Controversy over Hood's leadership of Oxford

The New Zealander hired to modernise the governance of Oxford University -- the first "outsider" to become its vice-chancellor in 900 years -- may have pushed its dons to the point of revolt.

Senior academics at the university were considering seeking an unprecedented vote of no confidence to protest the management style of John Hood, the Times newspaper reported today.

Dr Hood was formerly vice-chancellor of Auckland University.

Since he started his management role, changes he has proposed have been so sweeping that British magazine the Economist has described them as the "most fundamental reforms to the university since the establishment of the college system in 1249".

One of the changes proposed by Dr Hood was to streamline decision-making by creating an independent Board of Trustees to oversee university finances, and a single academic council.

Driving the proposal was a financial crisis caused by an undergraduate education at the university costing an average of more than $48,000 a year, with Government-approved tuition fees pegged at about $7650. The university is struggling to bridge the gap with endowments, university gifts and research.

Some academics have accused Dr Hood of trampling on centuries of collegiate tradition by attempting to run the university in the style of a business.

Peter Oppenheimer, president of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, said that there could be a no-confidence vote in Dr Hood "because he is absolutely intolerable".

"It would be because of his contempt for Oxford's well-established particular style of government, and his authoritarianism," he said.

"He is a very disagreeable man. It is the style of governance and behaving like a chief executive rather than the head of a very conscientious university."

But Dr Hood, who made nearly $420,000 a year in his former job as vice-chancellor of Auckland University, was head-hunted for the Oxford job, apparently because of his business background.

He spent 18 years with Fletcher Challenge, and has been chairman and director of many public and private companies, including time as a director of Fonterra.

Dr Hood started his five-year contract at Oxford in September 2004.

- NZPA