No 6786
Thursday 29 May 2025
Vol clv No 35
pp. 575–603
29 May, Thursday. Scarlet Day. Ascension Day.
3 June, Tuesday. Discussion by videoconference at 2 p.m. (see below).
8 June, Sunday. Scarlet Day. Whitsunday. Preacher before the University at 11.30 a.m., Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño, Global Migration Leader for the Council of Bishops and Strategic Leader for the Holistic Strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean of The United Methodist Church. Ramsden Preacher.
15 June, Sunday. Scarlet Day. Trinity Sunday.
17 June, Tuesday. Discussion by videoconference at 2 p.m.
20 June, Friday. Full Term ends.
25 June, Wednesday. Easter Term ends. Congregation of the Regent House at 2.45 p.m. (Honorary Degrees).
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Discussions (Tuesdays at 2 p.m.) |
Congregations (at 10 a.m. unless otherwise stated) |
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3 June |
25 June, 2.45 p.m. (Honorary Degrees) |
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17 June |
2, 3, 4 and 5 July (General Admission, see below) |
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1 July |
24, 25 and 26 July |
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15 July |
The Vice‑Chancellor invites members of the Regent House, University and College employees, registered students and others qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 111) to attend a Discussion by videoconference on Tuesday, 3 June 2025 at 2 p.m. The following item will be discussed:
1. Joint Report of the Council and the General Board, dated 19 May 2025, on a revised approach to examination allowances (Reporter, 6784, 2024–25, p. 560).
Those wishing to join the Discussion by videoconference should email UniversityDraftsman@admin.cam.ac.uk from their University email account, providing their CRSid (if a member of the collegiate University), by 10 a.m. on the date of the Discussion to receive joining instructions. Alternatively contributors may email their remarks to contact@proctors.cam.ac.uk, copying ReporterEditor@admin.cam.ac.uk, by no later than 10 a.m. on the day of the Discussion for reading out by the Proctors,1 or may ask someone else who is attending to read the remarks on their behalf.
In accordance with the regulations for Discussions, the Chair of the Board of Scrutiny or any ten members of the Regent House2 may request that the Council arrange for one or more of the items listed for discussion to be discussed in person (usually in the Senate-House). Requests should be made to the Registrary, on paper or by email to UniversityDraftsman@admin.cam.ac.uk from addresses within the cam.ac.uk domain, by no later than 9 a.m. on the day of the Discussion. Any changes to the Discussion schedule will be confirmed in the Reporter at the earliest opportunity.
General information on Discussions is provided on the University Governance site at https://www.governance.cam.ac.uk/governance/decision-making/discussions/.
1Any comments sent by email should please begin with the name and title of the contributor as they wish it to be read out and include at the start a note of any College and/or Departmental affiliations held.
2https://www.scrutiny.cam.ac.uk/ and https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/regent_house_roll/section1.shtml.
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that at the Congregations for General Admission to Degrees to be held on 2, 3, 4 and 5 July 2025. The Congregations will take place at 10 a.m. in the Senate-House.
Tickets will be required for admission to the Senate-House. Graduands should apply through their Colleges for tickets for their intended guests and other members of the University who wish to be present are also asked to obtain tickets from their Colleges. The safe seating capacity has been reviewed and although fifteen places will be available during each session for any gowned member of the University who wishes to attend and who presents when the loading of ticket‑holders for that session begins, any College wishing to seat groups of Fellows etc. in their session is requested to issue them with guest tickets from within their permitted limit and to contact the University Marshal (email: universitymarshal@admin.cam.ac.uk) well in advance to ensure that they can be seated appropriately.
The Ceremonies will be divided into separate sessions, with intervals between the presentation of graduands by successive Colleges, although those from Murray Edwards College and Wolfson College, and those from St Edmund’s College and Hughes Hall, will proceed together in single sessions and some larger Colleges will divide their session. Guests may not leave except in the intervals. Members of the University attending should wear academical dress. A member who is not acting as an officer at the Congregations or presenting for admission to or receiving a degree and who holds a degree of another university or degree-awarding institution may wear the dress of that degree on this occasion. The days of General Admission to Degrees are ‘scarlet’ days, so Doctors should wear their festal gowns.
The doors of the Senate-House will be opened at 9.30 a.m. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and graduands are asked to arrive by the following times (for those Colleges with divided sessions, only the time for the first part is given). Timings given are provisional.
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King’s College |
9.50 a.m. |
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Trinity College |
10.45 a.m. (Session 1) |
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St John’s College |
12.10 p.m. (Session 1) |
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Peterhouse |
2.20 p.m. |
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Clare College |
3.05 p.m. (Session 1) |
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Pembroke College |
4.25 p.m. |
The ceremony will end at about 5.15 p.m.
The doors of the Senate-House will be opened at 9.30 a.m. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and graduands are asked to arrive by the following times (for those Colleges with divided sessions, only the time for the first part is given). Timings given are provisional.
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Gonville and Caius College |
9.50 a.m. (Session 1) |
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Trinity Hall |
11.15 a.m. |
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Corpus Christi College |
12.10 p.m. |
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Queens’ College |
1.40 p.m. (Session 1) |
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St Catharine’s College |
3 p.m. |
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Jesus College |
3.55 p.m. (Session 1) |
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Christ’s College |
5.15 p.m. |
The ceremony will end at about 6 p.m.
The doors of the Senate-House will be opened at 9.30 a.m. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and graduands are asked to arrive by the following times (for those Colleges with divided sessions, only the time for the first part is given). Timings given are provisional.
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Magdalene College |
9.50 a.m. |
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Emmanuel College |
10.40 a.m. (Session 1) |
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Sidney Sussex College |
12 p.m. |
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Downing College |
12.50 p.m. |
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Girton College |
2.20 p.m. (Session 1) |
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Newnham College |
3.40 p.m. |
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Selwyn College |
4.35 p.m. |
The ceremony will end at about 5.20 p.m.
The doors of the Senate-House will be opened at 9.30 a.m. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and graduands are asked to arrive by the following times (for those Colleges with divided sessions, only the time for the first part is given). Timings given are provisional.
|
Fitzwilliam College |
9.50 a.m. |
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Churchill College |
10.50 a.m. |
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Murray Edwards College and Wolfson College |
11.50 a.m. |
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Robinson College |
1.30 p.m. |
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Lucy Cavendish College |
2.25 p.m. |
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St Edmund’s College and Hughes Hall |
3.15 p.m. |
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Homerton College |
4 p.m. (Session 1) |
The ceremony will end at about 5.20 p.m.
The Registrary gives notice that the latest time for the receipt of supplicats and any necessary certificates of terms for persons who propose to take degrees at General Admission on Wednesday, 2 July, Thursday, 3 July, Friday, 4 July, or Saturday, 5 July 2025, is 10 a.m. on Friday, 20 June 2025. No further additions to degree lists can be accepted after that date.
The Council has received the remarks made at the Discussion on 13 May 2025 concerning the above Report (Reporter, 2024–25: 6781, p. 534; 6784, p. 564). It has consulted with the General Board in preparing this response.
Professor Evans comments on the centrality of Colleges in the admission of undergraduate students and notes that the reconstituted Undergraduate Admissions Committee would not have power to make decisions binding on the Colleges, unless it is explicitly asked to do so with the agreement of all Colleges, or implicitly as a result of a decision made with the agreement of all Colleges. Professor Evans also makes a connection between admissions and the commitment contained in the University’s Access and Participation Plan (APP) to address barriers to equality of opportunity across the undergraduate student lifecycle, and enquires about the scope of ‘equality’ in this context. The Council notes that the APP contains details of the specific forms of inequality the University seeks to address, and the range of activities it will undertake to that end from 2025 to 2029. The Council agrees with Professor Evans’ implicit assumption that delivery of the University’s objectives in addressing inequality is contingent on coherent admissions policies and practices in the context of an admission process that continues to respect College autonomy.
The Council joins Dr Thompson in expressing thanks to the many colleagues involved in developing the proposals for reform of undergraduate admissions.
The Council is submitting a Grace (Grace 1, p. 583) for the approval of the recommendations of this Report.
The Council has received the remarks made at the Discussion on 13 May 2025 on the above Report (Reporter, 2024–25: 6781, p. 537; 6784, p. 565).
The Council thanks Professor Srinivasan and Dr Tett, both of King’s College, for their observations in support of the Report’s proposals.
Mr Knight notes the role of the Programme Board in planning the sequence of relocations required to achieve vacant possession of the site by the end of July 2027. The Programme Board is meeting regularly to ensure oversight and timely progress on the relocation programme: this will include consideration of the impact on teaching space, where appropriate. Mr Knight asks how the disposal of the site to King’s College fits into the University’s Reshaping our Estate strategy and the associated Capital Plan. The disposal is aligned to the principles and aims of Reshaping our Estate and will:
(a)provide more appropriate accommodation over the long-term for the site’s occupants;
(b)reduce the lifecycle cost liability associated with the operational estate;
(c)realise the revenue potential for a site which is no longer fit for purpose;
(d)avoid significant decarbonisation and refurbishment costs; and
(e)generate a material reduction in carbon emissions.
At its May 2025 meeting, the Estates Committee recommended a Strategic Estate Framework and Strategic Estate Capital Plan to the General Board and the Council for approval. The Framework and Plan include allowances for the disposal and relocations and will be discussed by the General Board and Council this term.
Mr Humbles anticipates that the disposal of the site will ‘entail the termination of leases or licences of non-University occupants of parts of the site, including at least three popular and well-used businesses, namely The Anchor pub, S&G Cycles, and Café Aristo’. He notes that he ‘would be sorry to see the Regent House authorising the expulsion of these facilities.’ Mr Humbles also questions how ‘the wilful expulsion of one of the last centrally-located bicycle shops in Cambridge would fit into the University’s commitment to green travel.’ Facilities such as the regular bookable Dr Bike sessions1 illustrate the breadth of provision for University staff across the city.
The disposal will entail the transfer of leases over parts of the site, including those for the Anchor pub, S&G Cycles, and Café Aristo, to King’s College as the purchaser of the site. The Council understands that it is the College’s intention to work with continuing leaseholders to explore future options as the site is developed over a number of years. As Professor Srinivasan states in his remarks, ‘the College is eager to protect this site for the benefit of the collegiate University and the wider Cambridge community.’ King’s College has confirmed to the Council its strong commitment to environmental concerns, as evidenced in other recent developments to its estate such as its Passivhaus student accommodation development at Cranmer Road, and has indicated its willingness to facilitate green travel to the site wherever possible.
The Council is submitting a Grace (Grace 2, p. 583) for the approval of the recommendations of this Report.
1See the Events section at https://universityofcambridgecloud.sharepoint.com/sites/UoC_EnvironmentalSustainability/ (University account required).
The Council has made some changes to the arrangements for the publication of fly-sheets and other statements provided to voters when there is a ballot, so that groups who sign fly-sheets are treated in the same way. Fly-sheets signed only by registered students and sabbatical officers of the University of Cambridge Students’ Union or only by University employees who are not members of the Regent House, and the signatures of those groups on joint fly-sheets, will in future be reproduced in the Reporter (starting with the fly-sheets on p. 595). An amendment has also been made to the threshold for the inclusion of signatures on joint fly-sheets, which will take effect from the next ballot.
The Council has therefore made changes to the Notice confirming these arrangements (reproduced in Statutes and Ordinances, p. 116), revising paragraph 11 to read as follows and removing the last sentences of paragraphs 9 and 10:
11. Joint statements, signed by the required number of signatories in at least one of the above groups, will be accepted (for example, a fly-sheet signed by ten members of the Regent House that is also signed by three University employees who are not members of the Regent House).