Present: Ian Carradice (St Andrews, Convenor), Neil Curtis (Aberdeen), Matthew Jarron (Dundee), Evelyn Silber (Glasgow), Ewen Smith (Glasgow), Peter Trowles (Glasgow School of Art)

1. Apologies
Jane Cameron (Stirling), Dawn Kemp (RCSEd), Jacky MacBeath (Edinburgh)

2. Approval of minutes of committee meeting on 8th September 2004
The minutes were approved
The minutes of the 2004 AGM were noted.

3. Matters arising
4. 'Collections for the future' discussion
This had been a successful and well attended meeting. Subsequently a response had been sent to the Museums Association. It was noted that the outcome of their discussions had not yet been published.

7. Regional Development Challenge Fund
It was noted that both the 'Scotland and Medicine' project and the North-East Museums Partnership had been successful, while other universities were involved in other projects.

4. UMIS Conference 2004
The success of the conference was noted and Jacky's MacBeath's work appreciated. JM would be asked to request contributors to send her copies of their papers for publication on the UMIS website. A deadline and formats were to be decided by JM and MJ.

The next conference would probably be late in 2006 with Dundee suggested as a venue.

5. Treasurer's report
ESm reported a healthy balance, with the conference having covered its costs. Only one subscription (Abertay) was still due. SMC appeared to have absorbed the extra printing costs of the advocacy document. The 'hidden' costs to Dundee of the website were noted.

6. Cultural Commission
ESi reported that the Cultural Commission had published its interim report and that the museums sector group was meeting soon to discuss issues such as proposals for a national cultural forum. It was decided that, although late, UMIS should make a response before the end of April to reiterate the points made in the advocacy document - see draft at Appendix A.

7. SHEFC Cultural Review
The UMIS response to the SHEFC Cultural Review was discussed - see draft at Appendix B. This would be circulated for comment and sent before the deadline of 20th May. It was hoped that the UMIS discussios would feed into the responses from individual universities.

8. AOB
1. ESi reported that she and John Scally would be speaking at the Universitas 21 conference on university museums in Melbourne.

2. NC reported a joint ICOM UK / ICOM Germany meeting in November in London on museums 'building bridges.

3. The on-going discussions about repatriations to Australia and New Zealand were noted, also the SMC-sponsored meeting about the treatment of human remains.

9. Date of next meeting
No date was set, but it was agreed to hold a meeting before the summer vacation.

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