UNIVERSITY OF OXFORDMission and Strategic Objectives1. The University of Oxford aims to achieve and sustain excellence in every area of its teaching and research, maintaining and developing its historical position as a world-class university, and enriching the international, national and regional communities through the fruits of its research and the skills of its graduates. 2. In support of this aim the University will:
Return to List of Contents of supplement Governance and Management3. The new governance structure has been in place for four years following the publication of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry (the North Report) at the end of 1997. The structure has continued to develop, and external representation on Council has increased to four members during 2003–4. After the first five years of operation, the new governance structure is due to be reviewed, and it is expected that this will take place soon after the arrival of the new Vice-Chancellor, Dr John Hood, in October 2004. 4. Associated with the new governance structure was the creation of a new resource allocation method in 2001–2. This has now been used to allocate resources for four academic years and relatively few changes have been made in the last year. Over the next year work will take place to consider the development of a joint resource allocation method with the colleges. The planning arrangements are also well embedded with the divisions, the Department for Continuing Education and the Services producing updated five year plans with annual budgets, accompanied by operating statements. All of these are considered by or on behalf of the University's Council as part of the annual planning and budgeting process. The work now being undertaken on the academic strategy and on the development of the new full Corporate Plan has as a major objective the better integration of divisional plans within an overall strategy and improved procedures for prioritising competing bids for resources. 5. Investment in internal management systems continues; in 2003–4 the University successfully implemented a new financial management system (supplied by Oracle) known locally as OSIRIS, which will strengthen the overall management capacity of the divisional structure created under the new governance arrangements mentioned above. Preparations are being made for the implementation of a new student record system (also supplied by Oracle), known locally as ISIDORE, which will be ready in the first place to process applications for the graduate intake of 2005–6. 6. The University has established a working group, chaired by the Vice- Chancellor, to develop policy in response to the Government's HE Bill. In particular, the group is developing policy on variable fees, and on the level of bursary support it intends to offer to Home/EU undergraduate students from 2006–7 onwards. Considerable progress has been made in this area, with the collegiate university having agreed to a common set of principles which will be used to govern the design of the bursary scheme. The University intends to offer substantial bursary support to as many students in low income categories as possible, to ensure that financial barriers to studying at Oxford (real or perceived) are removed for those students most in need. The final form of the University's bursary scheme will be determined in the context of the final terms of the HE Act. 7. The University has, in parallel, been actively considering issues related to this legislation, such as improved provision of information on financial support for students, and questions of access. Now that the HE Bill has been enacted, work will take place in these areas of activity, which are central to the University's mission, and a direct response will be made particularly within the context of Government funding policy. 8. Joint planning arrangements between the University and the colleges have been given particular attention in 2003–4 and will be further developed in 2004–5. Major areas being addressed are student number planning, the academic strategy, financial resource issues and aspects of human resource strategy. 9. During 2004–5 the University will continue to strengthen its approach in the following aspects of its day-to-day activities (1) risk management—the Risk Management Committee is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the University's risk register and its risk management strategy and its work will result in the full integration of risk management into the planning process, and into the management of departments and divisions in general; (2) value for money—under the direction of the central Value for Money Committee, work will continue across the University to ensure that measures to improve economy, effectiveness and efficiency are implemented; (3) equal opportunities—under the co-ordination of the Diversity and Equal Opportunities Unit, whose revised objectives have been approved by Council, a single integrated equality policy will be produced, in response to the various changes in legislation in this area in recent years; (4) compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. 10. The collegiate University will continue in 2004–5 to consider the implications of the Charities Bill. Return to List of Contents of supplement CORE STRATEGIESAcademic and Financial11. The University's mission is above all to sustain its historical position as one of the leading universities in the world. This means that the University must be excellent in abundance in teaching and research and in all that supports these. Such excellence requires an appropriate level of resources. A virtuous circle must be created. Excellence depends above all on the continued recruitment of academic staff of the highest calibre and on the continued attraction of students, both undergraduate and graduate, also of the highest calibre, able to profit best from the intellectual stimulus provided by the academic staff. Recruitment of both staff and students must be from across the world. However, such continued recruitment of staff and students at the highest level will not be possible without the maintenance of the highest quality support and facilities (e.g. academic-related and non-academic staff, libraries and museum collections, laboratories and IT) or without internationally competitive reward and remuneration packages and the provision of attractive financial support for all categories of student. A concrete example of the University's international excellence in knowledge dissemination is the Oxford University Press. The University must ensure that excellence is maintained here as well as in its mainstream academic activity.12. The full corporate plan is expected to produce the fruits of the University's thinking on these matters which has gathered pace in 2003–4. On the financial side, certain basic steps have been taken in the last few years, including (a) agreement on the objective of bringing recurrent income and expenditure into balance in 2007–8; (b) the creation of a strategic reserve; (c) the consolidation of a substantial fund to support capital expenditure and the decision not to draw on it as such but to use the income which it generates to support borrowing. 13. These in themselves, however, do little more than to introduce greater clarity. The University has reviewed the funding gap which it thinks must be bridged in order to approach the fulfilment of the objective set out in 11. above and needs to continue to consider how best to close it. A particularly important element of the financial challenges which face the University is how to sustain libraries and museums and other crucial services as well as the academic activity of its departments and faculties to ensure that the international standing of the University is maintained. Fund-raising and further development of the University's successes in the exploitation of intellectual property (referred to in more detail below) are two methods of achieving the objectives. Any additional undergraduate fee income will be helpful but will provide only a relatively small proportion of what is required. 14. Turning to the academic strategy (the fundamental activity to whose achievement all else must be directed), extensive consultation has taken place during 2003–4 and the finally approved strategy will form a central element of the corporate plan in July 2005. The University must reach decisions on the balance between graduate and undergraduate students and on the medium term size of its student population. In teaching it must (for example) ensure continued recruitment of high quality teachers, refine and extend its programme of quality assurance and enhancement (reinforcing the largely favourable view formed by the QAA Audit, particularly on the close working relationships between all parts of the collegiate University). It must continue the development of its research- based approach to pedagogic issues and introduce a systematic graduate teaching assistantship scheme (as part of its approach to graduate student training). In recruitment, admissions and access, it must (inter alia) establish its new graduate admissions scheme, continue to improve undergraduate admissions processes to ensure that places are consistently offered to the best candidates, further develop the undergraduate bursary scheme and consider the scope for enlarging its current graduate scholarship schemes. 15. In research, it must ensure, for example, that it continues to recruit the highest quality research active staff, it must develop its HR policies in respect of postdoctoral staff and it must ensure that the necessary environment exists to enable interdisciplinary research to flourish and to facilitate collaboration with external bodies. In recent years the University has carried out a programme of careful investment in certain subject areas which performed less well than they should have done in the last RAE. The University must refine its approach to such areas of activity, particularly in preparation for the 2007 RAE to which much attention will be paid both strategically and tactically over the next few years. This is not, however, simply a matter of preparation for an RAE; the general objective of achieving the highest world class status requires that there be no weaknesses anywhere in the University's research. 16. The development of academic strategy will make it easier for the University to judge priorities for the allocation of resources from external capital funding rounds (e.g. SRIF and Project Capital). The University has benefited from a welcome contribution to the research infrastructure provision through the SRIF2 funding stream (£64m), and over the coming year work will continue to carry through the thirty component projects to support a mixture of equipment, refurbishment and new build projects, aligned to the overall intention for the University's estate. The future announcement of SRIF3 is awaited with interest, and the University's submission will be developed to complement the estates strategy (see paragraph 25 below). 17. A further major area of activity underpinning the research agenda of the University is preparing for the introduction of Full Economic Costing during 2005–6. During 2003–4 the University worked with the research councils as a pilot institute to establish the necessary detail of the new approach to costing research. The required systems and processes will be developed and implemented over coming months so that the University is able to price research and contracts, and have an agreed policy on how the resultant additional income will be allocated internally. 18. The research activity of the University continues to increase year on year. In 2002–3 £162m was secured by Oxford academics from research councils, charities and industry. If the University is to continue to receive funding for one-third of this research portfolio from UK charities, then it is essential to decide how the principles of full economic costing are to be met in respect of research income from this source. 19. Closely related to the research activity of the University's staff is the potential to develop `spin-out' companies to exploit novel applications and technological developments and to license the University's intellectual property to third parties. Isis Innovation Limited, the technology transfer company of the University, commercialises the research generated by University researchers and owned by the University. Its activities have continued to increase, and since 1997 on average a new spin out company has been launched every two months. This rate of success continues and, like the work of the Oxford University Press, illustrates the University's capabilities as a disseminator of knowledge. 20. Fundraising is crucial to the future of the collegiate university. The University's Development Office works with each academic division and the services to enable them to achieve their fundraising targets, and each college undertakes its own fundraising activity. In the light of two reports which have been received in 2003–4, the approach to fundraising will be reviewed over the course of 2004–5 to ensure that the collegiate university harnesses and coordinates its fundraising potential to best effect in the future. Return to List of Contents of supplement Human Resources21. The University has continued to implement the HR Strategy as approved for 2001–4 and has submitted the strategy for 2004–9 to HEFCE.22. The expenditure statement for 2001–4, submitted to HEFCE at the end of the Rewarding and Developing Staff Initiative (Phase 1), showed progress across a wide range of HR initiatives, with the majority of targets being met. In general this first phase of the HR Strategy at Oxford has been characterised by the fair and transparent application of additional targeting of differential reward systems, and by the local use of initiatives which reflect the original HEFCE criteria in a way which was relevant to Oxford's particular needs. 23. The revised HR strategy was subject to an extensive internal consultation process, and its objectives will form the main focus of HR activity in the coming years. It deals with, but is not limited to, expenditure and particular actions in 2004–6 in the light of HEFCE's continuing R&DS initiative; it is designed to focus on the range of the needs of the collegiate University over the next five years and to address key strategic risks. While it covers HEFCE's desiderata, it is driven by specific local needs. It sets out a comprehensive range of actions and of detailed and demanding targets, within an overall set of objectives closely linked to the University's particular requirements in terms of recruitment, management and development, retention, and reward of high-calibre staff in order to promote excellence in all areas of teaching and research. 24. There is a particular emphasis on developing targeted approaches to key individual academic staffing issues, on enabling the generality of academic staff to concentrate on their core duties of teaching and research, on improving management arrangements at all levels, and on moving towards more appropriate staffing profiles where necessary. Alongside objectives on modernising reward systems (including the development of a single pay structure in accordance with the national framework agreement), there are specific actions to continue to commit a very high proportion of the strategy monies on direct salary payments to staff on a discretionary basis. There is also a distinct focus on developing more commonality of approach between the University and the colleges in this key strategic policy area, and the new strategy is underpinned by an embedded commitment to equality of opportunity. Return to List of Contents of supplement Estates25. The principal objective of the University of Oxford Estates strategy is to make best use of capital assets and available resources. The strategy has specific objectives for the acquisition and disposal of space, and its effective utilisation, which will continue to be developed over the coming years, and will be further detailed in the full corporate plan. The various strategies for the four main sites of the University are summarised below, and are all designed to enable the University to make the most effective use of its capital assets.(a) The Radcliffe Infirmary site was purchased in 2003, and will be vacated by the NHS in 2007–8. This site provides the main area for expansion for the University in the centre of Oxford for the next 20 to 30 years, and it is therefore important that the development of the site is properly planned. Currently, a development plan is being formulated, and, once this is completed, it is intended that a master planning exercise will be carried out, to ensure the best possible usage of the site is made. (b) The Science Area in Parks Road, particularly to the North, has suffered from years of ad hoc development, with the result that the area is not well serviced, and many of the buildings are in poor condition, not highly functional, and do not make the best use of the available space. A key strategy is to replan this area completely to improve circulation, identify buildings/ sites which should be redeveloped and improve servicing to the whole area. With careful consideration and redevelopment of the area the strategy will enable the increase in facilities needed to match the growth aspirations of the academic strategy, within the existing science area. A master planning exercise is to be undertaken of the area in 2004–5, to crystallise these plans. (c) The Old Road Campus site, situated close to the Churchill Hospital and within easy reach of the John Radcliffe Hospital, was purchased to provide space for medical research facilities which are not required to be within hospital premises. This site will continue to provide growth space for Medical Sciences, to meet their academic strategy for growth. A masterplan for the site has been accepted by the local planning authority, and infrastructure to the site has been improved to meet this planned growth. (d) Begbroke Science Park will continue to meet the University's strategic plans for developing collaborative research (with both other academic institutions and with industry) which does not need to be located in the heart of Oxford, for the next ten to twenty years. A masterplan has been agreed with the local planning authorities; works are to commence shortly on installing the necessary infrastructure to allow development to go ahead, and on developing the first new buildings. Return to List of Contents of this section EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPSRegional26. The final report of the Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration recognised that this University has played a significant part in developing what has become one of the most dynamic business regions in the country. Technology transfer is referred to above. The University sits at the heart of a major commercial network, its own activities including, apart from technology transfer, major activity in consultancy, CPD, business incubation, executive and enterprise education, and business planning. As was stated in the recent successful Higher Education Innovation Fund round 2 institutional bid(HEIF2), a major strategic aim is to develop further these activities, to enhance the nationally powerful and regionally effective knowledge transfer culture already created, in order to respond effectively and appropriately to the needs of business. Whilst many areas of the University contribute to regional activities, the HEIF2 (and earlier third leg) funding have been and will be used to support the achievement of that aim and in particular to accelerate certain key existing initiatives, including activities within Isis Innovation; the Oxford University Begbroke Science Park; the University's Science Enterprise Centre (OxSEC) at the Said Business School; the Regional Liaison Office; and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities. Plans include the creation of further opportunities for companies, business leaders, and research collaborators to derive benefit from the wealth of expertise within the institution; the creation of the best possible conditions for innovation, by building networks and science industry forums and expanding enterprise education; and the support of local companies by exploiting core strengths. 27. In addition the work of the Careers Service will continue to establish and develop its extensive network of links with local, national and international companies. 28. The Vice-Chancellor and Registrar have continued to serve on various key regional bodies, including SEEDA's South East Scientific and Technology Advisory Committee; Aim Higher south east, and the County and City Councils' Strategic Partnerships. Regular meetings are held with officers of the City and County Councils on matters of mutual interest, and with officers from SEEDA and GOSE to consider specific issues. 29. Also of relevance to the University's regional contribution is the work of the museums in access and outreach to local communities. On the basis of a variety of funding streams, a broad portfolio of activities is delivered to groups of all ages. This includes exhibitions for the public to visit, and the employment of educational officers specifically to work with local schools and to encourage students to continue in science education. Return to List of Contents of supplement International30. As stated above, the University intends to continue to recruit the highest quality students internationally. It recognises that this is a competitive area and will continue to review the quality and nature of its courses, and the services it offers, to ensure they meet the needs of international students. Around 50 per cent of the University's postgraduate students come from outside the UK and the number of applications from international candidates continues to increase. It remains an objective of the University to ensure that the highest quality applicants are able to take up their places regardless of their financial circumstances and therefore both University and colleges continue to provide scholarships and bursaries for international students. These schemes include the Clarendon Fund which now offers around 100 awards each year as well as other schemes available for students from countries including China, Australia, Pakistan, India, Japan, and South Africa. Such collaborations are complemented by links at the collegiate level with specific international institutions.31. The University will continue to expand collaborative research and teaching and to provide opportunities for study abroad for its students. The strategic alliance with Princeton, set up in 2001, has led to thirteen collaborative research projects and new proposals for further projects will be considered in the autumn of 2004. The research projects have led to an increasing exchange of graduate students and discussions are underway to extend the undergraduate exchanges, which currently take place in Biochemistry, Engineering and History, to other subject areas. The proposals for a joint degree between the Department of Biochemistry and the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California have now been completed and the first students are due to enter the programme in 2004–5. Oxford students continue to take part in the Socrates Erasmus programme as well as benefiting from other scholarships provided by the University for study abroad, principally in Europe. Staff exchanges are an integral part of the extensive international links which exist at departmental level and under university-level arrangements, exchanges continue with the University of Canterbury and, through the support of the Oppenheimer Fund, with universities in South Africa. 32. The importance of participating in major international groupings of universities is recognised and Oxford continues to be a member of the Coimbra Group of European Universities, the CRE and the Commonwealth Universities Study Abroad Consortium (CUSAC). As a founder member of the League of European Universities, Oxford is collaborating with other partners on initiatives such as widening participation, registers of expertise and funding bids to the EU. Return to List of Contents of supplement |