University Agenda

Contents of this section:

[Note. An asterisk denotes a reference to a previously published or recurrent entry.]
  • * Note on procedures in Congregation
  • * List of forthcoming Degree Days
  • * List of forthcoming Matriculation Ceremonies

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    CONGREGATION 1 July 2 p.m.

    ¶ Members of Congregation are reminded that written notice of any intention to vote against the preambles of the statutes at item 1 below, or the special resolution at item 2 below, signed in each case by at least two members of Congregation, must be given to the Registrar by noon on Monday, 23 June.

    1 Promulgation of Statutes

    Statute (1): Removal of an anomaly

    Explanatory note

    The following statute adds to the list of degrees which qualify their holders, if otherwise eligible, for membership of a faculty the recently introduced degrees of M.Biochem., M.Chem., M.Earth Sc., M.Eng., M.Math., and M.Phys. The need for this amendment was previously overlooked.

    (1) WHEREAS it is expedient to make a consequential amendment to an existing statute which has been overlooked in recent legislation, THE UNIVERSITY ENACTS AS FOLLOWS.

    In Tit. VI, Sect. I, cl. 2 (i) (Statutes, 1995, p. 40), after `or Master of Arts, or' insert `or (subject also to his or her already being a member of Convocation) the Degree of Master of Biochemistry or Master of Chemistry or Master of Earth Sciences or Master of Engineering or Master of Mathematics or Master of Physics, or alternatively who does not hold'.

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    Statute (2): Role and responsibilities of the Registrar

    Explanatory note

    In anticipation of the retirement on 31 March 1998 of the present holder of the office of Registrar of the University, Dr A.J. Dorey, Council has set up a committee under the chairmanship of the Principal of Linacre to review that office. The committee has recommended (inter alia), and Council has agreed, that the present statute setting out the Registrar's duties, which is largely restricted to a list of the original record-keeping functions of the office, should be revised so as to give a fuller description of the principal functions of the holder, which now include: the provision of advice on strategic policy to the Vice-Chancellor and Council; management and professional development of the Central Administration; promoting communication within Oxford; and conducting relationships between the University and external bodies, especially funding bodies. The following statute provides accordingly. At the same time, the detailed statutory prescription of the records which the Registrar must keep has been reduced, since the review committee and Council consider it more appropriate that these should in future be set out only in the relevant decrees and regulations.

    The following statute also deletes cl. 17 of the existing statute, which requires the University to provide an official residence for the Registrar and requires the Registrar to live in that residence. The present Registrar is dispensed ad hominem from this requirement (Statutes, 1995, p. 523), and Council has agreed, on the review committee's recommendation, that the requirement should be rescinded and that in future a Registrar should be eligible for assistance with housing costs on the same basis as incoming professorial appointees (see Gazette No. 4411, 3 October 1996, p. 60).

    (2) WHEREAS it is expedient to revise the statutory statement of the role and responsibilties of the Registrar, THE UNIVERSITY ENACTS AS FOLLOWS.

    1 In Tit. IX, Sect. VII (Statutes, 1995, p. 68), delete cll. 1--11 and substitute:

    `1. The Registrar shall be appointed by Council.

    2. The Registrar shall act as principal adviser on strategic policy to the Vice-Chancellor and to Council, and shall ensure effective co-ordination of advice from other officers to the Vice-Chancellor, Council, and other university bodies.

    3. The Registrar shall be the secretary of Congregation and of Council. He or she shall also be responsible for providing the secretary of any committee or body set up by Congregation or Council under the provisions of any statute or decree, which has no executive officer.

    4. The Registrar shall, under the Vice-Chancellor, be the head of the central administrative services of the University, and shall be responsible for the management and professional development of their staff and for the development of other administrative support.

    5. The Registrar shall, under the direction of the Vice- Chancellor, be responsible for overseeing the University's external relations and for communications which express the general policy of the University.

    6. The Registrar shall have such other functions and powers as are or shall be assigned to him or her by the statutes or by the Vice-Chancellor under the provisions of Sect. III, cl. 3 above.

    7. The Registrar shall be entitled to receive the papers of every committee or other body set up by or under the authority of the statutes and decrees, and the Registrar or his or her nominee may attend or speak (though not vote) at any meeting.

    8. The Registrar shall be responsible, as specified by Council by decree, for ensuring the maintenance and dissemination of university records and registers, for furnishing certificates of matriculation, graduation, and the results of university examinations, and for university publications.'

    2 Ibid., renumber existing cll. 12- -16 (pp. 70--1) as cll. 9--13.

    3 Ibid., cl. 10 as renumbered (p. 70), delete `clause 12 (a)' and substitute `clause 9 (a)'.

    4 Ibid., cl. 11 as renumbered, delete `clause 12' and substitute `clause 9'; and delete `clause 13' and substitute `clause 10'.

    5 Ibid. (p. 71), delete cl. 17.

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    Statute (3): Hope Fund

    Explanatory note

    In 1849 the University accepted a gift of the entomological collection, library of natural history, plates, engravings, and other articles and effects from The Revd Frederick William Hope and established a body of Hope Curators to manage these collections. In 1860 and 1862 the University accepted monetary benefactions from Mr Hope and Mrs Ellen Hope respectively to endow a Hope Professorship of Zoology and to support the collections. Under the terms of these benefactions, augmented in 1909 by a gift from Dr George Blunsdell Longstaff to support the Hope Professorship or other purposes connected with the Hope Zoological Collections or Library, eight-thirteenths of the income of the Hope Fund were to be used to support the Hope Professorship, three-thirteenths to support the Keepership of the Hope Collection of Engraved Portraits (which has for many years been merged with the Keepership of the Department of Western Art in the Ashmolean Museum), one-thirteenth on the entomological collection, and one-thirteenth on the collection of engraved portraits.

    That portion of the income from the Hope Fund which is available to support the chair is no longer sufficient for the purpose, and in 1995 Council and the General Board agreed, on the recommendation of the faculty board, indefinitely to suspend the Hope Professorship of Zoology (Entomology), which had fallen vacant, and to establish instead a Professorship of Zoology, the cost of which would be borne from general university funds (see Gazette No. 4367, 8 June 1995, p. 1248).

    The following statute provides for alternative uses of the Hope Fund within the general field of the support of the Hope Collections. In addition, in view of the fact that the Hope Curators' responsibilities have passed to other university bodies, Council has agreed, on the recommendation of the Biological Sciences Board and with the concurrence of the General Board, that the curators should now be formally discharged. The decree to be made by Council if the statute is approved effects the necessary changes in existing legislation consequential upon the discharge of the curators and the indefinite suspension of the Hope Professorship.

    (3) WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for alternative uses of the Hope Fund within the general field of the support of the Hope Collections, and to discharge the Hope Curators, NOW THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, in exercise of the powers in that behalf conferred upon it by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act, 1923, and of all other powers enabling it, ENACTS, subject to the approval of Her Majesty in Council, AS FOLLOWS.

    1 In Tit. XV (Statutes, 1995, p. 157, as amended, subject to the approval of Her Majesty in Council, by Statute (1) approved by Congregation on 14 May 1996, Gazette, Vol. 126, pp. 1086, 1122, and the Statute approved by Congregation on 15 November 1996, ibid., Vol. 127, pp. 57, 284), insert Sect. LXII:

    `Section LXII. Of the Hope Fund

    1. The assets from time to time representing the benefactions accepted by the University from The Reverend Frederick William Hope in 1849 and 1860 and from Ellen Hope in 1862, together with the gift of Dr George Blunsdell Longstaff in 1909, shall constitute a fund to be known as the Hope Fund.

    2. The collections donated by the said Frederick William Hope shall be known respectively as the Hope Entomological Collection, the Hope Library, and the Hope Collection of Engraved Portraits.

    3. The income from the fund shall be used for the support of the collections and library.

    4. A sum representing three-thirteenths of the income of the fund shall be applied to the support of the Keeper of Western Art in the Ashmolean Museum, who shall be the Keeper of the Hope Collection of Engraved Portraits.

    5. In addition to any sums that may be allocated under clause 6 below, a sum representing one-thirteenth of the income of the fund shall be applied to the support of the Hope Entomological Collection (including the related part of the Hope Library), and an equal sum of one-thirteenth of the income shall be applied to the support of the Hope Collection of Engraved Portraits (including the related part of the Hope Library).

    6. The balance of the income of the fund shall be administered by the Board of the Faculty of Biological Sciences and shall be applied to the furtherance of the study of entomology with particular reference to the purposes of the Hope Entomological Collection.

    7. The purposes for which the income shall be used under clause 6 above may include:

    (a) the support of a Professorship of Zoology (Entomology), to be called the Hope Professorship of Zoology, the holder of which shall lecture and give instruction in Zoology with special reference to the articulata;

    (b) the support of studentships, which shall be called the Hope Studentships, to be awarded to persons who are, or have been accepted for admission as, members of the University and who intend to undertake graduate study under the Board of the Faculty of Biological Sciences in association with the Hope Entomological Collection;

    (c) the purchase of books or equipment for, or the provision of grants towards research expenses incurred in support of, the Hope Entomological Collection;

    (d) the support of research fellowships or curatorial services in connection with the Hope Entomological Collection;

    (e) such other support of the Hope Entomological Collection as the Board of the Faculty of Biological Sciences shall think fit.

    8. Surplus income arising in any year shall be carried forward for expenditure in subsequent years.

    9. Congregation may from time to time amend this statute, provided that the main object of the fund, as defined in clauses 3 and 6 above, is always kept in view.'

    2 The Hope Curators (see Statuta, 1914, pp. 514--15) are hereby discharged.

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    Decree to be made by Council if the Statute is approved

    1 In Ch. III, Sect. XI, § 1, cl. 9, concerning the Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum (Statutes, 1995, p. 256), delete `the Curators of the Hope Collections,'.

    2 Ibid., Sect. XXXIV, concerning the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology (p. 289), delete cl. 6 and substitute: `6. The Head of the Department of Zoology shall have power to nominate the holder of an established academic post in the department with the title of professor or reader, subject to that person's consent, to act as his or her deputy, when desirable, under clauses 1, 4, and 5 above.'

    3 Ibid., Sect. LXXI, cl. 4, concerning the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (p. 318), delete `respectively' and substitute `in the former case', and delete `and the Hope Professor of Zoology (Entomology)'.

    4 In Ch. VII, Sect. I, § 5. B, concerning the assignment of departments (p. 367), delete cl. 6 and renumber existing cll. 6--10 as cll. 5--9.

    5 In Ch. IX, Sect. I, § 271, concerning the Poulton Fund (p. 639), delete `Hope Professor of Zoology' and substitute `Curator of the Entomological Collections'.

    6 Cl. 1 of this decree shall be effective from the date on which Statute (...) approved by Congregation on ... is approved by Her Majesty in Council; the remaining clauses shall have immediate effect.

    Key to Decree

    Cl. 1 removes a reference to the ultimate responsibility of the Hope Curators for the Hope Collection of Engraved Portraits in the Ashmolean Museum.

    Cl. 2 removes a specific reference to the possibility of the Hope Professor's serving as deputy to the Head of the Department of Zoology in respect of the latter's responsibilities regarding the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, and permits the head to appoint any professor or reader in the department as such a deputy.

    Cll. 3 and 4 remove references to the Hope Professor's responsibilities in respect of the Entomological Collections in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and the Hope Entomological Collections and Hope Library.

    Cl. 5 transfers from the Hope Professor to the Curator of the Entomological Collections responsibility for the direction of the Poulton Fund for the study of Evolution.

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    2 Voting on Special Resolution

    Special Resolution: Site for the Genetics and Physiology Institute and the University Security Centre

    Explanatory note

    In order to assist the fund-raising efforts for the planned Genetics and Physiology Institute, Council has agreed, on the recommendation of the Buildings Committee, to promote the following special resolution allocating a site between the Department of Physiology and the Old Observatory for five years to the Department of Biochemistry for a building of approximately 3,000 sq.m. in floor area to house the first phase of that institute and also the University Security Centre. If sufficient funding is raised to cover both the full cost of the construction of the building and its subsequent running costs, the allocation will, under the terms of the resolution, be confirmed on a long- term basis.

    Text of Special Resolution

    That a site between the Department of Physiology and the Old Observatory be allocated for five years to the Department of Biochemistry for a building of approximately 3,000 sq.m. in floor area to house the first phase of the planned Genetics and Physiology Institute and the University Security Centre; and that this allocation be confirmed on a long-term basis if sufficient funding is raised to cover both the full cost of the construction of the building and its subsequent running costs.

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