Vice-Chancellor’s Council Update

Professor Irene Tracey

Welcome to the first of my new blog series. Alongside other new forms of communication, including regular videos and podcasts, I am keen to trial different ways of keeping the University community updated, including sharing the key topics discussed at each Council meeting.

Council held its first in-person meeting of the new academic year on 4 November. At the end of last year we said goodbye to Professor Rory Collins, Professor Diego Sánchez-Ancochea, Professor Richard Hobbs, Dr Hilary Wynne and Tom Fletcher, as well as two of our external members Sir Chris Deverell and Nicholas Kroll, with gratitude for their years of service on Council. This year we have welcomed new members Professor Frances Platt, Professor Nandini Das, Professor Geraldine Johnson and Dr Sir Michael Jacobs, as well as Dr Ed Darnbrough as the new Early Career Researcher Representative, and we look forward to their contribution over the coming year. Addi Haran Diman, Eleanor Miller and Lauren Schaefer, our three Student Union Sabbatical Officers, have settled in well and are making excellent contributions to Council meetings. A process to recruit two new external members of Council is currently underway.

At the meeting on 4 November we had an excellent discussion on the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT); a new campus with research labs, a clinic, and educational space, established by Larry Ellison of Oracle. Some of you may be aware that this Norman Foster designed campus is currently under construction close to the Oxford Science Park in Littlemore, with our very own Professor Sir John Bell now in place as President of EIT Oxford. Further information on EIT will be shared in due course.

Council also discussed the draft Financial Statements for 2023/24, in advance of approving them at our next meeting in December. In the coming year there are certainly headwinds, not least from the announcement in the autumn budget just days before the meeting that National Insurance contributions would increase for employers, but our finances remain resilient. During our meeting, the news of the increase in tuition fees from £9,250 to £9,535 from 2025/26 also broke. This will provide a small offset to the increase in National Insurance contributions, but was welcomed as a step in the right direction for us, and for UK higher education finances more widely.

Professor Tim Power gave his annual presentation on the Social Sciences Division (SSO login required), covering the financial outlook, priorities for research, education and estates, EDI projects and key risks for the division. This reinforced the need for more graduate scholarships so that we can continue to recruit and support the best students, something we will be focusing on in our new development campaign.

Several priorities for our estate were advanced, with funding approved for the fit out of the Life and Mind Building and for the Swindon Collections Facility where GLAM collections will be stored, and approval was granted for the establishment of the Oxford Green Estate (OGE). The OGE will comprise the University’s green assets, including Wytham Woods and various areas of farmland and other green space around Oxford, with the aim of promoting the Oxford Green Estate within the University and beyond for research, education and outreach, and to ensure it is managed effectively and strategically.

I hope that this blog helps to demystify Council and its discussions. Please let us know if you found it useful or have any feedback: you can submit feedback via vice-chancellor@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Council information, including minutes, is published on the website.

Information on the Committees of Council can also be found online.

We encourage all staff to consider putting themselves forward for committees and other governance groups: our current elections page provides relevant information.