No 6188
Wednesday 12 May 2010
Vol cxl No 29
pp. 813–844
13 May, Thursday. Ascension Day. Scarlet day.
14 May, Friday. Easter Term divides.
15 May, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 11 a.m. (see p. 831).
23 May, Sunday. Whitsunday. Scarlet day. Preacher before the University at 11.15 a.m., The Right Reverend Timothy Stevens, of Selwyn College, Lord Bishop of Leicester (Ramsden Preacher).
25 May, Tuesday, Discussion at 2 p.m. in the Council Room (see below).
30 May, Sunday. Trinity Sunday. Scarlet day.
1 June, Tuesday. End of third quarter of Easter Term.
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Discussions at 2 p.m. |
Congregations |
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25 May, Tuesday |
15 May, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
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8 June, Tuesday |
21 June, Monday at 2.45 p.m. (Honorary Degrees) |
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6 July, Tuesday |
24 June, Thursday |
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25 June, Friday |
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26 June, Saturday |
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17 July, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
The Vice-Chancellor invites those qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 107) to attend a Discussion in the Council Room, on Tuesday, 25 May 2010, at 2 p.m., for the discussion of:
1. Report of the General Board, dated 28 April 2010, on the establishment of a Pembroke Visiting Professorship of International Finance (Reporter, p. 792).
2. Second Report of the General Board, dated 7 May 2010, on the Directorship of the Museum of Zoology (Reporter, p. 830).
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that she has received from the Governing Body of Clare Hall, in accordance with the provisions of Section 7(2) of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act 1923, the text of a proposed Statute to amend the Statutes of the College. The current Statutes of the College and the amending Statute are available on the College’s website (see http://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/); paper copies may be inspected at the University Offices until 10 a.m. on 24 May 2010.
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that she has accepted with gratitude a bequest of approximately £900,000 under the Will of Dr David James, formerly Secretary of the Department of Pharmacology, to support teaching and research in the Department of Pharmacology.
The Council is submitting a Grace to the Regent House (Grace 2, p. 831) for the approval of regulations to govern the bequest.
The Financial Regulations are reviewed every three years: the next review will take place in 2011. However, the Council, on the advice of the Finance Committee, has agreed to make some adjustments to the Regulations (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 966), with immediate effect, as set out below.
The Financial Regulations apply to all bodies included in the University’s Financial Statements and includes all subsidiary companies except for Cambridge University Press and Cambridge Assessment. It is the responsibility of Heads of all University institutions to ensure that staff under their jurisdiction are made aware of the existence and provisions of these Financial Regulations, and that an adequate number of copies are made available for reference within the institution. In particular they must ensure that all staff are made aware of the wider implications of not complying with the Financial Regulations.
The Financial Regulations are also available on the Finance Division’s website (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/finance/finregs.html).
1. The table attached to paragraph 18.2 and the following paragraph (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 970) set out the minimum competition requirements that must be followed in respect of purchasing goods and services. The last revision of the Regulations stated that for purchases over £10,000 Departments should undertake a competitive process or if appropriate should seek dispensation not to apply the competitive process. Ability to grant the dispensation is accorded to the Director of Finance. The competitive process for purchases between £10,000 and £50,000 is seeking a competitive proposal which in the terms of the regulations is an enhanced form of quotation with a receipt deadline. For purchases over £50,000 a tender is required.
2. Paragraph 18.3 of the regulations has now been amended so that the ability to dispense with the need for competitive proposal or quote for purchases below £50,0001 is delegated to Heads of Department; the index table thresholds have been changed so that (i) contracts up to £50,000 are subject to either competitive quote procedure or the more detailed competitive proposal procedure;2 (ii) the thresholds for telephone/fax/web quotations have been raised to £1,000 (previously £500) for non-preferred suppliers; (iii) the thresholds for competitive quotations have been amended to £1,000 – £10,000 (previously £500 – £10,000).
3. The revised table and paragraph are as follows:
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Total Value* (before VAT) |
Procedure for inviting offers |
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Standard Purchases |
Framework Contracts* |
Marketplace* |
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<£250 |
no quote required |
follow procedures recommended by CPO for the contract |
only the quote provided is needed |
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£250–£1,000 |
telephone/web quotes |
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£1,000–£10,000 |
3 Competitive Quotations |
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>£10,000–£25,000 |
3 Competitive quotations or 3 Competitive Proposals*** |
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>£25,000–£50,000 |
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>£50,000 |
3 Invitations to Tender |
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EU Thresholds, currently>£156,442 (goods and services)>£3,927,260 (works)** |
EU Tenders |
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*see definitions in Schedule 5.
** EU Thresholds as at January 2010 (updated biennially)
*** The decision as to which procedure to follow will be based on assessment of complexity, risk and value. In most cases purchases nearer to £10,000 in value could quite reasonably be subject simply to competitive quote procedure. Those closer to £50,000 will be expected to invoke use of competitive proposal procedure which offers greater security and certainty around the purchase. Research Councils require that purchases above £25,000 are subject to the competitive proposal regime.
18.3 In exceptional circumstances only, prior written consent not to follow the competition procedures may be granted
• for construction and construction related procurement by
– the Director of EMBS where the Total Value is less than the EU Threshold; and
– the Registrary where it is at or exceeds the EU Threshold;
• for other procurement by
– the Head of Department after consultation with the departmental administrator where the Total Value is £50,000 or less (based on the total value of the contract over its entire length); and
– the Director of Finance where the Total Value exceeds £50,000.
4. Bullet point 3 of paragraph 4 states that ‘A tax liability will normally arise for business entertainment where there are more employees than non-employees at an event. Such events must be disclosed on the annual P11D.’ Although this was true at the time the Regulations were approved a significantly more favourable agreement has been reached with HM Revenue and Customs as to what entertainment will be allowable without attracting a tax charge. This statement has been deleted from the regulations as it is now factually incorrect.
5. An incorrect reference in paragraph 6 to £10,000 in the requirement to maintain fixed asset registers has been corrected to £2,000.
1In considering these values it is important to remember that it is the aggregate value of a contract which is considered, e.g. the appropriate value for a five year £20,000 contract is £100,000, not the annual £20,000 cost.
2The decision as to which procedure to follow will be based on assessment of complexity, risk and value. In most cases purchases nearer to £10,000 in value could quite reasonably be subject simply to competitive quote procedure. Whereas those closer to £50,000 might be expected to invoke use of competitive proposal procedure which offers greater security and certainty around the purchase.
In the following Notice the Council proposes an increase in fees for Home and EU postgraduate students in 2010–11 and for overseas students in 2011–12, including a change in fees for overseas students commencing undergraduate courses in science and medical and veterinary subjects; differential fees for certain postgraduate courses in the Schools of Arts and Humanities and the Humanities and Social Sciences from 1 September 2011; fees for the M.B.A. and M.Fin. courses and for certain M.St. courses in 2010–11; and an amendment to the regulations for University Composition Fees to clarify the fees to be paid by students who have proceeded to the B.A. Degree and are following courses ‘not for honours’.
The Council has agreed to propose a rate of increase of 2.25% on 2009–10 fees for home and EU postgraduate students for the academical year 2010–11; this reflects guidance offered by the Research Councils.
Approval was given by Grace 4 of 7 May 2009 for fees for overseas students in 2010–11 to be increased by 10% which represented the increase in University costs. The Council has agreed to propose that, for the year 2011–12, fees for overseas students should be increased by a further 10% as a consequence of a further rise in University costs. The Council has also agreed to propose that, for undergraduate overseas students commencing courses in 2011–12 and later years,
(a)the fee payable for science subjects should be divided into two categories, and a higher fee should be introduced for new entrants to the higher cost subjects, with the fee in 2011–12 being £18,000;
(b)the fee for all years of the medical course should be raised to the clinical rate, but the fee payable for a student who is reading for another Tripos in order to satisfy the requirements for the B.A. Degree should be the fee set out for that Tripos;
(c)the fee charged to overseas students on a year abroad should be half the full overseas rate.
The Board of Graduate Studies and the General Board have recently received a proposal for differential fees to be paid for certain postgraduate courses in the Schools of Arts and Humanities, the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Technology. In their Joint Report on University Composition Fee rates for the M.Phil. Degree and certain other postgraduate qualifications (Reporter, 2004–05, p. 516) the Council and the General Board set out the requirements to be met before any proposals could be submitted to the Regent House for approval (para. 9):
9. The central bodies intend, in the event that this Report is approved, that institutions seeking to charge a differential fee should be required to make a case for consideration by representatives of the Council of the relevant School, the Board of Graduate Studies (where the course requires registration as a Graduate Student), and the central bodies. The case must be made in advance of the annual admissions cycle so that applicants have clear information about course costs. The case will need to demonstrate that the proposed fee level will reflect actual course costs but will continue to allow for the admission of those most academically qualified. In instances where studentship providers (including the Research Councils, the Colleges, and the Cambridge Trusts) expect to pay the University Composition Fee at the standard rate, the institutions will need to demonstrate how the difference between the two rates will be met through scholarship or bursary schemes. The central bodies will pay particular attention, before promoting the necessary Grace, to ensuring that admissions standards will not be compromised and that the institution has in place particularly effective quality assurance procedures so that student expectations of the quality of the programme can be properly met.
The recommendations in the Joint Report were approved by the University by Grace 7 of 20 April 2005.
The Councils of the Schools have recommended that the fees for the postgraduate courses listed below should be increased, with effect from 1 September 2011, by the following amounts in addition to any general increase.
Diploma in Economics, by £1,000 (all students)
LL.M. Degree, by £3,000 (all students)
M.Phil. Degree,
by £500 (all students), courses leading to examinations in:
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American Literature |
Linguistics |
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Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic |
Medieval and Renaissance Literature |
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Architecture |
Multi-Disciplinary Gender Studies |
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Asian and Middle Eastern Studies |
Musical Composition |
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Classics |
Musicology |
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English and Applied Linguistics |
Philosophy |
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English Studies |
Russian Studies |
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Ethnomusicology |
Screen Media and Cultures |
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European Literature and Culture |
Social Anthropological Analysis |
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History of Art and Architecture |
Social Anthropological Research |
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International Relations |
Theology and Religious Studies |
By £500 (Home and EU students), the course leading to examination in:
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International Relations |
By £500 (Home and EU students) and £1,000 (overseas students), courses leading to examinations in:
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Modern Society and Global Transformations |
Social Anthropological Research |
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Social Anthropological Analysis |
By £1,000 (all students), courses leading to examinations in:
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Economic Research |
Technology Policy |
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Economics |
By £1,000 (Home and EU students), the course leading to examination in:
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Finance |
By £1,000 (overseas students), courses leading to examinations in:
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Bioscience Enterprise |
History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science, Technology, and Medicine |
By £1,500 (Home and EU students), the course leading to examination in:
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Politics |
By £5,000 (Home and EU students) and £3,000 (overseas students), the course leading to examination in:
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Development Studies |
These proposals have been scrutinized by the Board of Graduate Studies and the General Board who have recommended to the Council that the Councils of the Schools have met the requirements of the Joint Report.
The Council has also agreed to propose fees for 2010–11 for the M.B.A. and M.Fin. courses and certain M.St. courses which have been recommended by the relevant bodies.
The Council and the General Board give notice that students who have proceeded to the B.A. Degree but have been given leave to read for another Tripos ‘not for honours’ will be deemed to be ELQ students (i.e. students following a course leading to a qualification (other than the course in Medical and Veterinary Sciences leading to the B.A. Degree, as defined in the regulations, or courses in Architecture or the Postgraduate Certificate in Education) which is equivalent to, or at a lower level than, a qualification they possessed when they began their course) for the purpose of their fee liability.
No information is yet available about the fees to be charged in 2010–11 for undergraduate students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Fees for Home and EU undergraduate students for 2010–11 were approved by Grace 1 of 11 November 2009.
The Council is accordingly submitting a Grace to the Regent House (Grace 1, p. 831) for the approval of a revised table of fees, for all students apart from undergraduate Island students as set out in the Schedule below, which results from the proposals in this Notice together with certain other necessary changes including entries for new courses announced by the General Board during the academical year 2009–10 (see Reporter, pp. 21, 73, 269, 436, 437, and 504).
