In its submission, the Gold Coast City Council highlights the importance of the long term increase in the prestige and stature of the Gold Coast campus and its local, national and international recognition as a world class teaching and research institution. The submission further states that in the evolution of the Gold Coast campus into a world class institution, the membership of the governing body must include high calibre people with world class experience in their various fields. The Committee agrees that the membership of the Griffith University Council should reflect a broad strategic and international perspective, rather than concentrating on the representation of a specific geographical area. In view of the wide range of communities served by the University, including national and international stakeholders, the Committee does not support the proposal that a majority of members of the University Council be drawn from a specific geographical region. In considering the membership of the governing body of Bond University, the Committee notes that a majority of members are not permanent residents of the Gold Coast.
Membership includes people from both interstate and overseas.
In this model, a high degree of autonomy and decision-making authority was envisaged for the Council of the Gold Coast campus. The Committee recognises that the Gold Coast City Council has had limited opportunity to analyse the implications of a federated governance model for Griffith University. The model recommended seems to be based on the replication of the system currently existing within the University of California. This system, however, is based on the federation of very large units which are equal in size to Griffith University. The Committee notes that the federated governance model had been adopted by the University of Western Sydney and later abandoned as being unviable in the context of the present Australian higher education system.