Update on major issues

Published 6 February 2013

A consultation is underway about two possible variations to the current system for titles and merit pay for academics. The Personnel Committee is seeking views from members of Congregation and university and college bodies on two proposals:

i.    the introduction of the title of associate professor;
ii.    the introduction of merit pay for lecturers with the title of professor.

Details of the proposals are set out in the consultative paper, which was published as a supplement to the Gazette on 30 January 2013. Responses should be emailed to jeremy.whiteley@admin.ox.ac.uk by Monday 22 April 2013. Respondents are asked to state whether they are content for their replies to be published on the Task Force website.

Background information

At its meeting of 14 January 2013 Council approved the recommendation of the Personnel Committee and PRAC to lift the suspension of the University’s various arrangements for salary review and merit pay. Council agreed to the reintroduction of regular exercises to consider distinction awards to statutory professors and readers and other eligible academics. Council also agreed that a recognition of distinction exercise to consider applications for the conferment of the title of professor should be held annually from 2013-14, with funding made available from 2014 for salary increments for lecturers awarded the title of professor.   

Before launching the next recognition of distinction exercise, the Personnel Committee is seeking views on two possible variations to the current system for academic titles and merit pay: the first is the possible redesignation of the university lecturer grade as ‘associate professor’; the second is the possible introduction of merit pay for all university lecturers with the title of full professor, rather than this being reserved for a selected subset as proposed by the Task Force on Academic Employment in its 2010 report.

Further information

The consultative paper sets out the proposals in detail and also contains (paras 32-35) an update on the proposals made by the Task Force on Academic Employment in 2012 about academic duties and related matters. 

Published 15 February 2013

Government regulations impose new duties on the University to encourage staff to save for retirement through membership of a pension scheme. These duties apply to the University from 1 March 2013.

This legislation will not affect staff who are already a member of a pension scheme. However, it does require the University to enrol in a pension scheme any member of staff who requests it and automatically to enrol in a pension scheme any employee or worker who is not already a member of a pension scheme and who meets certain eligibility criteria. This will include many people who have previously opted out of USS or OSPS.

Further information

For more information about how these changes may affect you, visit the auto-enrolment pages of the Pensions website.

If you wish to discuss this with a member of the Pensions Office, please contact the approriate member of the Pensions team or submit your query via ox.autoenrolment@admin.ox.ac.uk.

The Pensions Office will write to staff individually on or around 1 March 2013 with more details of the changes and with guidance on what you need to do if you wish to join a pension or to opt out if you are auto-enrolled.

Updated 18 March 2013

A consultation on the University draft Strategic Plan for the period 2013-18 took place during Hilary term 2013. The draft Plan was also the subject of a Congregation Discussion, which took place on 19 February. 

Following the consultation, the draft Plan will be amended in the light of comments received and presented to Council and Congregation for approval by the end of Trinity term 2013.

Background

Council agreed the process for creating a new Strategic Plan in Michaelmas Term 2011 and work commenced in earnest in Hilary Term 2012.  A series of groups developed material in the core strategic areas, with members drawn from key Council committees, Conference of Colleges and OUSU.

An overarching group was convened to co-ordinate this work and provide overall focus on the University’s key challenges and priorities. This group included the four heads of the academic divisions and the director of the Department for Continuing Education; the five Pro-Vice-Chancellors with portfolio and the Registrar; two representatives of the Conference of Colleges; an external member of Council, and another member of Council elected by Congregation; the Proctors; and the President of OUSU.

As well as approving the consultation draft, Council has maintained an overview of the drafting process. A Council awayday in April 2012 considered emerging challenges and priority-setting in the context of the plan, and a more recent Council meeting considered questions concerning global reach and international recruitment.

Structure of the Plan

The draft Plan, guided by the brief set by Council, is organised under key headings:

• Our vision
• Strategic challenges
• New priorities:
  • Global reach
  • Networking, communication and interdisciplinarity
• Core strategies:
  • Research
  • Education
  • Wider engagement
  • Personnel and equality
• Enabling strategies:
  • Finance, capital and value for money
  • Estates
  • IT infrastructure
  • Development

The aim has been for a plan focussing on a few key priorities, articulated at a high level. The two new priorities are proposed as the key areas for development over the planning period, while the core strategies set out the objectives that are intended to enable Oxford to maintain its commitment to excellence. The enabling strategies consider the infrastructure and resource necessary to deliver these commitments.

The Plan contains commitments to monitoring progress against priorities and to review the progress of implementation on an annual basis.

Further information

The Strategic Plan website contains a copy of the draft Plan together with details of the remit and membership of the overarching group and the core strategy groups involved in the development of the Plan.

Updated 14 February 2013

In recent months there have been a number of changes taking place in the Bodleian Libraries. These changes come as the Libraries strive to meet the challenges of growing collections, the need to create spaces for 21st century scholarship, and to improve services, even in the face of fiscal constraints.

As part of the programme of consultation and communication, a series of meetings took place place last term to consult with members of Congregation, students and other readers on the Bodleian's proposed Strategic Plan for 2013-17, which is currently in draft format. A more detailed version of the plan will be circulated for review this term, with the final version prepared for approval by the Curators of the University Libraries in Trinity term.

A Congregation Discussion took place on 13 November in the Sheldonian Theatre on the topic of ‘The libraries and their future’. 

Further information

The following information is available on the Bodleian website:

• An update from Bodley's Librarian, dated 13 February 2013
• Report from the Curators of the University Libraries, Michaelmas term 2012
• An update from Bodley's Librarian, dated 7 November 2012
• An update from Bodley's Librarian, dated 16 July 2012
• The Bodleian Libraries' draft Strategic Plan 2013-17

A transcript of the Congregation discussion which took place on 13 November 2012 is available on the Congregation meeting website.