Csaba Koppany sent us a copy of this letter written to the Vice Chancellor.

Csaba is concerned that the University is very far from doing what it needs to do to ensure that it attracts the very best and brightest students. He has one particular case of someone he knows who dealt with the University politics department and did not get the right kind of response.

Looking past the letter's strident tone, what comes through is the writer's deep concern for Oxford. I am wondering if there are many high quality graduate students out there who might have gone to Oxford, but did not, because they did not get a sufficiently good, "customer service" experience.

The letter is reproduced in the extended entry, or click on the link to download a pdf.

Download file

Continue reading "Letter to the Vice Chancellor regarding University Recruitment" »

Posted by Guy Spier at 01:34 AM | Permalink

A paper has been produced summarising the outcome of the consultation on the Green Paper on Oxford's academic strategy, which was issued in January 2005; and outlines the next steps in the preparation of a revised Corporate Plan for Oxford.

Continue reading "Oxford's Academic Strategy Consultation: summary of responses" »

Posted by Paula Hoare at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An Oxford Alumni now studying in the FT wrote this leter (see below)

He has this to say about alumni forwarding addresses

Where is the alumni email or email forwarding address? When will I get one?
Before (sic!) coming to MIT, I already knew that I will be contactable after leaving the university at ckoppany@alum.mi.edu. We are living in the 21st century, and the solution requires negligible investment in a few computers.

And this to say about the alumni directory:

Where is the alumni directory? When can I add myself? When can I access it?
In the past decades Oxford shied away from exploiting its ‘old boy connections’ due to political and cultural reasons. At the same time US graduates are the keenest to benefit from networking. All top US school have internet database, searchable by the students and alumni. It is tremendous resource in job search and business contacts (not to get favours, but to obtain information about the company, for example, before a job interview).

He ends his letter like this:

I am very proud of Oxford, and always stand up for it. I benefit from belonging here,almost every day in my life. However, the University must feel more that it needs us, the alumni.

Continue reading "Alumnus Letter to John Hood" »

Posted by Guy Spier at 05:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was sent this by Hamilton Hess and Dan Guhr who run branches of the Oxford University Society in Northern California, and San Diego. I believe that it is well thought out and well reasoned.

I particularly agree with what they have to say about the Oxford University Society:

The Green Paper ignores the fact that Oxford already has an alumni association in the Oxford University Society (OUS). The Society is not at all external; it is integral to the University, having been officially espoused to the University from the previous, essentially private Oxford Society and given departmental status within the University itself as of 1 January 2005. Under the able leadership of Lady Kenny, the Society is prepared to move forward in service to the University and its graduates through its existing world-wide network of branches. The Society has great potential but that will not be realized without the full support of the University in making it a truly global, world-class alumni organization. This goal cannot be achieved without significantly adding to OUS resources, management support, personnel, and communications media. The expansion and vitality of the overseas branches of the OUS stand in urgent need of full time regional support personnel permanently stationed at strategic locations. College and department alumni officers need to be made aware of the potential for mutual gain through cooperation, information sharing with regard to graduates, and resource pooling. The present annual budget of the OUS for maintaining, let alone advancing, its international branch network is less than ten thousand pounds -- roughly the same amount that Cambridge has spent for the single task ofre-designing its North American website. To obtain the return benefits, financial and otherwise, that Oxford will receive on an ongoing basis with the OUS brought to the maturity achieved by the alumni organizations of other major universities will require large expenditures to achieve the 'high quality arrangements . . . for keeping alumni engaged in the life of the Collegiate University', as proposed in the Green Paper. Other institutions of higher learning in the U.K., notably Cambridge and the London School of Economics, have already begun campaigns of this nature.

And they end with this pithy comment:

nothing short of a radical advance in the way the University manages and funds its alumni affairs will allow it to maintain its standing as one of the world’s premier institutions of higher learning.

You can read the whole of their comment below.

Continue reading "RESPONSE AND COMMENTARY ON 'OXFORD DRAFT ACADEMIC STRATEGY': A Green Paper'" »

Posted by Guy Spier at 05:07 PM | Permalink

The great news is that Alasdair MacDonald, who works directly with John Hood has responded directly to alumni regarding our comments on the Green Paper.

Here is what he wrote to me:

Dear Guy

Somehow your message to the OAANY has ended up in my inbox. Can I just say (on behalf of the VC) that we would welcome input from alums, and have encouraged colleges to canvass their members. If your members would like to submit their thoughts direct, please let them have my e-mail address, and I will pass their comments on.

Best wishes

Alasdair MacDonald
Private Secretary to the Vice-Chancellor
University of Oxford

His emails is alasdair[full stop]macdonald[at]admin.ox.ac.uk

Posted by Guy Spier at 05:31 PM | Permalink