This is the one hundred and fiftieth Annual Report of the Syndicate to the Council of the University of Cambridge. It covers the events of the period to 31 July 2007.
This is our first Report following the move of our financial year end from 30 September to 31 July which brings us in line with the University's reporting cycle. Therefore, this report covers a ten-month period rather than a full year.
We have also changed the structure of the Report this year to show how the work we have been doing relates to our main strategic objectives, and we have added a chronological list focusing on some of the main highlights of the year.
The last year has been one of change and challenge. In the political arena one of the key changes we faced was the creation of the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to replace the Department for Education and Skills - inevitably bringing with it a new set of stakeholders.
The impact of technological change has also been felt and on-screen marking has now become an integral part of the way we provide our services world-wide.
In 2008 we will be celebrating our 150th year of providing examinations to students around the world. Such an anniversary inevitably leads us to reflect on the roots from which our work has grown and we will report on the various activities associated with this significant event in next year's Annual Report.
Cambridge Assessment was established in 1858 as the Local Examinations Syndicate to administer examinations for persons who were not members of the University and to inspect schools, with the aim of raising standards in education. Examining overseas began in 1863 and this aspect of the Group's work grew quickly. In 1888, the organization was empowered to hold examinations for commercial certificates. The Certificate of Proficiency in English, Cambridge Assessment's first examination in the field of English as a foreign language, was introduced in 1913. Thus, the foundations for our work today were laid by 1914. From the mid 1980s, as successive UK Governments moved to exert greater control over the school curriculum and examinations at ages 16 and 18, the number of English examination boards was reduced by a process of consolidation. Cambridge Assessment acquired the Oxford Delegacy of Local Examinations, the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, the Midland Examining Group, and the RSA Examinations Board, amongst others.
The Cambridge Assessment Group is now organized into three externally trading business streams - Oxford, Cambridge, and RSA Examinations (OCR), University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), and Cambridge ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) - each of which has a distinct product range and group of customers. OCR is responsible for examinations and other assessment activity for both general and vocational qualifications in the UK; CIE is responsible for international school examinations and international vocational awards; and Cambridge ESOL is responsible for examinations in English for speakers of other languages and qualifications for language teachers throughout the world. The work of the three business streams is supported by the following corporate services: Finance, Human Resources, and Infrastructure Services (comprising Printing and Operations, Development, and Service Delivery). In addition, the Assessment, Research, and Development (ARD) division brings together corporate research and innovation activities, as well as investigating and developing new business opportunities which may fall outside the remit of the business streams.
Cambridge Assessment is a constituent part of the University and therefore falls within the University's status as an exempt charity. OCR is a company limited by guarantee with the University as its sole member. It is also an exempt charity, under Schedule 2(w) of the Charities Act 1993, on the grounds that it is administered on behalf of the University. Cambridge Assessment and OCR are the two principal operating entities of the Cambridge Assessment Group.
The Group plays an important part in supporting the University's educational outreach. Our aim is to be a world-leading assessment organization. To accomplish this we offer a comprehensive range of qualifications - both academic and vocational. By ensuring that these are designed to encourage positive educational experiences and the development of relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities, we enable the University, through our work, to deliver practical benefits to millions of people who would otherwise never come into contact with it. In this way we provide recognition of individual learners' achievements, thereby assisting them to achieve their own educational and career objectives, giving them access to further progress in education (including entry to universities) and in the workplace. The Group's activities contribute in a tangible way to the needs and development of countries across the world.
The Group values the involvement of the University in its work, through the participation of University staff as members of its committees or as examiners, and through participation in the outreach activities of departments, of which the Millennium Mathematics Project is a leading example.
OCR's general qualifications are closely regulated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in England, the Department of Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills in Wales, and the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum Examination and Assessment. This regulation covers the subjects and the number of syllabuses that can be offered, syllabus content, schemes of assessment, and many aspects of administration. Notwithstanding this regulatory framework, the maintenance of awarding standards remains the responsibility of OCR, through its Chief Executive and Director of Quality and Standards, the latter of whom is the Accountable Officer; this responsibility is subject to regular public scrutiny and audit. Regulation of OCR's vocational qualifications, although not yet so complete, is also exercised by QCA.
CIE is responsible for the definition and maintenance of standards for all of the Group's international qualifications, although where general qualifications are administered in partnership with a ministry of education, that ministry is increasingly involved in standard setting and in the administrative aspects of regulation.
ESOL is fully responsible for the regulation of its work and for the setting and maintenance of standards. In this it must look to competition from the US, unlike OCR and CIE, whose competition is essentially based on the British approach to education. ESOL has achieved formal accreditation for its examinations in the UK, which allows further education institutions to gain funding for courses leading to the exams.
We have made good progress during the last ten months toward achieving this ambition.
We created a seminar series designed to bring together policy makers and education researchers. These were done in collaboration with Barry Sheerman MP - Chair of the Education and Skills Select Committee - and held at the House of Commons. Topics so far have included the standards over time of teenagers' written English and a review of the national testing system for Key Stage Three students.
We contributed to national debate on the further development of National Curriculum assessment arrangements, through seminars and conference activity and the production of a 'three possible options' paper. We also gave written and oral evidence to the Education Select Committee's three inquiries on Diplomas, Skills and Assessment and Testing.
In the spring of 2007 we launched a book, published by the think tank DEMOS, called 'As you like it - catching up in an age of global English'. It looked at the future of English as it spreads around the world and at the opportunities and threats this poses for Britain.
Overseas, one of our chief executives was a speaker at the 16th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Cape Town, South Africa. Delegates were told that 'traditional skills are still the best preparation for young people in a fast moving world - not a return to basics but a springboard to the future'.
Research papers have been presented at 26 conferences in nine countries and the views of the Group have been sought by ministries, governments, and media as an independent, authoritative commentator. We have also had 19 articles submitted to refereed journals, such as the British Educational Research Journal.
Research Matters, a biannual synthesis of output from our research team with additional contributions from others, is now in its fourth issue and establishing itself as a key reference tool for leading edge research on assessment and qualifications. Meanwhile Research Notes and Studies in Language Testing continue to showcase our international research in language assessment.
Members of the Group's Assessment Research and Development division worked with the Institute of Public Policy Research, a political think tank, to produce a set of radical alternatives to current arrangements for national assessment - attending to the vital purposes of the national system: intelligence on underlying educational standards in the system (for Government and the public); feedback on individual learner attainment (for learners, parents, and teachers); and accountability of schools (for learners and the public good).
In an attempt to address the problems of 'multipurpose testing', the Cambridge Assessment paper conceptualizes a number of possible models for consideration.
This paper seeks to highlight different directions which could be taken in developing revised arrangements which both address known problems of existing arrangements and deliver on the following key objectives:
One of the areas of greatest change is technology. The use of the internet and multi-media will undoubtedly transform the nature of assessment over the next ten years. Projects such as Electronic Script Management and Computer-Based Tests are therefore crucial in keeping us at the forefront of technological developments.
We have already had significant success and will continue to invest in this area to maintain our ambitious programme of activity. As the level of demand from education institutions grows and we begin to take advantage of new opportunities in other areas, so the demand for IT systems within Cambridge Assessment has increased. This trend is set to continue.
However, our technological advances are not made simply for technology's sake. They have been introduced to serve the needs of learners and teachers.
We signed a five-year contact with RM, a leading provider of educational products, to provide on-screen marking services - significantly increasing the number of scripts marked on-screen and providing benefits to our examiners and to the speed and accuracy of the delivery of results to candidates.
The new service, built around RM's e-marking system scoris**L250**, will transform a number of our key assessment activities, offering: scanning and online hosting of original examinations scripts; electronic distribution of exam scripts to markers; on-screen marking; electronic return of marks; and workflow across the whole process.
Over the last year, we marked more than 1.5 million scripts on screen - enabling us to spare many examiners the inconvenience of managing large volumes involved in a paper-based process and giving them access to the many advantages of a digitized environment.
Both e-assessment and e-portfolios are also becoming a fundamental part of modern education. They are essential for personalized learning providing benefits for learners, teachers, and those involved with the administration of assessment within schools, colleges, and training providers.
We continued to develop electronic transactions with schools and colleges in the UK via our extranet services, OCR's Interchange and CIE Direct. Over the past year several new developments were made to both. Schools are now able to view Statements of Entry online and make their estimated entries electronically rather than ticking endless boxes on never ending sheets of paper. In addition to reducing the amount of paper based reports, the new functionality improved the accuracy of estimated entries and gave centres the option of customizing their own reports at the touch of a button.
Most re-mark requests were submitted online using Interchange, enabling faster turnaround times, and less than 1% of exam entries and results are now paper-based.
In the UK, we also launched the first e-portfolio-only qualification. It is the first of our exam board's qualifications to be assessed entirely electronically. E-portfolios enable learners to create media-rich portfolios with images, sound, and video. The content of an e-portfolio can then be shared with others. They can be searched and viewed from different perspectives and enable learners to access their work at any time.
Overseas, we launched a new range of computer-based exams for English learners. These were offered as a choice for test-takers alongside the 'paper and pen' versions at exam centres throughout the world. Computer-based versions included BEC (Business English Certificate) at Preliminary and Vantage levels, KET (Key English Test), and TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test).
'Computers in the Cambridge Classroom' was the theme for the Third International Teachers' Conference, held in Dubai, bringing together teachers from around the world to reflect on technology's impact on their best practice.
Teacher Support and our websites now employ a shared content management system (developed internally) to manage the upload and maintenance of at least 11,000 documents for access by external teachers and trainers in different countries. This has also led to major savings on hosting and support charges as both sites and their shared content management systems are now hosted internally.
Our online results service introduced last year for English test takers continues to grow in popularity. Centres around the world are encouraging candidates to register their details on our secure website so that they can receive their Cambridge exam results the moment they are released. There was a 25% rise in candidate visits from August to the February date of results release. The trend is likely to grow as more and more centres are promoting this useful service to their supplier schools and candidates.
Following its launch last year, OCR's first ever fully e-assessed GCSE - which means candidates can complete all assessments electronically - was successfully piloted in the UK.
Environment and Land-based Science (ELBS) offers on-screen exams in parallel with paper-based ones, and allows candidates to produce digital course-work rather than a printed portfolio. The first on-screen ELBS exams ran in January and were marked on-screen. Its full potential will be realized in summer 2008 when schools will be able to use an online submission portal to upload their digital course-work evidence. This will see the completion of the UK's first totally digital GCSE experience.
We develop and deliver qualifications and tests for learners of all ages across a full range of subjects. We are committed to the informed development and delivery of educational resources, innovative approaches to the measurement of learning, and 'fit for purpose' exploitation of technology.
At a time of intense reform in qualifications in the UK, we made unprecedented efforts to provide information, support, and guidance to schools and colleges with regular newsletters about Diplomas, a field-team of support managers, and an extensive programme of free training events for teachers and senior managers.
Our two new suites of GCSE Science specifications caught the eye of many schools, offering a refreshing and stimulating approach to teaching Science. The 21st Century Science suite offered a radically different approach, setting scientific knowledge in the context of the everyday world, with the intention of bringing science to life and re-engaging learners who might find a drier, more theoretical approach de-motivating.
Drafts of 47 new UK A level specifications were published in March, giving teachers an extended opportunity to provide feedback before the final versions were submitted for accreditation. Around three quarters of our UK A levels moved to a new four-unit structure, rather than the previous six units, reducing the number of assessments for each learner and bringing them into line with our original advice to Government back in 2000. All new A levels also incorporated a new 'stretch and challenge' dimension, offering the highest-achieving candidates greater scope to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their understanding of the subject, which will lead to the award of a new A* grade from 2010.
Take-up of the newly launched Nationals grew rapidly as many more schools began to offer an attractive vocational alternative to their learners. Some 60,000 learners completed a National during the period.
Over the last ten months, alternatives to A level, such as the Diplomas, Nationals, and Cambridge Pre-U, have attracted much interest. We announced that our UK exam board would be launching the Principal Learning components for three of the initial five Diploma lines of learning. These are Information Technology, Creative and Media, and Engineering.
Phase II of the Cambridge Pre-U consultation process started in April 2007 with the publication of revised drafts of the original subject syllabuses, and first drafts of a further eleven subject syllabuses. The syllabuses were sent to schools in the UK and internationally for consultation.
Syllabuses for new Cambridge IGCSEs in Bangladesh Studies and Pakistan Studies were developed in consultation with teachers in Bangladesh and Pakistan. These introduce students to the country's history, culture, geography, environment, and development. Through their studies, students are now also able to gain a deeper understanding of underlying skills and concepts, and examine different interpretations of historical events.
First examinations for Cambridge IGCSE Bangladesh and Pakistan Studies take place in 2008. Cambridge IGCSE India Studies is being developed in consultation with teachers in India during October 2007, and will be available for first teaching in 2011.
We collaborated with the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Education to enhance, extend, and transform international teacher education. The professional development qualifications for teachers will now be accredited within the Faculty's Practitioner Professional Development framework as stages towards a Master's degree. These will draw on our shared expertise in providing blended learning programmes. This collaboration strengthens the Group's capability to help ministries of education and other public authorities in education reform projects, through the development of teachers and teaching. Joint research into critical international education issues will be another important facet of our work together.
We have carefully managed consolidation of our suite of admissions tests administered by the Assessment Research and Development division, to develop a 'family' of admissions tests to meet different subject requirements in Higher Education.
During the year, new adaptations of the tests were created in response to admission tutors who are struggling to decide which applicants to call for interview. The English Literature Admissions Test (ELAT) and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Admissions Test were produced for Oxford University.
The Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic planned to use a Czech language version of one of our admissions tests on 500 expected applicants in June 2007.
We introduced diversity training and consultancy for managers and professionals who lead and develop diverse groups of people to deliver organizational outputs. Also launched were psychometrics training and consultancy activities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region - repeating last year's very successful Level A and B Dubai training courses. Our aim is not to transport the UK model overseas but to reflect the specific needs and culture of the region.
Cambridge ESOL is working with the Colombian government to ensure every pupil leaves state education with a good level of English language proficiency. The new international standard testing comes as part of the bid by Colombia's Ministerio de Educación Nacional to equip the population with English skills for work and higher study. All the exams are linked to the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR).
The exams are part of a long-term project to provide training and support so that, in the future, Colombia will be able to produce its own language tests incorporating CEFR standards and levels. Until then, school pupils will need to demonstrate their English language skills by passing a Cambridge ESOL written exam as part of their Examen de Estado.
The development of the new English component of the Examen de Estado is just one element of the collaboration with Cambridge ESOL. The test for final year Colombian university students also includes an English language component from Cambridge ESOL. Meanwhile, trainee English teachers have recently been entered for the FCE (First Certificate in English), fully sponsored by the Ministry of Education, and a new project has just been launched for the re-training of in-service English teachers which uses TKT as the final assessment.
We are committed to being inclusive, working and consulting with partners and stakeholders around the world. Our exam boards' relationships with exam centres are extremely valuable, and we take every opportunity to improve this communication channel as well as the processes of exam administration and candidate data transmissions.
In response to candidate demand and increased collaboration with governments, new offices were opened in India, Mexico, Russia, and Vietnam. New staff were also recruited to develop our activities in Argentina and Brazil.
Over the last year, we became the first overseas assessment organization to partner with a state education authority to administer exams in Vietnam. Following an agreement signed with Ho Chi Minh City education department, our English language exams will be offered through more than a hundred state schools in the city.
Internationally, we held 198 training workshops, 15 conferences, 19 award ceremonies, and 31 exhibitions.
During the last year, we also launched several new online resources. This included an online approval form for schools in the UK wishing to run our Nationals - giving schools the option of registering via the internet as well as the traditional paper form.
We hosted the first Global Best Practice conference for teachers and head teacher across South Asia. Over 350 delegates from schools attended the event. The conference included a series of workshop feature case studies presented by international curriculum experts from the Group, British Council, and other leading practitioners. During the conference, the first ever Cambridge Inspirational Teacher Awards were also presented. The award recognizes the achievements of teachers in Cambridge Centres across India.
We held our first international video conference across five cities, at locations in Cambridge, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The conference marked the launched of the Cambridge International Certificate for Teachers and Trainers in India.
Over 100 staff have successfully moved into DC10, our purpose built warehouse designed to meet our warehousing needs. This means that warehousing, despatch, logistics, OMR, and script management functions are now located on a single site, enabling us to provide a more efficient, joined-up service to the whole organization and to our customers. The sites in Cambridge that formerly hosted these operations are being vacated and we were able to sell Simpers, Combine House, and Mercers Row as a result.
The move to DC10 gives us the opportunity to modernize many of our operational processes with the introduction of a new script handling area and warehouse management system. Other improvements include the recent installation of a new question paper counting and bagging system to improve quality and turnaround times in the confidential despatch area.
The migration to DC10 was undertaken with minimal disruption to our day to day business. Further development of the building is planned for later this year to enable us make optimum use of the space and facilities on offer.
CIE celebrated the first anniversary of CIE Direct, a secure extranet designed to help schools with the administration of examinations. Over 2,000 centres logged on to the site to view results and entries, receive secure messages, download base data and other support material.
During this time improvements were also made to the site enabling schools to choose whether to receive certain documents electronically. Other changes include online timetable deviation, special arrangements and special considerations forms, and access to change CIE Direct passwords. Improvements will also streamline the uploaded files management system and provide schools with a wider range of materials.
Many structural changes have successfully taken place within our organization to prepare us for the future.
This included reviewing the structure of Group Infrastructure Services, which now consists of three principal divisions - Development, Service Delivery (which includes IM customer services and Premises and Services, reflecting the close functional linkage between these areas), and Printing and Operations.
The past year has been incredibly busy for IM and it has made some real progress. Its achievements include delivering upgrades to our infrastructure, including the Data Centre, at the same time as developing and delivering significant new applications such as ESM and Connect. It also gained a BSI certificate of registration for Cambridge Assessment, covering Data Centre operation, secure printing, and IM Helpdesk Administration.
Drawing on the combined expertise across our Group, Asset Languages made impressive progress. Asset Languages supports and complements our other language qualifications.
The number of entries for Asset Language exams increased by 227% from the previous year to over 85,000. Centres making entries also increased by 171% from the previous year to over 355 - including growing numbers of primary schools and adult education colleges.
Asset Languages continues to evolve and reach out into the community through strategies to apply the assessment material to the world of work.
External consultants carried out a study to help the Corporate Board determine how Cambridge Assessment's deployment of IM can become a source of competitive advantage for the future. The study highlighted the benefits of a new way of working between IM and our exam boards. This will enable us to achieve maximum benefit from our investment in IT.
The programme contains two bodies of work - 'Framework', which covers organizational structure, and 'Advantage', which covers ways of working. The 'Framework' programme is well underway and scheduled for completion at the end of October 2007 when the 'Advantage' programme will commence.
Our vision is that by driving IM development directly from business priorities, reducing systems support and maintenance costs, creating a leaner and more agile interface between business sponsors and IM, and using a flexible mix of in-house and bought-in skills, we will deliver higher quality systems and more value to ourselves and our customers for less total cost to the Group.
We are always keen to share our expertise and to assist with the continuing professional development of all those involved in the process of assessment and the last year has been no exception.
Over the last year the Customer Contact Centre embarked on a programme of training to help advisors become multi skilled across both general and vocational qualifications. This training has utilized a variety of different methods including training using experts from other Group departments, computer based training, job shadowing, workshops, and external training events.
The Cambridge Assessment Network has developed a suite of qualifications and courses on assessment which are increasingly being taken up by national and international educationalists and agencies, marking us as a leading provider of professional development on assessment and measurement. We ran three quarterly, 15 monthly, seven annual, and two yearly day-long seminars, one major conference, and an annual two-week international study programme.
The Human Resources Division offers a wide selection of courses to improve staff knowledge and performance. These range from understanding processes (such as the Performance Management System from the point of view of both appraiser and those appraised), via improving skills (such as writing) and self-improvement (such as Assertiveness and Emotional Intelligence training) to more wide-ranging courses such as the Senior Executive Programme and Understanding Commercial Contracts. A total of 343 courses/qualifications were organized and attended by 1,415 staff.
Over the year the Information Management Division created an internal IM Training team dedicated to ensuring staff have the right IT skills. The useful 'IT Skills Analysis' checks current knowledge and performance on Microsoft applications while half-day workshops on Microsoft applications exist to cover everything from basic skills to programming. At a more complex level there were full one-, two-, three-, and five-day sessions in Crystal report writing, Adobe products, and Project Management. IM also ran surgeries for quick response 'challenge to solution' one-to-one sessions and made agreements with external suppliers for technical courses. A total of 460 sessions managed 868 individual training requests spread across the Group.
Cambridge Assessment believes in supporting those who need to undertake a period of formal study to enable them to become fully competent in their current job role. Throughout the organization, many individuals are working to achieve a qualification, ranging from Certificates in Marketing and GCSEs to MBAs.
The 2006-07 development programme provided a rich resource for assessment professionals, including seminars, conferences, and courses.
Over the last year, The Cambridge Assessment Network offered a range of professional development, knowledge sharing, and networking opportunities. Its aim is to focus on generic issues concerning the principles and practice of assessment, as well as the broader educational, political, and social contexts in which we work.
Last year 54 members of staff enrolled on the Certificate in the Principles and Practice of Assessment which is offered by the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education with Cambridge Assessment. Each module is worth 20 credits and participants may choose to do any or all of the four modules. Each stands as a discrete course while successful completion of all three modules (60 credits) leads to the award of the Certificate of Continuing Education (Principles and Practice of Assessment) from the University of Cambridge.
The Group is heavily reliant on the knowledge and experience of its staff and external examiners and great attention is paid to their further training and development. The Group also depends upon the services of a number of contractors and consultants. Syndics wish to record their appreciation of the work of all those who have contributed to the Group's activities over the past year.
Cambridge Assessment is part of the University of Cambridge, which has 31 July as its year end. In agreement with the University, and to facilitate the production of overall financial information for the University Group, Syndics agreed to change the year end of Cambridge Assessment and all of its subsidiary companies to 31 July. This has been implemented in this set of accounts which are, consequently, for a ten-month period.
At the end of July virtually all of the work on the June examination sessions for OCR and CIE has been completed and, therefore, all of the income for these examinations (and all the associated direct costs) have been recognized in this set of financial statements. This means that the financial statements for the ten-month period contain virtually all of the income that the Cambridge Assessment Group would usually recognize in a twelve-month period but only contain the overhead costs for the ten-month period. This has given rise to a larger than usual surplus. Syndics do not expect this to be repeated in future periods when Cambridge Assessment will revert to a twelve-month accounting period.
The consolidated financial statements show that the Cambridge Assessment Group reported a surplus of £24.4 million for the financial period ended 31 July 2007. Each of the three business streams recorded an operating surplus.
Income from examination fees and other educational and assessment services increased from £177.1 million to £188.3 million due to increased demand across all three business streams.
As explained above, the overall expenditure includes only ten months of overheads and therefore the overall costs for the period were very slightly lower at £166.7 million than for the preceding twelve-month period (£170.9 million). Expenditure is incurred in maintaining and developing qualifications, registration, and certification of candidates, together with the quality control of examined and assessed schemes. In this period, significant expenditure has been incurred on development activities related to UK A levels and Diplomas as well as CIE's Pre-U qualification. Expenditure has also been incurred on changes to systems including electronic script management. Expenditure for the period includes a transfer of £9.3 million to the University compared with £3.4 million for the previous year, due to the higher level of surplus generated for the ten-month period.
We continue to forecast an increase in the number of examination entries. The Group continues to provide services to customers in around 160 countries. This brings with it challenges related to exchange rate exposures and economic difficulties which are reviewed and managed by the Corporate Board.
Syndics believe that the Group's reserves are at a level which is suitable to ensure financial stability, to provide protection against unforeseen contingencies and the risks to which the Group is exposed. Reserves are also maintained to ensure that the Group is able to fund investment in the development of the Group's infrastructure and business, including research, and to ensure that no financial liability will ever fall on general University funds. Syndics consider that it would be imprudent for the Group to rely on loans to fund any of these requirements and that the University is unlikely to wish to divert general resources to support the Group's work. The Group must therefore maintain sufficient reserves to meet all its funding requirements, in bad as well as good times. Syndics have reviewed the level of reserves with the University and believe that the levels held are reasonable given the issues faced by the Group. It has been the Group's policy to invest the available reserves in the University's Endowment Fund (Amalgamated Fund). This policy has served the Group (and the University) well over the years, enabling substantial support to be given to a range of general University purposes and to scholarship schemes for students from the Commonwealth and other countries. However, the policy introduces its own risk when, from time to time, stock markets fall.
During the year £9.3 million was transferred to the University. In addition, the Group has given financial assistance on a small scale to a number of University activities that relate closely to the Group's mission such as the Millennium Mathematics Project, an outreach activity to schools run jointly by the Departments of Education and of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics; and grants to some of the less well endowed Colleges to support overseas students, in recognition of the importance of international work to the Group. Support for the Millennium Mathematics Project will be continued next year.
Since 1981 the Group has transferred £155 million from its reserves and investment income - £134 million to general University funds; £18 million to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts; and £3 million to establish the Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics.
In the previous year the Group purchased a new warehouse outside Cambridge. Initial refurbishment of the first phase of this was completed during 2007 and further developments are continuing to make full use of the space available.
The major risks to which the Cambridge Assessment Group is exposed, as identified by the Syndics, have been reviewed and systems have been established to manage those risks.
Policies underpin the internal control process. These policies are set by the Corporate Board and written procedures support the policies where appropriate. There is an annual review as to whether changes or improvements to processes and procedures are necessary.
A Risk Register is maintained at a corporate level and helps to identify, assess, and monitor significant risks. Senior management review the risks for which they are responsible. Emerging risks are added as required, and improvement actions are monitored regularly.
29 November 2007
| Professor A. J. BADGER (Chairman) | Miss P. M. KELLEHER | Dr K. B. PRETTY |
| Professor J. M. GRAY | Dr J. A. LEAKE | Mr A. REID |
| Dr J. J. GUY | Mr R. M. MARTINEAU | Professor R. TAYLOR |
| Ms D. HALL | Mr R. PARTINGTON | |
| Professor J. HAWKINS | Mr B. G. PICKING |
| Professor Tony Badger (Chairman) | Master of Clare College |
| Professor John Gray | Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge |
| Dr John Guy | Principal of Farnborough Sixth Form College |
| Ms Denise Hall | Director of Marketing and Sales, SpecialSteps |
| Professor John Hawkins | Director, Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge |
| Miss Patricia Kelleher | Headmistress, the Perse School for Girls, Cambridge |
| Dr John Leake | President of St John's College |
| Mr Richard Martineau | Former Chairman of RSA |
| Mr Richard Partington | Senior Tutor, Churchill College (From 19.07.07) |
| Mr Bruce Picking | Chairman of Governors of Havering College of Further and Higher Education |
| Dr Kate Pretty | Principal of Homerton College and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge |
| Mr Andrew Reid | Director of Finance, University of Cambridge |
| Professor Richard Taylor | Director of Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge |
| Mr Simon Lebus (Chairman) | Cambridge Assessment Group Chief Executive |
| Professor Tony Badger | Master of Clare College |
| Professor John Gray | Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge |
| Dr John Guy | Principal of Farnborough Sixth Form College |
| Ms Denise Hall | Director of Marketing and Sales, SpecialSteps |
| Professor John Hawkins | Director, Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge |
| Miss Patricia Kelleher | Headmistress, the Perse School for Girls, Cambridge |
| Dr John Leake | President of St John's College |
| Mr Richard Martineau | Former Chairman of RSA |
| Mr Richard Partington | Senior Tutor, Churchill College |
| Mr Bruce Picking | Chairman of Governors of Havering College of Further and Higher Education |
| Dr Kate Pretty | Principal of Homerton College and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge |
| Mr Andrew Reid | Director of Finance, University of Cambridge |
| Professor Richard Taylor | Director of Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge |
| Mr Simon Lebus | Group Chief Executive |
| Mrs Sue Durham | Group HR Director |
| Mr Mark Lovell | Group Infrastructure Services Director |
| Dr Mike Milanovic | Chief Executive, ESOL |
| Mr Tim Oates | Group Director, Assessment, Research, and Development |
| Mrs Ann Puntis | Chief Executive, CIE |
| Mrs Jackie Rippeth | Group Finance Director |
| Mr Gregor Watson | Chief Executive, OCR |
| ACCA | Association of Chartered & Certified Accountants |
| ALTE | Association of Language Testers in Europe |
| ARD | Assessment, Research, and Development |
| BEC | Business English Certificate |
| BETS | Beijing English Testing System |
| BSI | British Standards Institute |
| BULATS | Business Language Testing Service |
| CAE | Certificate of Advance English |
| CEFR | Common European Framework Reference (for modern languages) |
| CIE | Cambridge International Examinations |
| CLC | Cambridge Learner Corpus |
| ELAT | English Literature Admissions Test |
| ELBS | Environment and Land-based Science |
| ESM | Electronic Script Management |
| ESOL | English for Speakers of Other Languages |
| FCE | First Certificate in English |
| GCSE | General Certificate of Secondary Education |
| ICFE | International Certificate in Financial English |
| IELTS | International English Language Testing System |
| IGCSE | International General Certificate of Secondary Education |
| IM | Information Management |
| IT | Information Technology |
| KET | Key English Test |
| OCR | Oxford, Cambridge, and RSA Examinations |
| OMR | Optical Mark Recognition |
| QCA | Qualifications and Curriculum Authority |
| RSA | Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce |
| TKT | Teaching Knowledge Test |
| TSA | Thinking Skills Assessment |
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 JULY 2007
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