School Manager's Report
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue12 1–31 January 2021
I am hoping that this year will be a better year than 2020! At least this bushfire season has been manageable (so far), which is welcome news. The ACT and surrounding catchment area are still doing better than the rest of Australia in managing COVID-19 outbreaks. Australia is also managing to control the virus better than most of the other countries of the world. The vaccines are being rolled out by the government and hopefully that will assist in eradication of the virus. Restrictions continue to be relaxed at Stromlo and Siding Spring, and hopefully will continue to be this relaxed in 2021!
Although the new year commenced on a better note for us in comparison to 2020, the critical issues of 2020 continue to haunt us in 2021. Although we are very knowledgeable these days about what the President of the United States has done (and should not have done), many of us failed to realise that the last two weeks death toll in the US and around the world due to coronavirus was very high. In the US alone, there are now around 390,000 deaths, while the death toll all over the world is reaching 2 million. This virus is still rampaging throughout the world and thousands more will die before the virus is contained. I therefore request all of you to be mindful and not get complacent about the important control measures mentioned in the MSO and SSO Return to Campus protocols. And remember that you must get tested if you ever show any symptoms of the virus.
2021 will be a year of recovery from the economic fall-out from COVID-19, as outlined in the ANU and College of Science recovery plans. RSAA along with its entrepreneurial employees have worked together (all staff, at MSO and SSO) to minimise the financial blow to RSAA due to COVID-19. However the blow is still significant and we have been given a significantly smaller allocation in our recurrent budget. To balance the finances, we will be releasing a change management proposal this week. These are difficult times for all, so please feel free to take up the confidential and professional support services offered by the university, which can be accessed through this webpage if needed.
Lastly, the workload of the administration team in 2021 will be significant. We do not have the capacity to increase our FTE to manage workload, so I would ask all of you to be kind and patient while we work through all the requests. If there are matters that need immediate attention, please feel free to raise them directly with me so that I can fast-track them. We are all in this together!
Regards,
Rafat
