Previous page

Table of Contents

Next page

Report of the General Board on the abolition of certain University offices

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

1. Background

The Council of the School of the Physical Sciences (CSPS), in their response to the consultation on the detailed proposals of the joint Report of the Council and the General Board on the changes required in the University's current employment practices as a result of the European Community Directive on Fixed Term Working (Reporter, 2001-02, p. 1256), suggested that certain University offices, namely those of Assistant in Research, Assistant Technical Officer, Junior Assistant Observer, and Curator of Aerial Photography, be abolished as they are no longer utilized by Faculties and Departments.

2. Consultation

The General Board have now consulted all relevant Faculties, Departments, and Faculty Boards on the CSPS suggestion, namely, the Institute of Astronomy, the Departments of Chemistry, Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Genetics, Geography, Physics, Plant Sciences, Public Health and Primary Care, and the Faculty Boards of Physics and Chemistry, Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Economics, Engineering, Biology, and Clinical Medicine. All of these institutions and authorities agree that the offices specified above be abolished and that the relevant regulations be rescinded or appropriately amended. In addition to these offices the Institute of Astronomy and the Faculty Board of Physics and Chemistry have agreed that the office of Senior Assistant Observer should also be abolished.

3. Proposals

At present there are no individuals holding any of the offices mentioned above; the offices are either vacant, held in abeyance against more senior offices, or have been permanently replaced by more senior University offices. Where offices are held in abeyance, the Board have agreed that they be replaced, where appropriate, by the next senior grade of office. Thus Assistant Technical Officerships in the Departments of Anatomy, Engineering, Genetics, Geography, and Physics, and Assistantships in Research in the Departments of Chemistry, Clinical Veterinary Medicine, Plant Sciences, and Public Health and Primary Care, will be replaced on the relevant permanent establishment by Technical Officerships and Senior Assistantships in Research, respectively.

Accordingly, the General Board recommend:

I. That the regulations relating to Assistants in Research (Statutes and Ordinances, pp. 711 and 720) Assistant Technical Officers be rescinded.

II. That the regulations relating to Senior Assistant Observers and Junior Assistant Observers (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 716) be rescinded, and the office of Senior Assistant Observer be deleted from the Schedule of study leave for the holders of certain University offices (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 662).

III. That the regulations relating to the Curator in Aerial Photography (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 141) and Regulation 3(b) of the regulations for the Committee for Aerial Photography be rescinded, and Regulations 3(c)-(f) of the latter be renumbered accordingly.

IV. That the offices of Assistant in Research, Assistant Technical Officer, Senior Assistant Observer, Junior Assistant Observer, and Curator in Aerial Photography be deleted from Schedule III of the regulations on stipends (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 666).

Previous page

Table of Contents

Next page

Cambridge University Reporter, Wednesday 14 May 2003
Copyright © 2003 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.