No 6822
Wednesday 29 April 2026
Vol clvi No 27
pp. 435–444
2 May, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m.
4 May, Monday. End of first quarter of Easter Term.
12 May, Tuesday. Discussion by videoconference at 2 p.m. (see below).
14 May, Thursday. Scarlet Day. Ascension Day.
21 May, Thursday. Easter Term divides.
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Discussions (Tuesdays at 2 p.m.) |
Congregations (at 10 a.m. unless otherwise stated) |
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12 May 2 June 16 June 30 June 14 July |
2 May 22 and 23 May 24 June, 2.45 p.m. (Honorary Degrees) 1, 2, 3 and 4 July (General Admission) 23, 24 and 25 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, 2024, p. 111) to attend a Discussion by videoconference on Tuesday, 12 May 2026 at 2 p.m. The following item will be discussed:
1.Report of the General Board, dated 31 March 2026, on the establishment of a Faculty of Government (Rokos School of Government) (Reporter, 6821, 2025–26, p. 417).
Those wishing to join the Discussion by videoconference should email Discussions@admin.cam.ac.uk 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 Discussions@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 Director of Governance and Compliance, 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.
For general information on Discussions see the Reporter website at https://www.reporter.admin.cam.ac.uk/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/.
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that she has accepted with gratitude the following benefactions:
•a bequest of £499,982 under the terms of the will of Mrs Janina Phillips to create an endowment fund for the benefit of the School of the Biological Sciences with a preference for advancing research by supporting postdoctoral research associates and studentships in the field of infectious diseases and in those fields intersecting with climate change;
•a benefaction of £81,457 from the trustees of the Arthur Shercliff Memorial Fund to establish an endowment fund in the University with the same name and purpose as the original Fund.
The Council is submitting Graces to establish the new Funds (Graces 1 and 2, p. 442 and p. 443).
The Vice-Chancellor reminds members of the University that a Congregation will take place on Wednesday, 24 June 2026 at 2.45 p.m., at which the Chancellor expects to confer titular degrees honoris causa. The following were approved for these degrees by the Regent House at a Congregation held on Saturday, 28 February 2026:
Honorary Fellow of Trinity College and Visitor of Darwin College, Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, lawyer and judge.
Former Federal Chancellor, Federal Republic of Germany, politician and leader.
Formerly Research Fellow of St Catharine’s College, sometime Visiting Fellow of Jesus College, member of Corpus Christi College, Professor of Law and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals, University College London, legal scholar, advocate and writer.
Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, Vice-Chancellor and President, and also Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, clinician and molecular biologist.
Formerly Director-General of CERN, particle physicist.
Honorary Fellow of Peterhouse, formerly Artistic Director of the Royal National Theatre, director in theatre, film, opera and television.
Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, visual artist.
Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Henry Purcell Professor of Composition, King’s College London, composer and conductor.
Admission will be by ticket only. Students, alumni and staff (serving or retired) of the University and its Colleges may apply for a ticket by completing the application form at https://eur.cvent.me/4BAnMP by 12 noon on Friday, 22 May. If you require a different application format, please email hondegsrsvp@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Those who are qualified and who wish to join the First Procession into the Congregation (see below) should state this in their application. Seating space for this is limited, so a processional ticket cannot be guaranteed.
If there are more applicants than places available at the Congregation, any eligible applications received by the closing deadline will be included in a ballot. Successful applicants will be informed in early June and will receive an e-ticket and final details closer to the event.
Ticket-holders should either be seated or, if holding a processional ticket, be assembled ready to process by 2.30 p.m. The Congregation is expected to end by about 3.40 p.m. and will be followed by a reception until about 5 p.m.
Matriculated members of the University community should wear academical dress and Wednesday, 24 June will be a ‘Scarlet day’, so Cambridge Doctors should wear their festal gowns. Graduates are invited to wear hoods if they have them and undergraduates wear their gowns. Except for the University officers and the Honorands walking in the Second Procession with the Chancellor (see below), the dress of non-Cambridge degrees may be worn by members of the University on this occasion.
If the weather allows, processions will form from 2.25 p.m. in the order below for those with processional tickets.
After consulting the Proctors in accordance with the relevant regulation, the Vice-Chancellor has prescribed the following order for processions before the Congregation:
The Vice-Marshal
Heads of Colleges
The Regius Professors of Divinity, Civil Law, Physic, Hebrew, Greek, History, Botany and Engineering
Cambridge Professors/Clinical Professors at Grade 12 who are also Cambridge Doctors of Divinity, Law, Medicine (if conferred before 2014), Medical Science, Science, Letters or Music
Cambridge Doctors of Divinity, Law, Medicine (if conferred before 2014), Medical Science, Science, Letters or Music
The Librarian
Other Cambridge Professors/Clinical Professors at Grade 12 and the Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Members of the Council
The Pro-Proctors
The Esquire Bedells
The Chancellor
The Chancellor’s Train-Bearer
The University Marshal
The Orator The Vice-Chancellor The Registrary
The Proctors
(University Constables)
The High Steward
The Deputy High Steward
The Commissary
The Pro-Vice-Chancellors
The Honorands
The Deputy Proctors
The Pro-Proctor for Ceremonial
The Council gives notice of progress on the phased implementation of Enhanced Financial Transparency (EFT) and readiness to replace the Chest as part of this implementation.
EFT is a project within the FTP (Finance Transformation Programme) overseen by the Finance Transformation Programme Board, a multi-year programme to improve how the University understands, plans and manages its financial performance with a view to enabling long-term financial sustainability.
EFT has been the subject of regular updates to the Regent House through the annual Reports of the Council recommending allocations from the Chest and related Notices published between 2020 and 2025.1 As a preparatory step towards the transition from the Chest to EFT, the Regent House and the Privy Council approved changes transferring references to the Chest and to the Reports the Council is to make to the Regent House out of Statute and into Special Ordinance. The changes took effect on 21 February 2024 and were reflected in the 2024 edition of Statutes and Ordinances.2
•A fundamental shift in Cambridge’s financial reporting, moving from the historical Chest system of allocation to a transparent approach where income and expenditure are matched to activity undertaken. This will allow the University to understand the financial implications of its academic strategy and make better decisions about how to use resources.
•The University’s academic goals are paramount and it is recognised that many academically valuable activities may generate less income than expenditure (a mix of surplus and deficit contributions are expected and accepted in EFT).
•The Chart of Accounts. This is the overall structure for recording financial transactions. Changes to this are necessary to enable the required accounting changes.
•The introduction of financial targets (contribution targets), set for each School and Non-School Institution (NSI), based on the University’s academic and financial goals.
•Changes to the processes for planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting, including the cultural change of moving from Chest-based budgeting to income and expenditure budgeting.
•Revisions to policies and procedures in relation to financial management and financial/non-financial performance within the University.
•New finance system tools and financial reports, which can be reconciled back to one source of truth.
•Development over time of a shared understanding of the overall financial performance of the University.
In October 2024, the Planning and Resources Committee (PRC) supported a set of EFT principles to provide a foundation on which to develop detailed EFT policy and technical solutions.
An EFT Governance and Policy Working Group, chaired by the Pro‑Vice‑Chancellor (Resources and Operations), was formed in July 2025. The Group’s scope includes the development of planning and governance frameworks, and oversight of the transition and integration of relevant existing policies into the new system environment. Working with academic and professional services stakeholders, the Group will test the EFT principles, through the development of real-world worked examples, with proper opportunity for those examples to be reviewed, impacts assessed, and relevant local and University governance applied. This work will inform and guide the development and implementation of gross contribution targets (income minus directly incurred expenditure), budget-setting and decision-making for the phased implementation of EFT. The Working Group is developing a ‘Contributions Framework’ to inform and guide implementation of gross contribution targets, (income minus directly incurred expenditure), budget-setting and decision‑making for the phased implementation of EFT.
Following the change to income and expenditure accounting when the new financial system goes live, EFT will be implemented through a phased approach beginning with a two-year pilot phase between 2027 and 2029 (covering the financial years 2027–28 and 2028–29), followed by an embedding phase from 2029–30 to 2032–33 and a steady state model thereafter.
Institutions will receive their financial information on an income and expenditure basis, allowing them to understand their contributions and work towards gross contribution targets.
The intention is that, during the pilot phase, institutions’ income and expenditure will translate to the same level of overall resources under the Chest/Non-Chest accounting model in the years 2027–28 and 2028–29, with contribution targets providing some incentivisation at the margin for increasing revenues or reducing costs. Thereafter, gross contribution targets would adjust gradually in conjunction with medium-term academic plans and realistically deliverable efficiencies.
The pilot phase will allow the University to test and evaluate:
•the operation of attribution methods
•the treatment of indirect costs
•the structure of financial management information
•approaches to a balanced interpretation of performance with reference to a range of agreed financial and non‑financial performance indicators.
The PRC will continue to provide planning guidance for the academic University, with gross contribution targets being set for each School and Non-School Institution (NSI), encompassing all their activities. As in previous years, a Report setting out the University budget for the next financial year will be published in the Reporter for approval by the Regent House.1
The EFT Governance and Policy Working Group will seek feedback and input on the Contributions Framework and the phased development of EFT from Schools, NSIs, and institutions during Easter and Summer 2026 and present its final proposals for approval by the PRC, the General Board, the Finance Committee and the Council in Michaelmas Term 2026.
In October 2025, the PRC endorsed a new approach to academic planning. Building on the formalised annual planning round process introduced in 2004, the approach supports a greater role for the General Board in identifying and agreeing the University’s academic priorities.
The new integrated academic planning cycle, harmonising academic and financial planning, will begin in earnest with the submission of refreshed School Academic Visions in December 2026, following which the General Board will be asked to consider academic plans and priorities in Lent Term 2027. Financial plans will continue to be collected at the same time as academic plans, providing an opportunity to consider their impact on the University’s overall financial position. Financial plans on the new basis will be produced, in collaboration with institutions, at a high level for the 2027–28 budget and submitted by institutions in more detail from the 2028–29 budget onwards.
In December 2024, the PRC agreed that the FTP could proceed to develop the new finance system without the Chest accounting methodology. In March 2026, the PRC approved the final business case to complete the FTP. Since then, there has been significant progress on the systems and tools to support EFT under the management of the Finance Transformation Programme Board.
FTP has worked with the system delivery partner and colleagues across the University to confirm that the new system can be configured to support modern, transparent finance processes.
An EFT prototype has been shared with Schools and institutions, covering six years of financial information, presenting a reasonable estimate of income and expenditure disaggregated to a departmental level. A prototype has been available for the last two budget cycles and has provided the opportunity for institutional heads to become more familiar with the type of financial data available to them in the future.
The system delivery partner began building the new finance system in April 2026, and the programme team will continue to engage colleagues across the University through testing, user groups, and other opportunities to provide feedback.
A comprehensive training programme for finance staff covering the Oracle finance system, management information and contribution-based budgeting will be delivered through 2026–27 and 2027–28. This will be complemented by EFT training and development designed for relevant academic and professional services audiences.
The timetable below assumes that the FTP delivers the Oracle finance system on time and therefore could be subject to change. The Council will report any significant delays by Notice.
Easter Term 2026: Report seeking approval of removal from Ordinances of remaining Chest references to enable transition to income and expenditure accounting.
Easter Term 2026: Allocations Report for 2026–27 published with update regarding the budgetary cycle for 2027–28.
Easter Term 2026 and Michaelmas Term 2026: Series of formal and informal engagements with institutional leaders, managers and staff including an Open Meeting (dates to be announced).
Michaelmas Term 2026: Planning round guidance issued by the PRC. Paper to the PRC seeking approval of the process for contribution setting and budgeting.
Easter Term 2027: CUFS replacement system Oracle Fusion goes live. Income and expenditure accounting using new Chart of Accounts.
Easter Term 2027: Budget Report for 2027–28 published in new EFT format covering all income and expenditure.
Please contact ftprogramme@admin.cam.ac.uk or visit the Finance Transformation Programme site at https://universityofcambridgecloud.sharepoint.com/sites/FINANB_FinanceTransformation (University account required).
1For the most recent Report, see Reporter, 6787, 2024–25, p. 610.
2See Reporter: 6680, 2022–23, p. 214; 6732, 2023–24, p. 405. A recent Report has proposed the removal from Statute of one overlooked reference: see Reporter, 6815, 2025–26, p. 349.