Regulations for Committees Reporting Directly to Council or one of its Main Committees

Council Regulations 15 of 2002

Made by Council on 26 June 2002

Main Committees

Part 2: Education Committee

Amended with effect from 8 May 2003 (Gazette Vol.133, p1335, 29 May 2003) and 7 February 2007 (Gazette Vol. 137, p. 788, 22 February 200
Amended on 23 March 2006, 19 October 2006, 21 February 2008, 1 November 2007, 29 May 2008 (date of effect 1 October 2008), 15 October 2009 and 21 December 2012

2.1. The Education Committee shall consist of:

(1) the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) who shall chair the committee;

(2)–(4) the Proctors and the Assessor;

(5), (6) two persons appointed by Council from among the members of Council;

(7), (8) two persons appointed by Council from the divisions to ensure appropriate disciplinary balance (one normally to be a Director of Graduate Studies);

(9) the Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Conference of Colleges;

(10) the Chairman of the Senior Tutors' Committee of the Conference of Colleges;

(11) the Chairman of the Graduate Committee of the Conference of Colleges;

(12) the Chairman of the Admissions Committee of the Conference of Colleges;

(13) Chairman of the Graduate Admissions Committee;

(14)–(17) the chairmen of the Education Committees (or their equivalent) of each division;

(18) the Director of the Department for Continuing Education;

(19), (20) the Vice-President (Access and Academic Affairs) and the Vice-President (Graduates) of the Oxford University Student Union.

2.2. The committee may co-opt up to three additional members, one of whom may be an external member.

2.3. The committee shall be responsible for the following matters, in liaison with the divisions, colleges, societies, and Permanent Private Halls as appropriate:

(1) defining and keeping under review in the context of the University's Mission Statement and Strategic Plan the educational philosophy, policy, and standards of the collegiate University including:

(a) undergraduate and graduate admissions;

(b) student funding and access;

(c) undergraduate and taught postgraduate course structure and curriculum design;

(d) structure of doctoral programmes, and arrangements for the assessment of progression and examination of doctoral students;

(e) teaching, learning, and assessment (including all aspects of the practical arrangements for examination, in consultation with the Proctors, and the oversight of the standards of the degrees awarded across the University);

(f) approval of new courses;

(g) academic and pastoral support and guidance;

(h) provision and use of learning resources;

(i) collaborative provision;

(j) the arrangements for part-time study and the oversight of programmes delivered in the name of the University of Oxford other than at degree level;

(2) the establishment and keeping under review of structures and mechanisms for assuring the implementation of these policies, the management of learning opportunities, the maintenance of standards, and the enhancement of good practice;

(3) the administration of a programme for the regular review of divisions (in this context, including the Continuing Education Department) in conjunction with the Planning and Resource Allocation Committee and on behalf of Council and its Committees;

(4) in conjunction with divisions, the administration and oversight of a programme of regular review of the divisions' faculties and departments by reference to international standards of excellence;

(5) the oversight and co-ordination of activities necessary to meet the requirements of external agencies involved in educational standards;

(6) in the light of all the above and on the basis of divisional five-year plans, the consideration of the overall balance of activity and provision of resources between graduate studies, undergraduate studies, and continuing education respectively, and the making of recommendations to Council through its Planning and Resource Allocation Committee.

2.4. (1) The committee shall have power to make, amend, and repeal regulations concerning the courses and examinations for undergraduates and graduate and other students (including Recognised and Visiting Students), and to approve regulations of that kind which the divisional boards and other bodies responsible for such courses propose to make under the relevant provisions.

(2) The committee shall have power to grant (or reject) applications in individual cases in respect of any of the following matters in regard to the statutes and regulations concerning the courses and examinations for undergraduates and graduate and other students (including Recognised and Visiting Students):

(a) dispensation from matriculation requirements;

(b) admission to the status and privileges of a Senior Student;

(c) extension of standing for honours, or for a university prize or other award;

(d) taking deleted options, forbidden combinations of subjects, subjects not provided for in regulations, or examinations under old regulations;

(e) entering examinations earlier or later than prescribed;

(f) antedating of admission and of residence;

(g) viva voce and other oral examinations;

(h) practical work;

(i) dispensation from the requirement to sit an examination or part of an examination, or from a prerequirement for an examination;

(j) subjects for the First BM Examination;

(k) extension of time within which to supplicate (beyond that which divisional boards, faculty boards, and other bodies are empowered to grant);

(l) reinstatement out of time;

(m) permission to transfer from one status to another out of time;

(n) extension of time within which a student is allowed to hold Probationer Research Student status;

(o) questions relating to the direct admission to D.Phil. status of suitably qualified candidates from outside Oxford;

(p) dispensation from the prescribed period of study in Oxford (beyond that which divisional boards, faculty boards, and other bodies are empowered to grant);

(q) regulations governing graduate students and second or higher degrees;

(r) questions arising from the reference back by divisional boards, faculty boards, and other bodies of students' applications for leave to supplicate for research degrees.