School Manager's Report

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue19 1–31 August 2021

In July we had our Senior Staff Retreat, where many relevant issues and opportunities were discussed.  It was two days of productive discussions that generated consensus and raised issues related to our future direction. While we work through the outcomes of the retreat, there was significant informal talk about collaboration among the different areas of RSAA. It was eye-opening to many that numerous innovative endeavours existed in local areas that other areas were not aware of. I foresee better collaboration between the different areas of RSAA (a complex and geographically diverse School), which will only propel us in the right direction.  

RSAA's economic recovery is ongoing. There are some minor hiccups that we are dealing with, but the School finances are in a stable position. Our growth is ongoing and will stabilise in 2022. Hopefully in 2023 we will revert to a revenue model where our teaching and research block grant income will again flow through to the School. The revenue generated by our current growth (both student revenue and block grants) will be used to ease the teaching load and staff workload that many of you have raised with me. 

Finally, the solar panel installation will commence next week, as we now have NCA approval for the project. This is an auspicious moment for RSAA, as it takes it first step towards carbon neutrality. I, like many of you, feel very proud of this achievement and I hope that we can continue this trajectory towards sustainability.

Rafat Alam