donated approximatekt $225k in 2020. We had promised in 2019 that we would match the first $50K for the next three years (2020-22), which may have had a material impact. Furthermore, the University has allowed any staff member to donate their long-service and excess annual leave to RSAA endowment funds. Matthew and I have tested this and have been able to successfully donate part of our leave to RSAA's endowment funds. If any of you would like to do this and have the capacity to donate some funds or leave (LSL or annual leave) please feel free to contact me or Kellie.Takenaka@anu.edu.au (CoS Advancement Manager) for more details. These funds help us to maintain our current level of scholarships and allow us to provide seed funding for research projects. In this financial climate, these donations are invaluable. Further to this, from this year’s endowment funds RSAA is pledging to set aside $50k as an “Urgent Student Relief Fund” for 2021 and onwards. This would a spend-down amount for 2021 and beyond. Funds would be allocated to students who are facing financial hardship, as the ANU's urgent student relief fund has been nearly exhausted. The policy and application process governing this fund will be distributed shortly to all RSAA students.
As noted in the Director’s message, RSAA has done relatively well among the CoS Schools. However, the quantum of the cuts for 2021 is significant and we will have to reduce expenditures and our FTE to stay within our means. We are still negotiating with College to ensure that our reductions are modest, but we hope the strategies that we are working on will ensure this and that we can remain competitive against our national and international counterparts.
Rafat Alam
