(a) To ensure that the University, as a self-governing academic community, maintains and enhances its standing as a university of international standing in both teaching and research.
(b) To identify new areas of study and research for development and enhancement, responding to contemporary developments in both the intellectual and national environment.
(c) To maintain the health of the college system, which allows the University to combine the economies of scale and special facilities of a large university with a close-knit and responsive working environment for teaching and the exchange of ideas in a democratic community of scholars.
(d) To provide education and training of excellent quality at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
(e) To strengthen the research base of the University and, if necessary, adjust the balance of time accorded by members of academic staff to teaching, research, and administration.
(f) To raise the profile of graduate studies in the University over the next decade.
(g) To encourage applications from students of the highest calibre from overseas and facilitate appropriate international experience for its own staff and students.
( h) To be more widely accessible, both by broadening recruitment to its degree courses, and by expansion of opportunities for life- long learning including high-quality post-experience vocational courses and other part-time courses leading to awards, and by preserving the important provision of non-award-bearing courses.
(i) To conserve, enhance, and utilise fully its special resources including its libraries, museums, and scientific collections.
(j) To maintain close collaboration with industry and the professions in pursuing research and to ensure that the fruits of that research are made available to outside bodies both for commercial exploitation and more generally for the benefit of society.
Given these long-term aims, the University's general objectives in the period 1998--2002 are:
(k) To continue to attract high-quality students and staff, who are essential for the maintenance of the University's academic standing.
(l) To provide appropriate facilities for the support of research across all subject areas where the University is active, and to build on the excellent results obtained in the 1996 RAE.
(m) To continue to exploit to the full the advantages of the collegiate system.
(n) To strengthen further the links within the collegiate University and in particular through the work of the Commission of Inquiry (see Strategic Plan below) to review the operation and structure of the collegiate University and its decision-making machinery and its strategic objectives.
(o) Continuously to review teaching and research and monitor academic standards in each.
(p) To reappraise and rationalise the allocation of space in the light of present and anticipated needs.
(q) To develop further an Information Strategy whose goals are to ensure that information of all kinds is made accessible effectively and efficiently to all sectors of the University, in accordance with needs, to improve effective communication throughout the university community, and to make the necessary structural changes to library and information services in the furtherance of these ends.
(r) To develop further both teaching and research links with the European Community and other countries and to facilitate entry by the highest-quality students on a world-wide basis.
(s) To encourage access to the University by a wider range of applicants and significantly to expand its contribution to vocational and non-vocational Continuing Education.
(t) To continue to develop flexible policies and procedures to encourage the funding of research from a wide variety of outside sources and to further income-generation by the exploitation of intellectual property.
(u) To further its ability to provide for the needs of a major international university by securing additional resources through its Development Programme.
1. The major elements of the University's current strategy for 1998--2002 are as follows:
(a) Relative stability in full-time undergraduate numbers and modest growth in full-time graduate numbers, of about 1 per cent per annum; modest expansion of part-time student numbers.
(b) Planning major physical developments, including developments for Arts and Social Sciences on the Ashmolean/Taylorian site and on the St Cross site respectively, Management Studies (subject to the raising of capital), the relocation of clinical academic departments from the Radcliffe Infirmary (RI) site to Headington (subject to the provision of the necessary funds), the intended purchase of the RI site and planning for its development for university purposes.
(c) Reaching decisions on the key recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, which reported at the beginning of this year.
(d) Continuing review of the balance of duties of academic staff and the implementation of the new promotions policy.
(e) Completion of a resource review and implementation of its decisions including continuing appraisal of the effect of the dual support transfer and of the continuing cuts in units of resource being imposed by HEFCE.
(f) Continuing development of IT infrastructure and delivery to the desktop of a range of information services, building on and further extending a widespread backbone network, exploiting sophisticated library, file, and other servers, and integrating a wide variety of information resources.
(g) The continuation of a major programme of external fund raising, after the end of the Development Campaign in 1994. This is focusing on certain subject initiatives already begun under the auspices of the Development Campaign, such as Management Studies, American Studies, and European Studies, and on the funds needed for the development of the Ashmolean/Taylorian and St Cross sites.
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2. There are two elements in the current planning environment affecting the University which are likely to have a significant impact in the medium term on the development of future plans. The first of these arises from the work of the Commission of Inquiry, which made recommendations about the structure of Oxford's governance and its approach to strategic planning and related matters, and also a number of substantive issues about Oxford's future strategic direction.
3. The Commission was established in 1994, to review the operation and structure of the collegiate University and its decision-making machinery, and completed its report at the end of 1997. Its recommendations both cover the University's structure of governance, including strategic planning and the relationship between different bodies within the University, and also consider a number of broad strategic issues such as the balance between teaching and research, the University's future size and shape, and the structure of the joint appointment system between the University and the colleges. The report is currently the subject of consultation and discussion within the University.
4. The second factor affecting all planning at present is the uncertainty about the future funding of Oxford in the light of the Government's decision to cease paying college fees and to channel additional resources through HEFCE to the University. There are also general uncertainties created by the new funding regime for higher education, which affect Oxford as much as other HEIs.
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5. Academic and financial planning in Oxford is overseen by the central executive bodies (Council and the General Board) working through their joint Resources Committee. Detailed planning is undertaken through the University's sixteen faculties and seventy principal academic departments, working closely with the colleges as appropriate, which have important responsibilities for undergraduate teaching, graduate provision, and support of research. The work of the faculties and departments is overseen by the General Board of the Faculties, which has overall responsibility for the University's academic planning and resource allocation. Particular features of the General Board's planning mechanisms include:
(a) a regular programme of reviews of departments and faculties, on a ten-yearly cycle, in each case involving thorough reappraisal of the department or faculty's programme of teaching and research, conducted by a specially appointed review committee consisting largely of external members;
(b) an annual system of reporting, whereby each faculty board submits a report to the General Board, reviewing its work in the previous year and setting out plans for future development;
(c) as part of the annual budget exercise, a review of priorities for refilling vacant academic posts, taking account of academic plans and new developments in teaching and research. Reviews of academic strategy are especially important when considering the refilling of statutory professorships and readerships, whose holders provide leadership and strategic direction to the work of individual faculties and departments as a whole.
6. Oversight of these planning mechanisms is undertaken both by the General Board itself, and by its committees, in particular the Planning and Development Committee and the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Committees.
7. Within this framework, faculties and departments have developed a range of planning priorities governing the period under consideration, covering undergraduate courses, graduate courses, and research. Many of these developments represent the continuing growth of well-established areas of work, whereas others involve new developments and initiatives either to open up wholly new areas of work or to break fresh ground in well established fields. Developments in research, undergraduate teaching, and graduate teaching, in particular subject areas are often very closely related.
8. During 1996--7 the University began a new comprehensive planning exercise and at present stands between the old and new régimes. A report on the use of all the University's sites, and a review of likely needs for land over the next twenty years or so has been completed and adopted by the University. Faculties have now provided ten-year plans and overviews of their subjects. These are being digested and in due course approved proposals will be placed in a long-term plan, integrating faculty desiderata and the requirements of support services within the constraints of sites and financial resources. A particularly important issue now being addressed is capital finance and how best the University can meet its long-term needs both for additional accommodation and for modernising accommodation. A review of fund-raising strategy has taken place and fund-raising priorities are now being discussed alongside the emerging overall plan.
9. While the new planning process is being developed, existing plans are being implemented. The following are some of the most important; many are on a scale which means they will inevitably be incorporated in the new long-term plans. The following plans in particular may be noted.
Physical Sciences. The development of a unitary departmental structure for Chemistry is now well under way. The long-term planning process referred to in para. 8 has established that the need of Chemistry for a new building is probably the highest such priority for the University and discussions are beginning on how to find the very large sums required. A site is available.
Management/Business Studies. Plans for the new building for the Said Business School and other aspects of the development of the school are now under discussion.
Accommodation for non-departmentally organised faculties. The new plans will reiterate the University's long-term aim of improving the provision for the non-departmentally organised subjects (i.e. humanities subjects and parts of the social sciences). The site strategy review referred to in para. 8 has paid particular attention to this. The review of capital needs and capital funds also referred to in that paragraph is crucial to the solution of the shortage of space for subjects which traditionally have been college based. With the estimated completion in the autumn of 1999 of Phase I of the St Cross site development, a Department of Economics will be created and significant extra space provided for English and Law. The provision of funds for further phases of this development is a high priority. Museum and library developments already in hand on the Ashmolean/Taylorian site strengthen the case for the provision of the proposed Classics Centre there.
Continuing Education. The University has completed a review of Continuing Education which confirmed the quality and importance of the department's work. Discussions are continuing about some aspects of its possible future development, in part in the context of university-wide discussions on access.
American Studies. Following success in fund raising, the building for the Institute for American Studies (now to be called the Oxford American Institute) has begun. This will provide space for interdisciplinary studies in this area and for a new library, rehousing the Rhodes House Library and other relevant collections. Planning of the academic work of the institute is proceeding.
Libraries. Following the appointment to the new post of Director of University Library Services and Bodley's Librarian and the creation of new, interim, constitutional arrangements for Oxford's libraries, work will continue on the long-term aims of improved integration and co-ordination of libraries.
Taught graduate courses. The University is continuing to develop its programme of taught graduate courses. Particular attention will continue to be paid to the various schemes for pilot courses drawn up by research councils and by the Wellcome Trust.
Biosciences. The rapid intellectual advances in the Biosciences led to the publication of a strategy document in 1993--4. In 1994--5 proposals for radical reorganisation of this area were produced. Decisions on the proposals which have been extensively discussed in the last two years now await the recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry. Within the general context of the strategy for the Biosciences, developments in Anatomy and the Dunn School of Pathology are now taking place. There are also plans for developments in Genetics. Plans for Anatomy are now being implemented.
Medicine. The creation of the Institute of Health Sciences, to bring together the many different groups working in Oxford in epidemiology, evidence-based medicine, health services research, and related areas, is well on the way to fruition. This will fully establish and develop a third main element of clinical medical research to complement Oxford's significant strengths in basic biomedical research as related to medicine and in clinical-based research. The development of biomedical research through the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics is now under way. Further proposals are under discussion in the context of the long-term NHS plans to transfer all remaining clinical activity from the Radcliffe Infirmary to the Headington sites. The University has outline plans for increases of up to fifty in both the pre-clinical and clinical intakes in the context of national discussions on this subject. Capital needs are a serious problem here too.
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10. The research strategy set out in the previous version of this plan, which described how the additional funds gained as a result of the last RAE would be used, has continued. Investment in new academic appointments and equipment, in funds for the support of academic staff by short-term reduction in teaching load or the provision of temporary research assistance, and in libraries and IT, is all crucial. The discussions referred to above on capital development priorities are equally important in this area; better provision for non-departmentally organised faculties will enable them to secure funds for collaborative and project research which is not easy to carry out at present because of lack of space.
11. The University already has a central research fund which is available for a limited number of purposes, in particular for pump-priming research before it is at the stage when external funding can be applied for. The University has now decided that the opportunities which are, or may be, available for reinforcing its research effort justify greater investment and it is therefore establishing a research development fund, for the strategic stimulus of research.
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D.
STUDENT NUMBERS
12. As indicated in its mission statement, the University is determined to nurture excellence in all subjects. Given the limitations of physical plant, the University for a number of years has been planning to restrain growth in total full-time student numbers (home/EU and overseas) to around 1 per cent per annum across almost all subject areas, with a modest increase in the ratio of science to arts students (currently 42:58). One factor relating to the University's capacity for growth is that residential accommodation in the city is expensive and in short supply, and the local planning authority expects the University and the colleges to provide accommodation for all additional students, an expectation which in recent years the collegiate University has fulfilled. Moreover, within Oxford itself, there is a shortage of sites for new buildings for teaching, research, and student accommodation. Given the constraints on space and the existence of two universities within the city, the University operates an informal zoning agreement with Oxford Brookes University.
13. The University's 1990 planning statement envisaged overall growth of 1 per cent per annum with an increase in the proportion of graduates to undergraduates. In keeping with that statement, and following a somewhat greater rate of expansion earlier in the decade, growth in undergraduate numbers over the past few years has been significantly less than 1 per cent per annum (with an overall growth since Michaelmas Term 1989 of 10 per cent). For the present, the University assumes that such numbers should be held at the current level for the time being. Should expansion become possible, the University is likely under present plans to resume a policy of limited growth of up to 1 per cent with a marginally greater growth in graduate numbers than in undergraduate (currently 30:70).
14. As planned, graduate numbers have been growing at a faster rate than undergraduate numbers (21 per cent since Michaelmas Term 1989). The University is continuing to monitor the growth in graduate numbers in line with these policies.
15. The constraints referred to above are less applicable to the provision made for part-time students, and the University consequently envisages moderate growth in this area, the state of which will depend on the outcome of the current review of Continuing Education.
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E.
STAFFING POLICIES
16. The University aims to continue to recruit and retain staff at the highest quality. Revised guidelines on the recruitment of staff have been issued in the light of recent tribunal experience and the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act. A pilot scheme for the confidential monitoring of the ethnic origin, as well as sex, of job applicants is being evaluated.
17. National salary settlements have failed to keep pace with increases paid to comparable staff in the private and public sectors. In response to this the University has introduced a new professorial salary structure, which allows the most distinguished staff to command salaries of nearly £60K, and has also moved to increase the stipends of university lecturers without tutorial fellowships. It is now undertaking an exhaustive review of its academic salary structure. It is continuing annual exercises under the policy whereby the title of professor or reader, without changes in salary or duties, may be conferred on all applicants of requisite standard. In addition to the enhancement of professorial distinction awards, the range of selective salary payments for other staff (e.g. super-scale or special payments on grounds of recruitment, retention, and merit) has been maintained following the inclusion of an element for this purpose in previous salary settlements, and in the light of recruitment difficulties the University is considering a proposal to increase the number of super-scale points for most academic-related and non-academic staff. However, the University remains firmly of the view that the majority of those arrangements, at least as regards academic staff, are an inadequate substitute for satisfactory levels of general salary increase when applied to a university in which virtually all staff are of the highest quality.
18. A further consequence of the relative decline in university salaries is that other non-salary benefits, such as research facilities, staff development opportunities, childcare facilities, and opportunities for flexible working for those with family commitments are becoming increasingly important in attracting and retaining high-calibre staff, though these facilities also require appropriate funding.
19. The dual support shift has reduced the long-term funding available for research support staff while the number of short-term contract research staff employed by the University has increased to 2,100 as the University succeeds in attracting grants for specific fixed-term research projects. The particular needs of this large number of highly qualified staff are being addressed by the University, through its contribution to the development of the CVCP Concordat, but also through the adoption of a local Oxford Code of Practice for the employment and career management of contract research staff, and through the introduction of a new career support scheme for key long-serving research staff. That work is given high priority by the University's Staff Committee and the committee is also pursuing the development of more integrated staffing structures, primarily through its membership of the national HERA initiative as well as through its own evaluation of the Hay job classification system.
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20. The University has continued its development of support for contract research staff, building on its existing workshop on career review and planning with a scheme offering all contract research staff who wish for them free one-to-one careers advice interviews and subsequent access to information on relevant career opportunities. The general staff development programme also includes sessions specifically for contract research staff. The University has conducted a review of its staff development provision in support of teaching and academic excellence, and has developed a pilot Postgraduate Certificate in University Teaching and Academic Practice, building on its existing provision. Appraisal is in operation for all staff groups and in some departments a more pro-active and focused scheme is being piloted in 1998--9.
21. The University is continuing to review the duties of academic staff (focusing particularly on the joint responsibilities the majority of such staff have to the University and the colleges) with a view to creating flexible structures within which the various responsibilities of individual academic staff can be balanced and the overall requirements of teaching, research, and administration can be efficiently discharged. The report of the Commission of Inquiry made specific proposals on the matter developing discussions which had already taken place, and these proposals are now being considered.
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22. The report of the Working Party on University Sites has been adopted as part of the University's strategic policy. This report identified the need for more space in almost all subject areas to allow for the modernisation of existing facilities, the provision of faculty centres in the arts and humanities, and the expansion of research, especially in the sciences and in medicine. Lack of suitable space is seen in all faculty board plans as the main limitation on their development. The report together with the faculty board plans and the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry are to form the basis of a revised estate strategy plan, the preparation of which has been deferred so as to take account of the further direction on this to be issued by HEFCE.
23. The acquisition of the Radcliffe Infirmary site remains a key long-term objective of the University as this is the only site of significance likely to become available to provide space for the expansion of research in the non- medical sciences. A new initiative is under way to move the NHS hospital trust and the associated university clinical departments to Headington in about 2002. Meanwhile, the University will seek to acquire other sites, particularly in West Oxford, for the arts, humanities, and academic support.
24. While the University supports the proposed move of the Radcliffe Infirmary NHS Hospital Trust to Headington, its position remains that, as the move is part of an NHS-led reorganisation, the University should not have to contribute any of the capital or find additional operating costs. The university departments occupy about 10 per cent of the total floor area of the Radcliffe Infirmary and the costs associated with their move are still seen as the major obstacle in putting together a successful financial package to fund the project. However, funding for a much smaller project to move some 450 sq.m. of laboratories of the Department of Psychiatry from the now closed Littlemore Hospital has been agreed and a new building at the Warneford Hospital is to be completed this year.
25. The move of the University Division of Public Health and Primary Care to the Institute of Health Sciences is now complete and the first phase of the build-up of the institute is complete. Another building on the site is being released to house more outside-funded groups that want to be part of the institute. A new building on the site has been constructed to accommodate the University Department of Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education. Construction of the 9,900 sq.m. Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics is due to be completed in May 1999 while the Centre for the Functional Magnetic Imaging of the Brain on the John Radcliffe site was brought into use in April 1998.
26. 2,400 sq.m. of additional laboratories for Pathology were completed in 1997 and a further £5.5m project to rationalise support services and provide more laboratory space for the department is to start later this year. Completion of the 3,000 sq.m. extension to the Department of Zoology for the Wellcome Trust Centre for the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases has been delayed from early 1998 to the middle of the year. Extensions in Physics and Human Anatomy are nearing completion.
27. The condition of some laboratories remains a concern and the University welcomes the HEFCE initiative in this area, though the bidding and award system for this initiative does not encourage cost-effectiveness and long-term planning. A study by outside consultants into the refurbishment and upgrading of Chemistry has concluded that additional space is urgently needed to maintain adequate safety standards and that the Organic Chemistry building could not be upgraded cost-effectively. The University is considering the recommendation to construct 17,000 sq.m. of new office and laboratory space for research and to convert or rebuild the Organic Chemistry building as a central teaching facility.
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28. Construction of the 3,500 sq.m. first phase of the St Cross site development is under way and should be complete in April 1999. This will house the Economics Sub-faculty. Funding has yet to be identified for the remainder of the development which would bring together the Social Studies Faculty onto one site.
29. The site of the proposed Classics Centre has been identified as being in and behind the houses at 65--7 St Giles'. The centre is part of the Ashmolean Humanities Project for which funding is now being sought.
30. The University has purchased some 4½ acres of land near Oxford Railway Station for the construction of a new building to house the Business School, now occupying leased space on a short-term basis. Construction of the 10,000 sq.m. building is to start at the end of 1998.
31. Construction work on the Sackler Library is to start in July 1998 and preliminary works and archaeological investigations are in progress. The project will bring together five humanities libraries and rehouse the Griffith Institute. An application for National Lottery funding for the construction of a new gallery for the Ashmolean Museum as part of the project has been successful. The project should be completed in mid-2000 and is the first phase of the Ashmolean Humanities Project. The second phase is to comprise, besides the Classics Centre, centres for Islamic and Byzantine Studies and additional gallery and teaching space for the Ashmolean Museum.
32. Support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund has also been given for a 31.8 sq.m. extension to the Museum of History of Science, due to start in 1998. Advantage is to be taken of the closure of Duke Humfrey's Library (Old Bodleian Library) for major repairs to improve the environmental conditions and facilities for readers.
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33. The primary objective within the planning horizon is to achieve optimum integration and co-ordination of the University's 100 or so libraries in order to ensure:
(a) the distribution of resources within the library service to meet users' needs most effectively;
(b) the improvement of the responsiveness of the University's libraries to the needs of their users in the University;
(c) the maintenance and development of, and provision of access to, Oxford's collections as an international research resource;
(d) the effective provision of university-wide services such as library automation and electronic media, preservation, and library staff development;
(e) the fostering of flexibility in provision.
34. Over the period up to 2000 the new Director of University Library Services and Bodley's Librarian is planning the long-term integration of the University's libraries in support of the above objectives. Structural and budgetary reorganisation has already begun in areas for which the Director currently has overall responsibility: library automation, staff development, and preservation. A number of appointments and secondments have been made to a team supporting the Director in his strategic planning and co-ordinating functions.
35. There are major capital library projects taking place over the next five years that will provide open access to an increased amount of library material in close working proximity to relevant faculty centres. There will be new libraries for Economics, American Studies, the Said Business School, and, largest of all, the new Sackler Library, which will combine the holdings of the Ashmolean Library with collections of related material at present housed separately.
36. There is, however, a tension between, on the one hand, the demand for increasing accessibility of material on central university sites, and, on the other, the need to out-house an increasing proportion of material in the Book Repository because of the inexorable growth of the University's collections and the acute shortage of space in central Oxford for open-shelf access to library materials. In the large central research libraries alone, growth imposes a requirement of at least 4,500 metres of new shelving each year. By the end of the period under review the University will have exhausted the planning allocation at its present repository site at Nuneham Courtenay. For the foreseeable future the provision of a new repository module every three years is a necessity; and it will be an important objective to secure space for future growth.
37. A major programme of essential repair and refurbishment in the Old Bodleian Library will begin in September 1998 with work on the oldest part of the building, Duke Humfrey's Library. This first stage of the programme will last for up to a year. The necessary moves and alternative provision have been planned, but the work will inevitably entail inconvenience for readers. Subsequent stages will include refurbishment of other main reading rooms in the Old Bodleian, including enhanced provision of data points and restoration of external stonework.
38. The recent report issued by the University's Working Party on Sites holds major implications (and opportunities) for libraries, especially if physical restructuring or relocation can be used to assist the development of the more integrated provision being planned. A space audit of the Bodleian is being planned as part of this process and attention will be given to the University's policy on long-term retention and storage of its library materials in the light of the legal deposit privilege.
39. The Oxford Libraries Information Service (OLIS), the growing electronic guide to the University's collections, now contains records for 3.5m titles and incorporates the whole of the Bodleian 1920--85 catalogue. Externally funded retrospective catalogue conversion projects in the Taylorian and Ashmolean Libraries will continue. The Bodleian pre-1920 catalogue (1.2m titles) will be integrated with OLIS in the course of the coming year. Specifications are being prepared to allow development and implementation of an on-line stack request system for items on OLIS. Several initiatives to produce machine-readable catalogues for manuscript collections will be consolidated and accelerated as national and international standards for this type of material become more widely accepted.
40. OLIS will also be developed to provide dynamic links to full-text databases such as the Oxford Text Archive, to electronic publications and to digitised images. It is intended to combine all Oxford's electronic library services (electronic journals and books, bibliographic and other databases, text archives and image databanks) to provide a coherent and configurable common interface to the user and to achieve where possible a high degree of functional integration between services. The existing programme of digitisation of rare and fragile library materials will be continued and extended to include important and unique grey literature and printed ephemera, and a digitisation- on-demand service is envisaged for some material.
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41. The University is already implementing a number of the recommendations of its Working Party on Information Strategy, especially as they relate to the organisation of the library sector. Also the Information Technology Committee has embodied a number of the principles of information strategy into its IT strategy and oversees the implementation of this by all sectors of the University. The further development and review of a formal institutional information strategy will also be addressed in the context of the consideration being given to the recommendations of the recent report of the Commission of Inquiry.
42. The University's IT strategy document continues to be made widely available both in hard copy and on-line at http://info.ox.ac.uk/oxpapers/itstrat/. In view of the major impact of the implementation of recommendations proposed by the 1996--7 review of the University's computing services (OUCS) and the general progress taking place in regard to the use of IT across a wide range of university activities, this strategy will be kept under review. The IT Committee, together with its various related groups, continues to consider technical, academic, administrative, and policy issues as they relate to IT and maintains a dialogue on such issues with departments, faculties, and colleges. The IT Committee's representation has been strengthened recently by the addition of an external member from the University of Reading.
43. The key elements of the University's IT strategy continue to be the following:
(a) employment and further development of distributed computing, based upon the client-server model;
(b) the gradual extension of the network into student accommodation, and the automatic inclusion of networking infrastructure in all new building developments;
(c) the gradual extension of access to networked personal computer workstations to all staff and students; (d) the ongoing development of IT skills among the whole university community, and the provision of a hierarchy of support services for IT use.
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44. The University Network is a vital piece of infrastructure, on which much of the IT strategy rests. During the next three years the University expects to extend the backbone of this network further, particularly to enable connection of a significant proportion of outlying college student accommodation, with priority being given to graduate student accommodation. To this end, it has negotiated the sharing of trenches with the Oxford Cable Company, in order to deploy its own fibre spines wherever possible, for the flexibility and economy this offers. In other situations, it will employ a variety of other technologies, including dial-up through the switched voice network, ISDN, radio LANs and other technologies as they emerge, according to the specific needs and economics in each case. The University also places importance on the development of an Oxford Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), and has already agreed with Oxford Brookes University on the elements of this initiative, held discussions with a wide range of local entities, and made a start. The University also plans, in the next year or so, either through these MAN developments, or through some other means, to increase the capacity of its connection to JANET, as well as to provide a multi-service capability. In addition, it expects to upgrade the capacity of its backbone network in the next few years.
45. During 1996--7 the University undertook a review of OUCS, its computing services department, which reaffirmed the distributed computing strategy, and commended OUCS on its effective utilisation of resources in supporting the use of IT throughout the University. As a result of the review, the University will alter its structures for managing OUCS, consolidating responsibility for equipment and staffing funding as well as for general strategy all within the IT Committee. It will also establish special groups to oversee the training and humanities support activities of OUCS, to ensure that they continue accurately to reflect academic priorities.
46. The University has also placed great importance on ensuring that adequate support is available to all users of IT, and expects to deploy additional staff on a local basis as resources permit. In addition, it also plans to ensure that the balance between central and local support services is kept under review, undertaking some redeployment where this is considered appropriate, and to put mechanisms into place which ensure a smooth interface between local, `first-line' support and central back-up support.
47. The University recognises the importance of the further development of networked electronic information resources. Over the next few years, in line with the IT strategy, it plans to undertake a number of developments, including the following:
(a) the launch of further capabilities and wider utilisation of its hierarchical file store;
(b) the continued digitisation of rare, delicate, and widely sought documents to improve access and preservation;
(c) development and implementation of policies and procedures for the preservation and archiving of important information resources, including the creation of metadata;
(d) the investigation and design of systems to facilitate the implementation of a `hybrid library', combining access to electronic and physical resources in a relatively seamless fashion;
(e) promotion and development of increased use of electronic resources in teaching and learning, as well as improved support for such initiatives.
Several of these developments will be undertaken in collaboration with other institutions.
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48. Considerable resources continue to be devoted to the programme to replace `legacy' corporate systems. Effort is concentrated on the remaining areas of payroll/personnel and student records. The University's new payroll came into operation on schedule in May 1998.
49. Staff in central administration continue to work closely with colleagues throughout the University and colleges to make better administrative IT services available as widely as possible.
50. For some years a major focus of the administrative IT team has been the enormous task of replacing fundamental operational systems. These are vitally important for the effective running of the institution. A number of the systems replaced had been introduced originally in the 1970s and none of them was capable of exploiting recent technological advances. It was therefore essential to undertake fundamental changes before addressing in an effective manner the University's management information needs.
51. There has been growing awareness that Oxford requires much better management information for many purposes, including planning and resource allocation. This is clearly recognised in the report of the Commission of Inquiry, which includes a recommendation for `a wide-ranging review of all aspects of Oxford's requirements for management information'. As the prolonged exercise to replace legacy systems comes to an end the opportunity will arise to concentrate activity on improving management information systems.
52. The major issue of `Year-2000 compliance' has been addressed over the last year, and will continue to make demands on resources for some time to come. In this context the University has been fortunate in the timing of the introduction of replacement technology. On the software side it will not be necessary to check and modify legacy systems as they will all have been replaced relatively recently by 1 January 2000. Similarly, the current exercise to replace all PCs in central administration obviates the need to check and modify or replace ageing hardware.
53. A project is under way to ensure Year-2000 compliance throughout the University and we expect the task to be completed well before the end of 1999.
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54. Since the network has assumed such proportions and such a critical role in the life of the University, the University takes a very serious view of related security and privacy issues. It has taken a number of initiatives, both structural and technical, including the very effective OxCERT team which maintains vigilance in dealing with incidents, and its IT Security and Privacy Policy Group to advise on policies and procedures. Over the next few years it plans to bring secure network tools such as Kerberos progressively into play, and already has a pilot project in operation, and similar facilities implemented in its hierarchical file store.
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55. The University's financial strategy is based on the following broad strategic objectives:
(a) to maintain equilibrium between all sources of income and overall expenditure, taking one year with another;
(b) to maintain an adequate level of reserves, held in realisable assets, to mitigate short-term financial uncertainty and provide the ability to take prompt action when necessary;
(c) to provide funds for investment in the support of teaching and research, and to maximise the use of existing and future financial resources in contributing to the University's goals;
(d) to provide a secure and planned financial base for all activities within the University, with appropriate procedures and safeguards, and delivering value for money.
56. A detailed commentary on these strategic objectives and the assumptions underlying the financial forecasts being submitted with this document is contained within the financial forecast.
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57. The University is reviewing future arrangements for securing quality in the context (a) of post-Dearing discussions, most notably in respect of access questions, teaching and learning, and a response to the Quality Assurance Agency's framework proposals; and (b) of the recommendations of the internal Commission of Inquiry.
58. Access questions are being pursued by a joint university-college working party and are directed towards identifying a range of measures by which more applicants may be attracted from maintained schools to the University's traditional three-/four-year undergraduate courses.
59. The University is providing special funding for a pilot scheme, under the auspices of the Departments of Educational Studies and Continuing Education, for the development of enhanced courses for the training of university teachers.
60. Quality assurance is being addressed through the establishment of a new joint Council-General Board committee, with college representation, responsible for the co-ordination of all quality assurance and standards matters. It is envisaged that the University's monitoring procedures will continue to be based, with some development and modification to take account of QAA requirements for external accountability, on the framework set out in para. 61 below. We hope shortly to engage in discussion with the QAA about how this may be achieved in a way appropriate to the mission of a research-intensive university which seeks to achieve the highest international standards.
61. The framework, based on current practices, is as follows.
—Publication by faculties in course handbooks of programme specifications and standards, monitored by the University's central quality assurance bodies.
—A system of external faculty/department review on an eight-year cycle. At present review committees consist mainly of external members, including always at least one from overseas; their terms of reference embrace all areas of activity (i.e. teaching, research, organisation, and finance) and relate specifically to international standards of excellence.
—Annual reports by faculty boards to the General Board which include inter alia reports on the progress of recommendations of review committees, teaching quality assessors, and external examiners.
—Annual reports of external examiners, scrutinised by the central quality assurance bodies, which monitor also faculty boards' responses to their recommendations.
—External advisory panels to faculties/departments containing members of the highest eminence in the relevant fields (such as Nobel Prizewinners, leaders of industry, charities, the media, etc).
62. The University's discussions on the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry on governance may lead to revised structures for and relationships between the central bodies and faculties/departments. It is, however, likely that whatever emerges in this respect, the overall arrangements for quality assurance will remain substantially in place.
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