Position Specification University College, Oxford Master Private and Confidential November 2018 Position Specification Ref: Master University College, Oxford University College, Oxford About the College Thank you for your interest in the role of Master of University College, Oxford. The College is seeking to elect a Master to succeed Sir Ivor Crewe, who became Master on 1 August 2008. He is due to retire on 31 July 2020, and the Fellows of the College hope to pre-elect a new Master in June 2019 in the expectation that she or he can take up the post following Sir Ivor’s retirement. This specification should be read in conjunction with information on the University College website at www.univ.ox.ac.uk Background Founded in 1249, University College (or ‘Univ’ as it is known) is one of the oldest educational foundations in Oxford. It combines an ancient heritage with a thoroughly modern approach to fostering excellence in teaching and research. Its overriding focus is on academic endeavour at the highest standard; strictly merit-based admission of students; tutorial teaching of undergraduates; a closely integrated graduate community; and a strong commitment to research in the Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences. The College’s academic objectives are to: . provide an excellent education for high-ability undergraduates; . promote the research and scholarship of its Fellows and graduates; . encourage undergraduate applications from a wide and diverse range of social and educational backgrounds through a strong programme of access initiatives; 1 of 10 Position Specification Ref: Master University College, Oxford . develop its position as a college of preference for graduates by the provision of scholarships, excellent accommodation and a stimulating intellectual community; and . establish and maintain links with all those interested in supporting its educational activities. Every year about 110 undergraduates and 85 graduates are admitted to Univ. Around 600 junior members – 370 undergraduates and 230 graduates – are in residence at any one time. The Governing Body of the College currently comprises 52 Fellows. In addition, there are numerous other Supernumerary, Honorary and Emeritus Fellows and lecturers, and approximately 120 non-academic staff working in various administrative, domestic and maintenance roles. The College has taken a number of pioneering initiatives to further its objective of providing an outstanding scholarly environment. Recent Initiatives The College has made substantial innovations in recent years, thanks largely to the commitment and generosity shown by our Old Members. Univ’s successful undergraduate Opportunity Programme (to expand the number of UK students from disadvantaged backgrounds) is in its second full year of operation, and our repertoire of postgraduate scholarships has continued to grow – confirming Univ as one of Oxford’s leading colleges for postgraduate study. We also have an emerging strategy for our North Oxford site that is both ambitious and transformative. The Opportunity Programme Three years ago, Univ launched a pioneering scheme – the Opportunity Programme – to expand the number of UK students from disadvantaged backgrounds at the College. The College is committed to creating extra undergraduate places and offering targeted academic support in the form of a summer bridging course to ensure that these students are able to transition effectively to high-level university study. These new places are filled through the University’s normal competitive admissions process, but are available only to students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The additional students are selected in the usual way and according to the usual academic criteria. The aim of the scheme is simple: to ensure that very deserving students of high potential who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but who might otherwise miss out on a place at Oxford due to the sheer number of applications, have the chance to study here. Details are available at: www.univ.ox.ac.uk/learn-at-univ/opportunity-programme/ 2 of 10 Position Specification Ref: Master University College, Oxford Undergraduate Bursaries Univ currently offers bursary support to any undergraduate student coming from a household with an income of £52,000 or less, providing a crucial top-up for those students with a household income above £42,000, which is the threshold for support from the University. This provision reflects the changing landscape of bursary support at Univ. Students from the least affluent backgrounds often require less support from Univ because they are in receipt of University or government-funded financial packages. The College, therefore, increasingly aims to ensure that students from middle-income families, often ineligible for University support, also have the resources they need to live in Oxford and enjoy everything that a Univ education has to offer. Postgraduate Scholarships Thanks to the overwhelming support of Old Members, £18m was raised in the nine years to 2016 for postgraduate scholarships, which leveraged more than £12m in matching funds from the University. This expanded endowment has allowed Univ to offer over 35 full scholarships annually. This has transformed Univ into one of Oxford's leading colleges of preference for postgraduate study. Through the Oxford–Radcliffe Benefaction scheme many of our current scholarships for graduate study are in the sciences and economics. The College aims to balance this with new offerings in humanities subjects: Univ has responded to a bid from the University to secure matched funds via the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Tutorial Enhancement Univ’s ambition to preserve and protect its world class tutorial system is a priority for the immediate future. Recently, thanks to the extraordinary support of individual and collective benefactors, we were delighted to announce new Fellowships in Czech Language and Literature, and in Computer Science. The College is also committed to establishing up to five Early Career Fellowships over the next six years. These young scholars, seen as potential leaders in their fields, will be employed directly by Univ on a fixed-term, three-to-four-year basis. The fixed nature of these posts will ensure that there is an expanded stream of enthusiastic young scholars within our community. Univ in North Oxford In the early 1970s, the College completed a 98-bedroom satellite to its main High Street campus on a site in North Oxford. This site sits between the arterial roads of Banbury Road and Woodstock Road, and is just over a mile from the city centre. After acquiring further acreage from the Fairfield Care Home in 2016, the College secured planning permission to build a new cluster of study-bedrooms. We also supported the construction of a new care home for the elderly on the site, which is complete and has been in operation since Summer 2018. The College is now exploring the merits of a plan to 3 of 10 Position Specification Ref: Master University College, Oxford transform the site into an effective campus that will be both a genuinely collegiate and complementary satellite to its High Street premises. Any new facilities, situated as they are in a Victorian Suburb Conservation Area, must be sensitively designed and delivered. The intention is that this development will further enhance the College’s attractiveness to future members, and assist in its appeal as a college of choice. College Governance The Master and Governing Body Fellows are the College’s charitable trustees and meet three times a term during each of the three academic terms. Ultimate authority for the running of the College rests with the Governing Body, acting as a collective. The Governing Body is supported by a number of statutory and ad hoc committees. The principal committees are the Academic Committee, Finance Committee, General Purposes Committee, and Development Committee. A small number of Fellows sit on each committee, together with the relevant College officer who has responsibility for the business of that committee. Student representatives sit on Governing Body and all committees, with the exception of Finance Committee. The key College officer posts of Senior Tutor, Finance Bursar, Domestic Bursar and Development Director are all full-time professional roles. The holders of these posts are full members of Governing Body. The Senior Tutor, Finance Bursar and Development Director service the main business for their respective committees. The College has a full-time Chaplain, who also acts as Welfare Fellow. 4 of 10 Position Specification Ref: Master University College, Oxford Financial Information University College is well endowed, sitting typically in the top third of Oxford University’s colleges’ and halls’ wealth tables after having added more than £130m of total net assets to its balance sheet over the past 15 years. A combination of generous benefaction from our supporters, and the execution of an effective investment strategy, has enabled the College to expand its delivered impact, and build its aspirations; with much of this resource invested in Univ’s functional premises. This pattern is expected to continue into the future. The size and careful management of its endowed investments (allocated typically as 40–50% in property and the remainder in equities, bonds and cash equivalents) is important because the distributions and yield from these investments are essential to meet the material gap between the College’s annual expenditure and the income it receives