Section 11: Applicant and student administration
The Academic Administration Division provides services to students, both prospective and current.
These services include central support for undergraduate and graduate applications and admissions, through to the organisation of examinations and of degree conferrals, and the maintenance of records on all aspects of the student career. These are the classic 'registry' functions which are fundamental to running any university.
There is also increasing focus on improving the quality, range and professionalism of these functions in Oxford, and improving the use of ICT in their delivery. Students are thus a key constituency for the division, and how the division supports them and their growing expectations are important elements in the division's development plans.
- Undergraduate admissions, recruitment and access
- Graduate admissions and funding
- Student administration and services
Undergraduate admissions, recruitment and access
The Undergraduate Admissions Office provides a central admissions service for Oxford colleges and applicants to Oxford. The colleges seek to admit students of high academic ability and potential and welcome applications for admissions from students from all types of schools and backgrounds.
Substantial restructuring and reorganisation is in hand with a particular focus on access and widening participation, strengthening school liaison and information for applicants, student community engagement and volunteering, the implementation of the Common Framework for undergraduate admissions, and also on strengthening Oxford's capacity in respect of the international selection and recruitment of prospective undergraduates.
The Undergraduate Admissions Office:
- deals with general enquiries about admission to undergraduate courses at Oxford
- oversees the admissions procedures for entry to the colleges
- despatches application material, the undergraduate prospectus and other University literature
- provides statistics and data on admissions to Oxford
- liaises with UCAS on behalf of the colleges and the University
- undertakes a large range of school liaison activities - visiting careers events, higher education fairs, schools and colleges, and arranging visits for prospective applicants, teachers, careers advisers and school parties to Oxford
- co-ordinates arrangements for the Science Open Days
- processes applications from graduate students seeking entry to a first-degree course at Oxford
- processes applications from students applying to come to Oxford on a Visiting Student basis
Graduate admissions and funding
Graduate Admissions coordinates the admissions process, especially between departments and colleges; manages quality assurance aspects on behalf of Education Policy Support; provides information and advice to applicants before and after application; and (via the Graduate Admissions Committee) oversee operations and provides policy advice.
Work has recently been undertaken to build on the digitisation of the graduate admissions process. This has included providing departments and colleges with immediate on-line access to all graduate applications so that it will no longer be necessary to assemble hard copy dossiers from applicants, enabling a faster decision making process, and providing a better service for staff and students.
The Funding Team is responsible for managing all postgraduate and a small number of international undergraduate scholarships, which are under the control of the central University. The section aims to develop a more integrated approach across Oxford to handling bursaries and scholarships which are locally managed in colleges, divisions, and departments; and will coordinate the development of long-term policy in all areas relating to student funding. The team is also developing systems and processes in relation to graduate financial aid, and works closely with divisions, departments and colleges to ensure that additional resources to support this, generated from the Development Campaign, are efficiently managed.
Student administration and services
Supporting the Secretary of Faculties and Academic Registrar in the work of the Academic Administration Division is the Director of Student Administration and Services, who is directly responsible for coordinating and overseeing activities that support the on-course administration of students and the services available to them during their student career.
This includes the management of student data held on the Oracle Student System (OSS) and for the processes and relationships with colleges and departments required to obtain and update this data.
The Student Administration and Services section comprises the following teams.
Student administration
- Academic Data Management
- Process Management
- Student Information and Financial Support
- Examinations and Assessments
- Examination Schools Buildings and Events
Student services
- Careers Service
- Student Welfare
- Oxford Learning Institute