Oxford today

University Voice
Professor William James
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Planning and Resources)
William James on providing for the University’s
future during tough times
It can be hard to discern the
ebbing of the tide as one watches
the waves breaking on the shore,
but where state funding of
universities is concerned, the
tide is well and truly going out.
Between the mid-nineteenth century
and the 1920s, successive parliamentary
commissions of enquiry into the finances
and organisation of Oxford and
Cambridge recommended increasing
grants of government aid in return for
much-needed internal reform and
modernisation. The decisive moment was
the creation in 1919 of the University
Grants Committee,
whose remit, scope
and size grew
enormously over
the next 50 years.
The rising tide
of government
support carried
many of us into higher education in the
1970s, but since then it has turned.
The renewal and replacement of
our physical infrastructure, including
buildings, equipment and latterly
IT systems, was something the UGC
(then the UFC, now HEFCE) provided
for with capital grants calculated by
them to be adequate. Although this
system “wobbled” in the early 1980s,
it was a fairly dependable part of our
funding environment.
Until, that is, it was cut by nearly
three-quarters last year.
It is unlikely that the cut will be
reversed. If the University is to continue
to flourish, rather than decline, the
necessary funds for capital investment
must be found from elsewhere.
Accordingly, we have developed
a strategy that recognises the need for
the University to generate a sufficient
surplus from its operations that, when
taken together with grants and
philanthropic donations, will enable
us to sustain our academic goals for the
long term.
Generating a surplus means adopting
a new attitude. It is no longer responsible
just to achieve “break-even”. Rather,
responsible custodianship of the
University means that we must achieve
a minimum cash surplus of five per cent.
Last year we achieved this for the first
time, but maintaining it will be tough.
Over the last three years, we have held
our administrative and support costs flat
in cash terms, and are continuing to
apply three per cent efficiency gains in
coming years. In academic departments
and faculties, we are achieving better
value for money by sharing equipment
and facilities, and by negotiating
University-wide purchasing deals. We are
developing more rigorous processes for
devising and evaluating capital proposals
If the University is to continue to
flourish, the necessary funds for
capital investment must be found
from elsewhere
25
to get the maximum academic gain on
our investment.
On the income side, our investment
professionals are generating sustainable
returns on our endowment that have
enabled us to increase our draw-down
rate by 25 basis points (see p34), and our
researchers have secured increases in
grant funding in a declining market.
Naturally, philanthropy is also at the
centre of our plans. We have set ourselves
the target of raising £3 billion in the
re-launched Oxford Thinking Campaign.
These are turbulent times, but if we can
achieve our ends I am confident that the
University will be stronger, that its voyage
of discovery is set fair.
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