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Report of the General Board on the School of Clinical Medicine

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

1. The Faculty of Clinical Medicine (which comprises the School of Clinical Medicine) is at present part of the School of the Biological Sciences (which also includes the Faculties of Biology and of Clinical Veterinary Medicine). The General Board now propose the subdivision of the existing School of the Biological Sciences to form two separate Schools, a School of the Biological Sciences and a School of Clinical Medicine.

2. The General Board believe that advantages would be gained by treating the School of Clinical Medicine now as distinct from the School of the Biological Sciences and by according it a formal status and purpose identical to the existing five Schools. They take this view in light of the findings of a Review of the Clinical School which took place between 1998 and 2000. Since the dismantling of the special (ring-fenced) funding arrangements for the Clinical School in 1991 (Reporter, 1990-91, p. 519), the General Board have considered the Clinical School's needs separately from those of the remainder of the School of the Biological Sciences. In order that the Clinical School's needs may be represented to the General Board by the Chairman of the School of the Biological Sciences, there has been close consideration of resource matters through cross-membership of the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences and the Resources and Planning Committee of the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine. There arrangements are no longer thought appropriate for a number of reasons relating to the School of Clinical Medicine's size, its particular funding arrangements, its physical location, and the proposed introduction of a Resource Allocation Model. The School of Clinical Medicine comprises some eleven constituent Departments and five other institutions, includes over eight hundred members of staff, and has an annual turnover of £47m. The General Board believe that an organization of this scale deserves the same recognition and representation on the General Board and central resource management and allocation bodies as are accorded to the other Schools. Furthermore, the School's funding arrangements are of a very particular and complex nature. A very substantial proportion of its budget derives from sources other than the University Education Fund and in particular from NHS Trusts. The School's operational activities and strategic planning are undertaken in necessarily close collaboration with these Trusts, together with various Health Authorities and other external parties. Much of its funding therefore is not, and need not be, channelled through the School of Biological Sciences. In addition, the institutions which comprise the School, being predominantly located on the Addenbrooke's and Forvie Sites, are, in the main, geographically separate from the other institutions represented through the existing School of the Biological Sciences.

3. The General Board have consulted the School of the Biological Sciences which strongly endorses the proposed subdivision. The General Board do not believe that the proposed subdivision will in any way impede current or future collaboration between the Faculties of Biology and of Clinical Medicine and their constituent institutions. Strong links already exist between the two Faculties through, for example, cross-membership on the Faculty Boards, through the Medical Education Committee, through the Graduate School of Biological, Medical, and Veterinary Sciences, and through appropriate cross-representation on various Boards of Electors. The General Board expect these links to continue to flourish.

4. Statute C, II, 2 requires that there shall be a Council of each School, the duties of which are described in Statute C, II, 3. The General Board propose that the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine be treated as the Council of the School of Clinical Medicine, and that no useful purpose would be served by creating a separate Council of the School. The Faculty Board already has an involvement with resource allocation comparable to the other Councils of the Schools: amongst its current duties, for example (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 568), is scrutiny and revision of annual estimates submitted by its constituent Departments. The Resources and Planning Committee of the Faculty Board (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 569) already has responsibility for advising the Faculty Board on all matters relating to financial planning and resources, for the School's annual estimates, for the administration of the School's funds, and for making recommendations on the establishments of the School's Departments. The General Board believe that this proposal will help to ensure a properly co-ordinated approach to the resourcing of the Faculty's overall activities.

5. The changes proposed will have consequences for the membership of the General Board. Statute C, I, 4(a) requires that within that membership there shall be eight members of the Regent House appointed by the Councils of the Schools. Under present arrangements the Councils of the Schools of Arts and Humanities, of Humanities and Social Sciences, and of Biological Sciences each appoint two members, and the Councils of the Schools of the Physical Sciences and of Technology one member each. This provides an equal representation of arts and sciences, and the Board consider it important that this balance be maintained. They therefore propose that there should be no increase in the total number of members appointed by the Council of the Schools and that therefore the Council of the School of Biological Sciences and the proposed Council of the School of Clinical Medicine should each appoint one member. The changes proposed will also have consequences for the membership of various other bodies which include appointments by the Council of the School of Biological Sciences. Amendments to the regulations governing the membership of these bodies will be made in the event that the recommendations in this Report are approved.

6. The General Board believe that this proposal will enhance the central bodies' understanding of the financial and resourcing arrangements which apply to the Clinical School and encourage the optimum deployment of University resources within the School's overall activities. The General Board also believe that the proposal is consistent with the proposals in the Consultation Paper on University Governance which concern the roles of the Schools.

7. The General Board recommend:

I. That, with effect from 1 January 2003, a Council of the School of Clinical Medicine be established, to be governed by the regulations set out in Annex I to this Report.

II. That, with effect from the same date, the regulations for appointment of members of the General Board, for the School of the Biological Sciences, for the School of Clinical Medicine, and for the Secretary of the School, be amended as proposed in Annex II to this Report.

ANNEX I

School of Clinical Medicine

1. The School of Clinical Medicine shall comprise the Faculty of Clinical Medicine. The short title of the School shall be 'The Clinical School'.

2. The Regius Professor of Physic shall be the academic head of the School.

3. The Council of the School of Clinical Medicine shall be the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine.

4. The Council of the School shall meet at least once in each academical year. No business shall be transacted at any meeting unless five members at least are present.

5. The Chairman of the Faculty Board shall also be the Chairman of the Council of the School.

6. The Council of the School shall perform such duties as are specified in Statute C, II, 3(a)-(c) and such other duties as may be delegated to them by the General Board under Statute C, II, 3(d).

ANNEX II

1. Regulations for the appointment of members of the General Board (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 121):

By amending the second sentence so as to read:

Two members shall be appointed by the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities, two by the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, one by the Council of the School of the Biological Sciences, one by the Council of the School of Clinical Medicine, one by the Council of the School of the Physical Sciences, and one by the Council of the School of Technology.

2. Regulations for the School of the Biological Sciences (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 541):

Regulation 1.

By amending the regulation so as to read:

1. The School of the Biological Sciences shall comprise the Faculties of Biology and Clinical Veterinary Medicine, and the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology.

Regulation 2.

By amending sub-paragraphs (b) and (c) so as to read:

(b) the Director of Biotechnology and the Chairman of the Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology;

(c) one person appointed by each of the Faculty Boards of Biology, Clinical Medicine, and Clinical Veterinary Medicine, who shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for one year from 1 January next following;

3. Regulations for the School of Clinical Medicine (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 569):

(i) By deleting the first sentence.

(ii) By amending Regulation 3 of the regulations for the Secretary of the Clinical School (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 570) so as to read:

3. The Secretary shall act as Secretary to the Council of the School and the Faculty Board of Clinical Medicine, and of Committees of the Faculty Board. He or she shall perform such other duties as may be determined from time to time by the Council of the School and the Faculty Board with the approval of the General Board.

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Cambridge University Reporter, 24 July 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.