Vice-Chancellor’s Council Update: 19 May meeting

• Key items discussed included proposed changes to Statute XI, the Graduate Student Access Strategy and the annual Head of Division update on MPLS
• The draft University Strategic Plan 2025–2030, which is being launched for consultation today, was also discussed
• Chief Information Security Officer Tony Brett provided an update on cyber security

Council met on 19 May in person, with key items on the agenda for discussion including proposed changes to Statute XI, the draft University Strategic Plan 2025–2030, and the Graduate Student Access Strategy. A presentation also came from our Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Tony Brett on Cyber Security, and Professor Jim Naismith made his annual Head of Division update to Council on the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division (MPLS).

The proposed changes to Statute XI are the result of extensive consultation with staff and students since 2022, and are aimed at ensuring the University has appropriate procedures in place to investigate cases of serious non-academic misconduct without complaints having to be made to the police first, and to align with new regulatory requirements from the Office for Students coming into effect on 1 August this year. Council was supportive of the changes, which will simplify the process for students and make it more effective. The proposal has since been published in the Gazette.

The draft University Strategic Plan 2025–2030 is being launched for consultation on 2 June so please do take a look and provide your comments. The plan is ambitious – it identifies areas where the collegiate University can pull together to maintain excellence in our core mission of teaching and research, and proposes metrics to hold us to account in delivering our priorities. Your feedback will be taken into account by the relevant committees of Council in Michaelmas term, and a final version of the Strategic Plan will be presented to Council for approval by the end of this year.

Professor Martin Williams, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) and Professor David Gavaghan presented the Graduate Student Access Strategy for Council’s approval. The strategy has been in development since early 2024, with academic departments, divisional offices and colleges consulted by the working group responsible for delivering it. Council endorsed the strategy, which lays out plans to select the very best candidates from all backgrounds, enhancing the attractiveness of Oxford to applicants from targeted groups, improving financial support available for successful applicants to study here, and enabling students from underrepresented backgrounds to achieve their full potential while on course. Funding from the graduate application fee and other sources will be used to support these activities.

Tony Brett’s update on cyber security was very timely, following the cyber attacks on several large retailers in recent weeks. It was encouraging to see that the number of confirmed incidents per year had fallen from over 2,000 in 2019 to only 77 in 2024, a reduction that was largely due to the introduction of multi-factor authentication (MFA). But we cannot be complacent, attacks are becoming more sophisticated, particularly with the use of AI, so we must all take the mandatory Information Security and Data Protection training every year and remain alert to potential threats.

Finally, Professor Jim Naismith’s annual update to Council on MPLS was a fascinating summary of the many awards and honours received by the MPLS Division’s academics in the last year and highlights of the world-changing research published recently, as well as the fantastic teaching colleagues deliver. It also highlighted the challenges faced by the division in terms of its ageing estate and plans to improve its financial position. The Estate Strategy is targeted at the first of those challenges, and the departments are doing a lot of work on eliminating the financial deficit of the division. The elimination of deficit is required by Council and central to our future plans so my thanks go to all those involved, and to Jim for leading on this crucial work.

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.

Consultation on the University of Oxford draft Strategic Plan - 2025-30

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