Information about the committee, the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs, the relationship to research and postgraduate studies management in the Schools and Institutes
University Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (URGAC) This committee is chaired by the Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Graduate Affairs), and is supported by the Office of Research and Graduate Affairs (ORGA). It develops university-wide policy and procedures.
Faculty of Arts and Law Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (FAL RGAC) The Faculty of Arts and Law has as strong profile in the area of research and publication. In publication output, the Faculty staff are at the forefront within the University as a whole. The Faculty is also growing its postgraduate student base through measures such as the provision of scholarships and the establishment of graduate assistant posts.
The Faculty has established a Committee for Research and Graduate Affairs. The terms of reference of the committee require it to manage the research and postgraduate areas of the Faculty, to develop appropriate policies for the Faculty in relation to each, to liaise with the University Research Committee and other relevant officers and committees, to manage the disbursement of research and scholarship funds made available to it and other matters which the Dean might assign to it.
Funding for research is allocated to the Faculty by the University's Internal Funding Model. The model contains inducements for faculties to undertake research and publication and to increase the level of enrollment of postgraduate students at the University.
The Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee is chaired by Associate Dean for Research, currently Dr Robert Early from the School of Language Arts and Media, who is also the Director of the Pacific Languages Unit, based at Emalus Campus, Vanuatu (early_r(at)vanuatu.usp.ac.fj).
The Associate Dean is a member of the FAL Executive Committee and reports regularly on the workings of the Committee and on the research and postgraduate studies profile of the Faculty. The Director is also a member of the University Research Committee and thus plays a pivotal role in liaising between the Faculty and the University in this area.
School and Institute Research and Graduate Affairs Committees Each School and Institute in FAL has a representative on the FAL Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee. These representatives are the R and PG Coordinators within their own Schools. They take responsibility for the presentation of the views of each School and Institute to the FAL Committee as well as the application of policies within their academic units. Typically each School and Institute has its own Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee.
FAL Research Plan This plan will, amongst other things, identify key areas of concentration of Faculty research preferably on a collaborative basis and will guide the overall performance of the Faculty in this area.
