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Report of the General Board on the establishment of an East Asia Institute in the Faculty of Oriental Studies

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. The General Board have received from the Faculty Board of Oriental Studies a proposal for the formal establishment within the Faculty of an East Asia Institute. The General Board have agreed to support this proposal and to commend it to the University.

2. An East Asia Institute has been operating in the Faculty on an informal basis since 1996, devoting itself to the task of raising funds for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean studies. Both the members of the external advisory committee of the Institute and the Development Office are now of the opinion that it will be increasingly difficult to raise a large endowment for the Institute unless it is seen to have the strong backing of the University and exists in more than name. There has also been a successful bid by the University to the HEFCE for funding to support considerable expansion of Chinese studies over the next five years. The recent Preliminary Review of the Faculty of Oriental Studies lists the establishment of such an Institute as the first of its recommendations. These developments make it advisable that the Institute now be established on a more formal basis.

3. The present aims of the Institute are (a) to supervise the creation of further M.Phil. courses in East Asian Studies, especially those of an interdisciplinary nature, (b) to raise funds for a building, and (c) to raise funds for the expansion of teaching and research on East Asia in all sectors of the University. The Institute would be established within the Faculty of Oriental Studies under the control of a Committee of Management, but its role would be to act as an umbrella, bringing together all those in the humanities, arts, and social sciences who have teaching and research interests in East Asia. The proposal has been discussed both by the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities, which has expressed strong support, and by the Council of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, which has indicated that a number of Faculties are interested in becoming directly involved in the development of the Institute. The constitution of the proposed Committee of Management has therefore been designed to reflect these interests.

4. Money-raising is already well under way and the specific project of a building has been recognized by both the Council and the Development Office as a Priority Project. It is the intention of the Faculty that the work of the East Asia Institute will be both interdisciplinary and area wide, although the Institute will initially contain within it a China Centre and a Japan Centre, each with its own secretarial support funded from its own resources. It is hoped that a Korea Centre will be added in due course. The Institute will be self-financing, although until such time as it moves into a new building the Faculty Board of Oriental Studies have agreed that it may occupy one or more rooms in the Faculty.

5. The General Board accordingly recommend:

That an East Asia Institute be established within the Faculty of Oriental Studies and governed by the regulations set out in the Annex to this Report.

8 March 2000

ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor MALCOLM GRANT N. J. MACKINTOSH
P. J. BAYLEY BRIAN F. G. JOHNSON ADRIAN POOLE
A. L. R. FINDLAY JOHN A. LEAKE KATE PRETTY
KEITH GLOVER PETER LIPTON M. SCHOFIELD

ANNEX

East Asia Institute
Committee of Management

1. The East Asia Institute shall be an institution within the Faculty of Oriental Studies and shall be under the general control of a Committee of Management which shall consist of:

(a) the Director of the Institute;
(b) not more than three persons holding Professorships in the field of East Asian studies assigned to the Faculty of Oriental Studies;
(c) two persons appointed by the Faculty Board of Oriental Studies;
(d) one person appointed by the General Board;
(e) one person appointed by the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities;
(f) one person appointed by the Council of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences;
(g) not more than two additional persons co-opted at the discretion of the Committee.

2. Members in classes (c)-(f) shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for four years from 1 January following their appointment. Co-opted members in class (g) shall serve until 31 December of the year in which they are co-opted or of the year next following, as the Committee shall determine at the time of their co-optation.

3. The Committee shall elect one of their members other than the Director to be their Chairman to serve for three years from 1 January following the election. The Director of the Institute shall serve as Secretary of the Committee.

4. Subject to the powers of the Council, the General Board, and the Faculty Board of Oriental Studies, the duties of the Committee shall be as follows:

(a) to promote teaching in East Asian subjects, and to promote research in these subjects and the publication of the results of such research;
(b) to co-operate with outside bodies in the encouragement of research and teaching in East Asian subjects;
(c) to administer funds allocated to them for the purposes specified in (a) and (b) above;
(d) to supervise the work of the staff of the Institute;
(e) to prepare annual estimates for submission to the General Board.

Staff of the Centre

1. The office of Director shall be held in conjunction with a University office in the Faculty of Oriental Studies.

2. The Director shall be appointed by the General Board on the recommendation of the Committee of Management. He or she shall hold office for five years, and shall be eligible for reappointment.

3. Under the general control of the Committee of Management, the Director shall be the administrative Head of the Institute and shall be responsible for the direction of East Asian subjects in the Institute and their encouragement generally in the University.

4. During any period of absence from duty of the Director, the General Board shall have discretion, on the recommendation of the Committee of Management, to appoint a person to be Acting Director. A person so appointed shall be recognized as Director of the Institute for all purposes.

Visiting Fellowships

1. In order to enable scholars from outside Cambridge to take part in and contribute to the work of the East Asia Institute there shall be Visiting Fellowships for persons who have made or are making important contributions to East Asian studies, or who are pursuing advanced work in East Asian studies.

2. The maximum number of Visiting Fellowships that there may be in the Institute at any one time shall be determined by the General Board. Appointments and reappointments to Visiting Fellowships shall be made by the Committee of Management of the Institute for periods not exceeding one year at a time.

3. A Visiting Fellow may be required under the general supervision of the Committee of Management to take part in the teaching and research programme of the Institute.

4. The stipend, if any, of a Visiting Fellow shall be determined by the Committee of Management with the approval of the General Board and the Finance Committee of the Council on the occasion of each appointment or reappointment.

5. Subject to the approval of the General Board and the Finance Committee of the Council, the Committee of Management may make grants to Visiting Fellows to meet travelling or other expenses incurred in connection with their Fellowships.

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Cambridge University Reporter, 22 March 2000
Copyright © 2000 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.