The Outside Studies Program (OSP) provides academic staff with a period free from normal academic responsibilities (while receiving substantive salary) for the purpose of:
The purpose of the OSP is to maintain and enhance the quality of the University's teaching and research and its international profile.
By working at other institutions or with external communities, staff on the OSP make the achievements of the University more widely known, so that Flinders University can be recognised nationally and internationally for contributing to global education and for benefiting communities.
The OSP is expected to contribute to the professional growth of academic staff such that their capacity to contribute to activities consistent with the strategic objectives of the University is enhanced.
The OSP provides the opportunity for academic staff to:
outside the University, which they are not able to undertake effectively while carrying out normal academic responsibilities.
All members of the University's teaching staff occupying posts at fractions of 0.4 and above (excluding casual and research-only staff) are eligible to accrue qualifying service for outside studies.
To be eligible to take an initial OSP program you must:
Notwithstanding eligibility, participation in the OSP is a privilege and is based on the needs of the University, the nature of the proposed program and the capacity of the staff member to make effective use of the OSP period.
The qualifying service for an OSP program accrues at the rate of six weeks for every twelve months of continuous service, up to a maximum of eighty months (40 weeks).
The maximum funded amounts for OSP’s are:
Applications close at 5pm on 28 June 2024
Download the above forms before completing.
Applications should be emailed as a single PDF document to melinda.pike@flinders.edu.au
5pm Friday July 26, 2019
No extensions permitted.
Download the above forms before completing.
Applications should be emailed as a single PDF document to cepsw.research@flinders.edu.au.
As announced in the College VPED update.
Download the above forms before completing.
Applications should be emailed as a single PDF document to chass.deanpr@flinders.edu.au.
6 weeks before the intended start date.
Download the above forms before completing.
Applications should be emailed as a single PDF document to cmph.operations@flinders.edu.au
Download the above forms before completing.
Applications should be emailed as a single PDF document to cnhs.deanpr@flinders.edu.au
21 June 2024
Download the above form before completing.
Applications should be emailed as a single document to cse.deanpr@flinders.edu.au
Academic staff in non-College units, such as the Student Services Centre, Staff Development and Training Unit, and Yunggorendi, should use the following standard forms and guidelines.
The following guidelines are offered to assist in the preparation of reports following Outside Studies Programs, to be submitted to the staff member’s supervisor within two months of return.
Reports should be about three pages in length and should present a reasonably detailed and lucid account of activities undertaken during the period of the program.
While the guidelines aim to draw attention to the points which, if applicable, should be covered in such a report, it is not intended that they should impose any particular format upon the writer or that they should be considered a series of questions requiring no more than brief answers.
In particular, provide details of any variation from the approved OSP in either your itinerary or the program, and the reason for the variation.
The amount of information required in the report indicates that the keeping of a detailed travel diary is important.
Download and complete the following form for application for the Outside Studies Program.
Application forms must be lodged with your Cost Centre (ie College or Central Administration). The invitations for applications provide the name of the person to whom applications should be forwarded.
When considering whether to recommend approval of your OSP, it is the responsibility of the head of your academic organisational unit/supervisor to:
Final approval rests with the head of your Cost Centre (for staff in non-College units, the Deputy-Vice-Chancellor (Academic)).
All forms should be completed and lodged at least 6 weeks prior to the activity.
Prior to undertaking an OSP, you must:
Whilst undertaking an OSP, you must:
On completion of the OSP you must:
An OSP is expected to contribute to your professional growth in ways that will enhance your capacity to contribute to the activities of the University.
The program you undertake should reflect your level of academic appointment.
For example:
After a first period of OSP and subsequently, the University expects evidence of your professional growth such as a steady output of publications, teaching achievements, or other relevant material.
If you do not produce such evidence, the University is entitled to conclude that you have not made a genuine academic effort and would consequently would not approve further investments in OSP for you.
Funding may be available through:
Yes. you must maintain a travel diary while on OSP so that on your return:
There are no guidelines as to the amount of detail that needs to be included in the travel diary, but it could reasonably be expected that you would have at least one entry per day indicating hours worked.
For further information visit Travel diaries.
Although the travel diary makes reference to fringe benefits tax, this is not applicable to funding provided by the Cost Centre for an OSP. However, income tax does apply as the funding is paid to you through your payroll. You must, therefore, keep details of work related expenses so that you can claim taxation deductions.
OSP is a period of absence with salary from the University. It is not holiday leave, long service leave or leave of absence without salary. You may apply to attach a period of long service leave to an OSP.
While you are undertaking your OSP:
While it is understood that your OSP may be constrained by time, it should be regarded as normal employment as far as non-work/ leisure time is concerned. Formal recreation leave must be applied for in the normal way.
You are required to:
School of Psychology
“The whole exercise was a lesson in humility.”
Focus: A Sudanese refugee camp in Kenya combining community service and teaching support.
Before setting out, Julie established some objectives she wished to have had achieved by her return.
Her objectives included:
She also conducted literature reviews and internet searches to investigate conventions and setting and established links with on-site hosts and contacts.
After a very long trip, with many aeroplane transfers, she arrived in a very hot Kenya.
The refugee camp is a long-term transit village of approximately the size of Mount Gambier, without established day-care facilities or schools.
Facilities are very rudimentary as there is no electricity or water on tap. Child-minding facilities are not for purpose of work-relief but rather to assist mothers in basic day-to-day survival tasks such as water collection, which may take two hours.
Julie was to work in these facilities and offer some teaching. This was not without some drawbacks.
Teaching was often interrupted by weather, as shelters did not offer protection. In addition, rain meant that classes were cancelled as camp workers had to be escorted from the camp before rivers became unpassable.
People who work at the camp don’t live on-site. Julie assumed that workers had free access and could walk around at will. However, if there is no Kenyan escort, workers aren’t allowed access in or out.
The refugee workers were not located in a central area, meaning that Julie was reliant on other forms of transport.
Julie’s chief learning was regarding how to behave in accordance with very different cultural rules.
The people of the Sudanese refugee camps have a socially-based society, differing from Julie’s culture of a rule-based society. This emerged particularly as a vital part of the teaching style. Teaching is a social activity based on an interactive communal exchange rather than on a didactic teacher focus.
Julie called her experience 'a spectacular failure':
A failure, in that the careful planning and preparation appeared to come to nothing.
Yet spectacular in that, despite a feeling of frustration, Julie was able to report back to the Sudanese community in Adelaide and has a wealth of experience to enliven her teaching and her research in the future.
College of Science and Engineering
"An extremely worthwhile experience"
Focus: Attending conferences and visiting laboratories to maintain awareness of current activity so that realistic research proposals can be devised that are likely to attract external funding.
Kevin was to participate in two international conferences to be held only nine days apart, the first in Cairns and the second in Merida, Mexico.
He took advantage of:
to extend two separate conference leaves into an OSP Professional Experience program by including visits to laboratories.
As a result of the time saved by travelling on from Cairns, rather than returning to Adelaide and then leaving for Mexico a few days later, it was possible to schedule one of the laboratory visits between the conferences.
Although over 30% of the program was spent travelling, it was still an extremely worthwhile experience.
At the conferences, Kevin participated by:
He also met with other researchers in his field.
During the laboratory visits, he presented seminars and visited senior staff. Kevin was able to have discussions concerning his research work, teaching topics and the possible renewal of collaborative work.
Kevin found planning his OSP problematic because, although a short OSP normally requires only two months' notice, this particular program required a longer lead time.
As short OSPs need to mesh in with the teaching program, this case proved difficult as the teaching program was not known until later.
Although Kevin has undertaken several OSPs, he was unclear about the amount of recreation that could be taken and its affect on fringe benefits tax.
Although the travel diary mentions fringe benefits tax, this is not applicable to an OSP.
Within the constraints of the OSP, time off for recreation is permitted equivalent to your normal work.
School of Law
“A growth experience.”
Focus: A research program in France.
Elizabeth arrived in Bourdeaux with her two children only to find her sponsor had deemed her accommodation unsuitable and cancelled it, without advising Elizabeth. Consequently, she had to stay in an hotel until she found an apartment.
On finding one, she then lost a day as she had to organise insurance which, in Australia, is the responsibility of the landlord.
School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences
“Preparation is most important.”
Focus: A short research program in Canada resulting in the writing of several papers.
The program involved expansion of existing experimental work on which Joe was working in collaboration with the host institution.
Preparation during the various stages of the application included:
Joe was unsure of the distinction between an OSP and leave.
An OSP is leave of absence with salary and is distinct from normal leave entitlements, which accrue while you are on OSP.
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