Working with Colleges and Departments in the Collegiate University of Oxford to Deliver a Successful Event

Working with Colleges and Departments in the collegiate University of Oxford to deliver a successful event

For event organisers ……………………………………………………………………. 1 Working in partnership How does the collegiate University work? …………………………………… 2 The difference between University departments and Colleges The University term, examinations, and other busy periods ……….. 3 Student arrivals and Full Term Examinations and the Broad Street agreement What do colleges do outside of term time? Get in touch…………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Contacting colleges to discuss your event Contacting University departments to discuss your event Locations of Colleges and University departments Advertising your event to colleges: sending physical posters to colleges for their display boards

For event organisers Working in partnership

Colleges and departments recognise that many months, and even years, of planning can go into events that take place in the rich schedule of community events in our city. To help get your event planning off to a good start, we recommend that you get in touch with key people as early as you can when you are planning an event. If you want to hold an event on land owned by the City Council, including parks, public highways, and open spaces, you will need to contact the Oxford City Council Culture and Events team in the first instance to discuss your plans and expected time frame. The Events Team will be able to give you advice on the procedures you need to follow, including licensing and contacting local stakeholders.

The Conference of Colleges online calendar can help you see some of the other major events that are taking place at different times of year (as far as we know) so you can avoid possible clashes. For public events that will have 500 or more attendees, involve the sale of alcohol or food, or will have live or amplified music, you will need to apply for an event license from Oxfordshire County Council. (The City’s Events team can advise you on what you will need to do!)

If you are planning an event in a public area that has Colleges or departments nearby, we have set out some key questions below that can help you in your planning.

 Is your planned date on the same day as an event where a large number of people will be visiting Oxford city centre – for example, an Open Day for applicants, graduation ceremonies (as these involve processions to and from Colleges), or the Admissions period?  Will your event affect access for residents and visitors to colleges or departments? What about disabled residents or visitors, who may need to use cars? Can alternative arrangements could be put into place?  Will the event have an impact on deliveries - for example, for daily deliveries of food, skips, or heavy materials?  Will there be any road closures or road works in place that will affect access to the area of your event, and is there a possible additional impact on Colleges and departments nearby?  Are there any issues that colleges and departments need to take into account to ensure the safety of their staff and students during your event?  Are there any special permissions that you would like to ask the College or department for (for example, projecting video onto a building, etc.)? (If so, be sure to read our advice on getting in touch below, and you might want to use our online request form).  Are there ways that you want to ask colleges and departments to be involved in your event? (If so, be sure to read our advice on getting in touch below, and you may want to use our online request form).

How does the collegiate University work? The collegiate University of Oxford includes the central University and the Colleges. The central University is made up of more than 80 different academic departments and research centres, administrative departments, libraries, and museums. The 38 colleges and six Permanent Private Halls are smaller, close-knit academic communities where academics and students live, learn, teach, and study. Between the departments and Colleges, there are over 23,000 students in all and more than 13,000 staff. The difference between University departments and Colleges University departments include offices and other buildings where staff and students work and study, mainly during normal working hours. However,

Colleges provide spaces for staff and students to work, study, and live on-site at all times. College buildings usually include:

 Student homes (usually rooms occupied by undergraduates or graduate students), as well as flats that are lived in by academic staff who work at the college  A front entrance, often known as a ‘Porters’ Lodge,’ which provides access for residents, visitors, and light deliveries  Disabled access entrances (not always at the front entrance)  Often, a separate entrance for heavy deliveries  A dining hall and a linked kitchen, where meals are cooked for and eaten by college residents either two or three times a day; some colleges also have other facilities like an on-site café  Spaces for one to one teaching, group teaching (such as seminar rooms and a lecture theatre), and for meetings  Offices for academic and administrative staff, in addition to a library  Social spaces such as common rooms for students or academic staff, a student bar, and a small gym on-site  A chapel or similar space for religious worship, which may sometimes be used for concerts

The University term, examinations, and other busy periods

Student arrivals and Full Term Graduate students and academics live and work in College throughout the year, but undergraduates are normally in Oxford for shorter academic term periods of about nine weeks. Terms in Oxford always start with a heavy week of arrivals and deliveries during which students and staff members get settled in (‘0th’ Week, pronounced ‘Naught-th Week’). 0th week is followed by eight very intensive weeks of studying, writing, meetings with tutors, and other types of academic work (Weeks 1-8). Examinations and the Broad Street agreement For three weeks in March/April and another five weeks in summer (May/June), students’ degree courses culminate in a very stressful exam period, when they are examined intensively on the subjects they have studied during their whole degree. Some students may revise at all hours of day or night in their room or a library in college during the exams season. For this reason, the University has identified several annual ‘red zones’ that mark the most difficult examination periods for students.

Oxford City Council and the University have agreed that during ‘red zone’ periods, applications for events in Broad Street will need a special exemption

3 from the Culture and Events team and are likely to be subject to certain conditions. To review the anticipated ‘Red Zone’ periods for the coming year, please visit the Conference of Colleges calendar of Oxford city centre events and road closures. The calendar is normally updated with information one year in advance, but there may be major events in the planning stages that are not yet on the calendar. For further information, please contact the Conference Secretariat. You may also find it useful to read the Broad Street protocol on the City Council website. What do colleges do outside of term time? Many graduate students and academics live, study, and eat their meals in their college throughout the year. Similarly, when undergraduates leave their rooms, work in college does not stop – in fact, some of the most important events organised by colleges take place in the vacations when undergraduates are away. For example, colleges are especially busy for two weeks during the Admissions interview period in December, when applicants who want to come to Oxford to study stay overnight in colleges. The University and Colleges also jointly open their facilities for several Open Days every year to welcome applicants and their families to visit. The annual schedule of large scale university events also includes major gatherings such as the Alumni Weekend in September, graduation ceremonies taking place on weekends at different times of year, and the Oxford Open Doors Weekend.

Many colleges open their facilities for large scale academic conferences and social events outside of term, as well as private events. If you would like to hire a college room for a meeting or event, you can find further information from Conference Oxford.

Get in touch Contacting colleges to discuss your event The Oxford City Council Culture and Events team should be your main contact in the first instance to discuss your plans and expected time frame, and the Events team asks colleges and University departments for feedback as part of the normal consultation process for public events. If you think you need to communicate separately with Colleges, the Conference of Colleges Secretariat can help you on your way. If you need to contact Colleges and University departments near your event to ask a question, for example to discuss a specific issue like expected noise levels, can also use our online request form.

The Secretariat emails colleges about road closures and major events, and arranges termly meetings that allow colleges on Broad Street and the Oxford City

Council to review schedules of upcoming events. In individual colleges, the Domestic Bursar is the person who usually has responsibility for working with local events organisers to agree permissions and discuss possible disruptions to access to the college. (In some colleges, this person is known as the Home Bursar or by another title). A list of colleges’ current Domestic Bursar contacts is available here. Contacting University departments to discuss your event For University departments, libraries, and museums, the Public Affairs Directorate has responsibility for communications on local events. If you would like to discuss your event directly with the University or begin a consultation with University departments, please contact the Public Affairs Directorate. You can also find a list of helpful University departmental contacts here. If you are organising a large scale event and need to contact Colleges and University departments near your event with a specific request, for example to let key contacts know about a possible disruption, you can use our online request form. Locations of Colleges and University departments As you consider possible locations for your event, a searchable map of all of the nearby Colleges and University departments is available here. Advertising your event to colleges: sending physical posters to colleges for their display boards You may also want to let colleges’ staff and students know about your event! When sending posters to colleges, we recommend the following:

 We recommend sending at least three posters per College, which can be displayed in (1) the Porters’ Lodge (main entrance); (2) the Junior Common Room, which is the undergraduate student society in many colleges; (3) the Middle Common Room, which is the graduate student society in many colleges.  To help colleges to direct posters to the correct display boards, we recommend adding labels or writing on the back of each individual poster (e.g., ‘For your JCR noticeboard,’ ‘For your MCR noticeboard,’ ‘For your staff noticeboards’)  (For events organisers in Oxford University departments): posters can be sent using the internal Messenger Service. When sending posters to colleges, no address is required. A list of colleges can be copied for your labels from our contact list. Posters can be addressed for the attention of the Porters’ Lodge.  Please feel free to be in touch at [email protected] if you have further questions.

Conference of Colleges Secretariat January 2018