Resources
Oxford University benefits from the careful stewardship of resources by previous generations – ensuring that the University remains both financially and environmentally sustainable into the future is critical. Enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of our support services by simplifying systems and working together more collaboratively will be key to delivering a sustainable platform to underpin our education and research.
COMMITMENT 1
To manage our financial resources to ensure the collegiate University’s long-term sustainability
We recognise that effective control of the University’s resources underpins all our aspirations. The University will actively manage both its income and expenditure in an agile and responsive manner which enables the University to react swiftly and effectively to any changes in the external funding environment. Key to this will be protecting and growing our income streams by diversifying our income sources and pursuing an ambitious development strategy which seeks to fund our core long-term academic activities. The University will also seek to better integrate its support structures, to ensure that its excellent teaching and research is complemented by similarly excellent professional services. This will deliver an improved working environment for all staff and deliver significant cost reductions by driving out inefficiencies.
COMMITMENT 2
To ensure that our estate provides an environment which promotes world-class research and education whilst minimising our environmental impact, conserving our historic built environment and improving our space utilisation
A prioritised capital programme will be developed which will ensure that the existing estate is refurbished and renewed and that it is complemented with new buildings. New buildings will be designed flexibly and to the highest standards of accessibility and environmental sustainability, in accordance with the University’s commitment to the Low Carbon Oxford charter, and will meet the users’ research and education needs.
A staff and student housing programme will be developed to deliver additional accommodation to mitigate the impact of the high cost of private-sector accommodation in Oxford. Where the opportunity and location allows, we will acquire properties which will ensure that the estate can develop and expand to meet the needs of research and education.
We will increase the opportunities for staff and students to travel sustainably around Oxford on bike or foot, benefitting their health and wellbeing and improving the local environment through traffic- free cycle and pedestrian routes.
COMMITMENT 3
To continue to invest in our information technology capability to enhance the quality of our research and education and to streamline our administrative processes
We will invest in our information technology in order to increase research capability, enhance teaching and learning, and deliver efficiencies in support of administrative functions. We will deliver infrastructure which enables all staff and students to communicate effectively, share information securely and collaborate locally and globally. With a continuing focus on training and best-practice dissemination we aim to empower teachers and researchers to innovate, staff to use IT systems effectively, and students to improve their digital literacy for discovering, evaluating and creating information using digital technologies.
COMMITMENT 4
To raise funds to support the very best students, invest in our staff and their work, and provide new resources and infrastructure
We will ensure that fundraising and outreach efforts concentrate on those areas where we can be most effective and which address most strongly the strategic goals of the University.
RESOURCES PRIORITIES
25. Diversify sources of income and investment including through partnership with the private sector, commercial activities, philanthropy and the breadth of sources of research funding.
26. Through the Focus programme deliver service and process improvements to allow the continued growth in research and education without an equivalent growth in service costs.
27. Deliver a capital investment programme in the estate and IT of at least £500 million by 2024.
28. By 2024, in partnership with the private sector, to have started the construction of at least 1,000 new subsidised homes for University and college staff.
29. Devise and implement a development strategy, appropriately resourced, which accords with the scale and ambition of the University’s strategic objectives.