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Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Margaret Thatcher Professorship of Enterprise Studies

1. As a consequence of generous benefactions received from Dr Dennis Gillings and the Sinyi Foundation, the University has recently been able to approve the establishment of two Professorships in the Judge Institute of Management Studies, in the fields of Health Management and Chinese Management Studies respectively. Together with the establishment of the Beckwith Professorship of Management Studies, in the field of marketing or strategy, which was established for one tenure from 1 October 1996, this will double the number of Professorships in the Institute. In their 1997 Report, the General Board's Committee which was appointed to carry out a preliminary review of the Judge Institute expressed the view that the establishment of these three Professorships, together with the appointment in 1995 of Professor S.J.N. Dawson as Director, had marked a turning point for the Institute. The Review Committee also endorsed the view put to the General Board by the Management Studies Syndicate that the need remains for the establishment of further Professorships in the Institute in order to provide senior leadership for the Institute's academic work and to bring its staffing closer to that of its national and international competitors.

2. The Judge Institute is committed to achieving international excellence in a number of distinct areas of research and scholarship, including enterprise studies. In addition to the study of the macroeconomic and political climate in which enterprise may be encouraged, or inhibited, this subject embraces technology and knowledge transfer, economics of the firm, general management, financial appraisal and investment, risk management, marketing, and distribution. The Institute, in close consultation with cognate Departments in the University, has already established the basis for teaching and research of international significance in the subject, and some external research funding has been secured for further studies.

3. The Margaret Thatcher Foundation was established in 1991 in both the United Kingdom and the United States of America to promote a wider understanding of the principles of free enterprise, with reference to political and economic freedom and market economy, under the rule of law. The Foundation, which has hitherto provided support for business and legal training mainly to individuals in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, has now indicated a wish to make a more substantial contribution to the development of enterprise studies on an international scale and has generously offered a benefaction of £2m for the endowment of a Professorship, and associated indirect costs, in the subject in the University. The holder of the Professorship would be expected to lead teaching and research within the subject areas in the Institute; it is also envisaged that the person appointed would strengthen the Institute's standing in one of the base disciplines of management, such as organizational behaviour, economics, strategy, finance, or marketing. The Management Studies Syndicate have warmly welcomed the Foundation's offer and have recommended the establishment of the Professorship.

4. The General Board have agreed to propose the establishment of such a Professorship as a charge against the benefaction from the Foundation. They have been assured by the Management Studies Syndicate that accommodation and facilities for the work of the Professor can be provided from the Institute's resources. Under the provisions of Statute D, XV, 6 the General Board have determined, after consulting the Syndicate, that elections to the Professorship should be made by an ad hoc Board of Electors. The Board have noted the Syndicate's view that candidature for the Professorship should be open without limitation or preference to all persons whose work falls within the general field of the title of the office.

5. The General Board recommend :

I. That the generous offer by the Margaret Thatcher Foundation of a benefaction of £2m for the endowment of a Professorship of Enterprise Studies be gratefully accepted.

II. That a Margaret Thatcher Professorship of Enterprise Studies be established from 1 October 1998, placed in Schedule B of the Statutes, and assigned to the Judge Institute of Management Studies.

III. That regulations for the Margaret Thatcher Professor of Enterprise Studies, as set out in the Schedule to this Report, be approved.

1. The sum of £2,000,000 received from the Margaret Thatcher Foundation for the endowment of a Professorship of Enterprise Studies shall form a fund called the Margaret Thatcher Management Studies Fund.

2. If and whenever the income of the Fund shall exceed the amount requested for the payment of the stipend, national insurance, pension contributions, and associated indirect costs of the Professor payable by the University, the excess of the income over that amount may be applied in support of the work of the Professor in such manner as may be approved by the General Board on the recommendation of the Director of the Judge Institute of Management Studies.

3. Any unexpended income in a financial year may in a subsequent year be expended in accordance with Regulation 2.

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