Vice-Chancellor’s Council Update: 10 February meeting

• The focus for this meeting’s annual update was on the Humanities Division
• This meeting of Council also discussed the divisional financial plans
• The Registrar presented the recommendations of the Strategic Review of Professional Services for Council’s approval

Council met again on 10 February, and in a continuation of last month’s focus on financial matters, spent time discussing the Divisional 5-year plans (2024/25–2028/29). Divisions refresh both their annual budgets and 5-year plans every year and the 5-year Divisional plans are aligned with the University Administration and Services (UAS) plans to build a picture of the priorities across the University, as well as options to fund them. Later this year this information will be used to begin planning for the next 3-year settlement, for which the charges to departments for space, services and other shared activities, including scholarships and libraries, are agreed for the period 2026/27–2028/29.

Gill Aitken, the Registrar, presented for approval the recommendations of the Strategic Review of Professional Services, which over the course of 2023–2024 carried out an in-depth analysis of our services and gathered feedback on the output of the analysis from across the divisions. These recommendations include establishing principles for service design, a greater leadership and coordination role for divisions, and strategic planning of services through Services Committee. Feedback from Council was positive, particularly around setting ownership of services at an appropriate level. Council members are keen to ensure that the work on implementing this review is fully integrated with other University strategies, including Digital Transformation and the People Strategy, as well as making sure there are measurable improvements in effectiveness and efficiency.

The Registrar also updated us on the proposal to bring a new Safety Dashboard to Council at the next meeting, which will be a quarterly agenda item providing data and commentary on health and safety issues. This will support our focus on safety across the University, ensuring that all of our staff and students can work and study in a safe environment.

The focus for this meeting’s annual update was on the Humanities Division, presented by Professor Dan Grimley, Head of Humanities. There has been difficult news from other UK universities on the future of their Humanities programmes recently, but Humanities in Oxford are more resilient, with the completion of the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities still on target for faculties to move into for the new academic year. The building will support our advocacy for the importance of Humanities subjects, and for continuing public investment in these crucial areas. The Cultural Programme has begun to collaborate across the university with other cultural organisations and the local community to deliver outstanding events such as the Adventures in Consciousness season, Kafka anniversary celebrations and the Leys Festival. The Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre is also actively engaging with government to inform better policy making in a critical area of public concern: a powerful example of the way Humanities has a direct impact on contemporary life.

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.