The charm of Oxford University rests as much in its oddities as in its academic excellence. Be it the graduation ceremony that has always been conducted in Latin or the luxury of tutorial teaching, which gives undergraduate students weekly sessions with Oxford dons, Oxford offers its 18 000 students a richness of life and intellectual challenge few universities can rival. Aware of its leading position, the university is continuing with its tradition of continuous evaluation and reform of existing practices, while strategically expanding into new research areas.
The appointment of vice-chancellor Dr John Hood led to more than 18 months of deliberations and consultations to explore reforms to the university’s governance structure to further enhance its academic excellence. The move was initiated partly by general problems in the British education system, in which the policy of low student fees places immense constraints on universities. These deliberations resulted in a White Paper released on June 1 last year. The debates on the White Paper have continued in the Congregation (the governing body to which all Oxford Fellows belong) during the current year. Most Oxford Fellows advised caution in moving towards the corporate-style management being proposed, which, although it has the potential to improve the university’s financial standing, could stifle the academic independence critical for intellectual inquiry. The process has been a good reminder of the complexity of the Oxbridge system, in which the parallel structures of 39 colleges and departments that have evolved over centuries present a complex system of governance, and any attempt at change needs to respect and build on centuries of learning.
The other issue on the university’s agenda is to continue to expand its teaching and research facilities. Oxford is part of a new national programme to reinvigorate language-based area studies in the United Kingdom. The focus is the training of the next generation of scholars and specialists in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian and East European studies. There is major investment in Chinese studies, with the university likely to establish a centre of learning in the field.
All the Oxford departments, and all British universities, are completing their Research Assessment Exercise, the purpose of which is to produce quality profiles for research conducted within each department of any university that receives state funding. The assessment will determine how the higher-education funding bodies distribute their grants to academic institutions from 2009 to 2010.
One of the many benefits of Oxford is that it provides its students with an ideal base for tuning into international affairs. Not just the top academics from across the world, but also the premiers of developing and developed countries and heads of international development institutions, talk at Oxford. This exposure leads to a politically alive student community, which is trying to get more involved in local welfare. A new post of vice-president: charities and community affairs has been established within the university’s student union. Its purpose is to develop student volunteering and to put local charities and community groups in touch with Oxford students.
The university also contributes to local economic activity through tourism. Surveys show that, of the 17 top tourist attractions in the city, 10 belong to the university and its colleges.
Masooda Bano holds an Economic and Social Research Council post-doctoral fellowship at Queen Elizabeth House, department of international development, Oxford University