Report of Discussion

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

A Discussion was held in the Senate-House. Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Lynn Gladden was presiding, with the Registrary’s Deputy, the Junior Proctor, the Junior Pro‑Proctor, and nine other persons present.

The following Reports were discussed:

Report of the General Board, dated 4 November 2015, on the establishment of certain Professorships (Reporter, 6403, 2015–16, p. 124).

Professor S. Goyal (Chair of the Faculty of Economics, and Christ’s College), read by the Junior Pro-Proctor:

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Faculty of Economics warmly welcomes the proposal to establish the El-Erian Chair in Economics.

This Chair will lead the newly endowed El-Erian Institute for Human Behaviour and Economic Policy. The Institute is being founded following a US$25m gift from Jamie Walters and Dr Mohamed El-Erian. It represents the culmination of a momentous collaboration between the Faculty of Economics and Queens’ College.

The Faculty and Queens’ College share a deep commitment to the research and teaching of economics, which has flourished for more than a hundred years. The yield of this commitment has been a fundamental and continued contribution to the theory and practice of modern economics, reflected in the award of several Nobel prizes (including the 2015 Economic Prize to Professor Angus Deaton, who was a student and researcher and did some of his most important work while still at Cambridge).

Building on this illustrious past and with distinguished current faculty, the proposed El-Erian Institute for Human Behaviour and Economic Policy would help transform approaches to economic research, exerting a significant influence on the formation and implementation of economic policy.

The need for this Institute has never been greater. Successive financial crises dramatically demonstrate that current economic policy-making fails to account appropriately for human behaviour and highlight a need for higher education to address real world problems. The work of the Institute would have far reaching global consequences: for our prosperity, productivity, and quality of life.

Report of the General Board, dated 4 November 2015, on the introduction of a Joint Tripos in History and Politics, and a Joint Tripos in History and Modern Languages (Reporter, 6403, 2015–16, p. 126).

Professor C. J. Young (Deputy Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, Department of German and Dutch, and Pembroke College):

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, I speak to this Report as Deputy Head of the School of Arts and Humanities, Chair of the Working Group which initiated and brought these proposals to fruition, and on behalf of my School and our sister School of the Humanities and Social Sciences. We believe that the establishment of these two joint programmes, in History and Politics, and History and Modern Languages, is a decisive step forward in undergraduate education in the Humanities at Cambridge. Not only will they enable us to continue to attract the very best students, but they will also play their part in broadening collaboration between disciplines that is vital for the University’s future success.

The Joint Schools Working Group on Undergraduate Recruitment sees joint Triposes as a major part of its strategy to arrest the decline in applications in the Humanities that set in around five years ago. Cambridge is alone in not offering joint degrees, and loses excellent candidates every year because of it. The advice given by the Cambridge Admissions Office was unambiguous: evidence from competitor institutions shows that even a handful of joint degrees greatly increases interest in the overall programme, and we trust that the introduction of the new Triposes will help us recruit the most gifted students across our two Schools.

But we also believe that these new courses have great pedagogical value in their own right. Cambridge boasts world-leading expertise in each of the three disciplines, and their combination in these two pairings will open distinctive pathways for future undergraduates in a rigorous and challenging undergraduate experience that will equip them well for specialist postgraduate study or careers beyond the academy.

We are confident, moreover, that we will be able to deliver these courses more effectively than our closest rivals. Great care has been taken in their design, and even greater care will be taken in their implementation. In a very short space of time, Cambridge should be seen as the leading University for those wishing to study History and Politics or History and Modern Languages.

Our confidence in this future success is born of the close collaboration that has led to the completion of the Report under consideration today. Joint Triposes have long been a deeply held desideratum for colleagues in the Humanities, and their support and encouragement in and beyond the myriad committees that have already considered the proposal (at University, School, Faculty, Department, and College level) has been very heartening. We know that we can count on their continued support as we see these programmes through to the next stage.

Finally, on behalf of both Schools, I wish to thank the Deputy Academic Secretary, Duncan McCallum, for his sage advice and assistance in formulating the regulations; and our administrative colleagues in the two Schools who have toiled tirelessly and with exemplary professionalism on this project over the last twelve months. The joint Triposes form part of both Schools’ vision for academic innovation and excellence, and we are very much in our colleagues’ debt for their work in helping to formulate and execute it.

Dr H. E. Thompson (Deputy Head of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Politics and International Studies, and Clare College):

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, as Deputy Head of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences I am pleased to commend to the University these proposals for two new Joint Triposes. As the former Director of Undergraduate Education in the Department of Politics and International Studies, I have been closely involved in the enterprise to create these, and should like to record my thanks to academic colleagues who have collaborated to develop an innovative and challenging suite of programmes.

The School seeks to ensure that its undergraduate provision is fresh, rigorous, and relevant in order to attract and retain the best possible students. Feedback from current and aspiring students consistently records a preference for multi- and inter-disciplinary study, particularly across certain subjects with obvious overlap; while there has been, in response, considerable sharing across Triposes, a more structured programme is seen by many students as more desirable, as an approach to study and as an advantage for prospective employment. Thus we expect that the proposed Triposes will be very attractive to high quality applicants who otherwise might apply elsewhere.

The two proposed Joint Triposes will allow students to study two complementary subjects to degree level in equal measure, and to engage intellectually with the connections between them. These will provide challenging but rewarding programmes of study comparable with our established Triposes.

Our research indicates that both programmes should recruit new, strong applicants. In doing so, we expect that by association they will drive up recruitment for our existing programmes and thus contribute to a stronger, more vibrant undergraduate environment.

Introduction of Joint Triposes has long been championed by the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences and is consistent with our strategic commitment to promote the highest-quality student experience and to maintain on-going innovation in learning and teaching. These proposals are therefore welcomed by the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and are fully supported by the Faculty Boards concerned and by the Management Committee of the Human, Social, and Political Sciences Tripos.

Professor D. W. Runciman (Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies, and Trinity Hall):

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, on behalf of the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) I would like to offer my enthusiastic endorsement of the proposed Joint Tripos in History and Politics, in which I have also been closely involved from the beginning. I am confident that this Joint Tripos will provide a very attractive new option for students considering studying at Cambridge and significantly enhance both the range and strength of the applicant pool.

The proposed Tripos draws on the combined strengths of History and POLIS and reflects the overlapping interests between them across a wide field of study. The structure of the new Tripos will allow students to study a range of subjects in history and politics using a variety of different methods. Unlike equivalent offerings at other universities, this Tripos will include specially designed new papers that enable students to understand the relationship between the two subjects and the links between them. In POLIS we have identified members of staff to lead the development of this new Tripos and our recent recruitment strategy has reflected the need to ensure that we have the necessary expertise and interdisciplinary strengths to sustain it. The Department is fully committed to providing the resources to ensure that the History and Politics Tripos is a success and will represent a major enhancement of the University’s undergraduate provision.

I strongly commend these proposals to the Regent House.

Dr M. J. Ryan (Faculty of History, and Peterhouse), read by Professor Runciman:

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, as Academic Secretary of the History Faculty I warmly commend to the University these proposals for two new Joint Triposes, in the planning of which I have been involved from the beginning. The academic and pedagogic case for these courses is impregnable. The Joint Tripos in History and Modern Languages will afford undergraduates an opportunity of enhancing their specialized knowledge by applying it in ways either not permitted or not encouraged by the current arrangements; the joint Tripos in History and Politics will introduce them to a variety of analytical perspectives and thus encourage critical reflections of a kind not currently possible. The standards and academic authenticity of the new courses are compatible with the best traditions of all three contributing Faculties. There are natural academic affinities underlying these proposals: the various, long-standing, research collaborations between senior members of the Faculties concerned will form a sound basis for these challenging and innovative undergraduate courses.

As has already been mentioned, research by the Joint Schools Working Party responsible for the new degrees indicates that there is a strong market for them. Within the Faculty, our consistent experience at outreach events and open days has similarly revealed a lively interest among sixth-formers in such interdisciplinary possibilities, which our current practice of sharing papers between Faculties is unable to satisfy. As a result, this University loses many potential candidates to its competitors.

In accordance with their commitment to providing world-class and innovative education, the Councils of both supporting Schools have warmly encouraged this initiative from its inception; and, as we have heard, the three relevant Faculty Boards have also enthusiastically endorsed them.

Professor J. Whaley (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, and Gonville and Caius College):

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, I speak on behalf of the Faculty Board of Modern and Medieval Languages as the Officer designated to act on behalf of the Faculty in the development of the Joint Tripos in History and Modern Languages.

Having been closely involved in the planning of the proposed new Triposes, I am pleased to offer our enthusiastic support for this Report. The Faculty welcomes the new Tripos in History and Modern Languages. It will provide extra choice for undergraduates and it forms part of the Faculty’s strategy to attract new, high-quality applicants who we know currently apply elsewhere. The new Tripos will be flexible but rigorous and it will complement existing Tripos provision in Modern Languages; we plan to extend the range of languages offered in future years.

The collaboration between our Faculty and the Faculty of History is a most welcome element of these proposals; we hope very much that our collaboration in the new Tripos will foster further collaboration in research and other projects.

I warmly commend these proposals to the Regent House.