John Hood threatens to flee rebellious dons

John Hood

Oxford University's new vice-chancellor, Aucklander John Hood, has threatened to resign after being blocked by university "dons" in his efforts to make academics more accountable.

A student newspaper at Oxford University claimed Dr Hood - who took up the job last September - was dissuaded from resigning by the principal of St Hugh's College, Andrew Dilnot.

The Oxford Student said many senior people in the university had been concerned Dr Hood might quit after the Congregation - a "parliament of dons" made up of 3552 academic, senior research, library, museum and administrative staff - rejected his proposal to use academic reviews to address underperformance and determine pay.

Dons feared that between the lines of the proposal to have "line managers" for academics was an emphasis on corporate productivity that could erode Oxford's unique atmosphere of intellectual freedom.

Some dons were afraid that publication and research, not teaching, would be the measures of academic success, and mean a move away from Oxford's tutorial system towards research.

The Congregation - which has the final say on all legislative decisions at the university - voted 351 to 153 to reject the appraisal system for tutors, the Oxford Student said.

An amendment to change the resolution from an outright rejection to a plea for consultation was defeated by 358 votes to 183.

A body of dons opposed to the academic reforms - first signalled by Dr Hood in a paper on academic strategy in January - later met him and urged that he use his talents to reform the university's financial operations, rather than interfering with traditional academic governance and trying to make tutors more accountable.

An official university spokeswoman has since denied that Dr Hood threatened to resign: "He has not offered his resignation and has no plans to."

Dr Hood, who made nearly $420,000 a year in his former job as vice-chancellor of Auckland University, was the first "outsider" to be appointed vice-chancellor of Oxford University in its history of nearly 900 years.

He 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.

On November 1, he will present another paper on governance reforms and academic strategy to the Congregation.

The changes he proposes are so sweeping that the British magazine The Economist has described them as the "most fundamental reforms to the university since the establishment of the college system in 1249".

He wants to streamline decision-making by creating an independent Board of Trustees to oversee university finances, and a single academic council.

The Boston Globe newspaper reports dons fear that with too much focus on academic review, research will take priority over education.

"People thought he would bring a breath of the great wide world into this place," said professor Alan Ryan, warden of New College told the Globe.

But Dr Hood came in "used to a much more managerial kind of system and behaves like every other CEO".

Driving the proposals - and Dr Hood's appointment - has been a looming financial crisis that if left unchecked could cause Oxford to lose its footing on the global university stage, the newspaper said.

According to Oxford, the annual education for an undergraduate cost about $47,700 in 2003.

Since Government-approved tuition fees cannot exceed about $7650, the university has been struggling to make up the difference through college endowments, university gifts and research.

Supporters of a single Academic Council and a Board of Trustees to oversee finances have argued that a clear governing structure is essential to instilling confidence in prospective donors.

The dons resisting the changes says it is not a conflict between old-school reactionaries and a modernising vice-chancellor, but about how the reforms are carried out. "People ask me if this is the biggest fight Oxford's ever seen," Professor Ryan told the Globe: "I say, 'Well, we did survive the Black Death, the Reformation, and the English Civil War'."

- NZPA