The MGA Executive Committee (MGAEC) gathered together for a meeting of the minds at their annual planning retreat. You may be asking: what did they get up to? And more importantly, what do they have in store for you?
Published Date 1/09/2025
The inaugural MGAEC kicked off their term of office together with the MGA staff for a weekend of collaborating and strategising in the Yarra Valley. Their collective goal was to get to know each other better and plan for how they will support and represent their graduate student community.
Between seminars, workshops, delicious meals, sprinkled in with a few activities, fun was had and goals were set!
This year’s retreat put a special emphasis on strengthening our lobbying efforts and practicing good governance. One workshop was led by Jon Staley from the Institute of Community Directors Australia. Our committee members found this to be a particularly valuable learning experience as they begin their terms of office.
The first day concluded with a delicious sit-down dinner and a game of trivia which was enjoyed by all!
But the real challenge came on Day 2 of the retreat, when our committee members played a game unambiguously entitled ‘The Human Knot’. This game involves a complicated intertwining of each participant’s hands so as to literally bind them in one giant human knot. The only way out? Working together as a team, employing good strategy and communication to try to eventually untie themselves.
And they succeeded in doing just that! If we didn’t already have faith in the teamwork of our new MGAEC, we certainly do now.
Over the course of the retreat, our committee members discussed the issues that face grad students: increasing the HDR stipend, better services for health and wellbeing, and opportunities for grad students following graduation. They came up with ideas involving forming action groups and better lobbying for better outcomes for this unique set of challenges.
All in all, it was a fun and productive weekend. From this time spent together, we know that our executive committee has both the vision and the execution to improve life for our grads at Monash.
To see more of what went down, you can watch our LinkedIn reel here.
Until next year!
Have you got questions for the members of the committee? To find the relevant representative, click here.