| Public Benefit Statement |
|
|
|
Wadham College Charity Registration Form Section C: Objects and Public Benefit Object 1 The advancement of Education, Learning & Research 1. Educational Benefit The College provides, in conjunction with the University of Oxford, an education for some 650 undergraduate and graduate students which is recognised internationally as being of the highest standard. This education develops students academically and advances their leadership qualities and interpersonal skills, and so prepares them to play full and effective roles in society. In particular, the College provides: • teaching facilities and individual or small-group tutorials, as well as pastoral, administrative and academic support through its undergraduate and graduate advisory systems and • social, cultural, musical, recreational and sporting facilities to enable each of its students to realise as much as possible of their academic and personal potential whilst studying at the College. The College advances research through: • providing Research Fellowships to outstanding academics at the early stages of their careers, which enables them to develop and focus on their research in this formative period before they undertake the full teaching and administrative duties of an academic post; • supporting research work pursued by its other Fellows through sabbatical leave, promoting interaction across disciplines, providing facilities and providing grants for national and international conferences, research trips and research materials; • encouraging and sponsoring visits from outstanding academics from other parts of the United Kingdom and abroad; and • encouraging the dissemination of research undertaken by members of the College through seminars and lectures and the publication of papers in academic journals or other suitable means. The College maintains an extensive Library and Archive (including important special collections), so providing a valuable resource for students and Fellows of the College and others by arrangement, The College does not consider that there is any detriment or harm that arises from carrying out the College’s aims and is not aware of views among others that such detriment or harm might arise. The resident members of the College, both students and academic staff, are the primary beneficiaries and are directly engaged in education, learning or research. However, beneficiaries also include: students and academic staff from other Colleges and the University of Oxford more widely, visiting academics from other higher education institutions and visiting schoolchildren and alumni of the College who have an opportunity to attend educational events at the College or use its academic facilities. The general public are also able to attend various educational activities in the College such as concerts and exhibitions. 2. Public extent of educational benefit a) In general The College admits as students those who have the highest potential for benefiting from the education provided by the College and the University. It recruits as academic staff those who are able to contribute most to the academic excellence of the College and the wider community, regardless of their financial, social, religious or ethnic background. • There are no geographical restrictions in the College’s objects and students and academic staff of the College are drawn from across the UK and internationally; • There are no age restrictions in the College’s objects but students of the College are predominantly between 18 and 24 years old; and • There are no religious restrictions in the College’s objects and members of the College have a wide variety of faith traditions or none. The focus of the College is strongly academic and students need to satisfy high academic entry requirements. To raise educational aspiration and attract outstanding applicants who might not otherwise have considered applying to the college, the College operates an extensive outreach programme. This programme includes an active programme of visits to schools and visits by schools (including primary schools) to the College; by open days, admissions symposia for teachers as well as guidance and information on the College website for prospective applicants b) Benefit and charges a) College fees at externally regulated rates to undergraduates entitled to Student Support and to graduate students (with those undergraduate fees being paid by grant funding through arrangements approved by the Government), and a fee determined by the College annually to Overseas undergraduates and any Home/EU undergraduates not entitled to Student Support; and In order to assist undergraduates entitled to Student Support, the College provides through a scheme operated in common with the University and other Colleges, bursary support for those of limited financial means. (For the academic year 2008-09, the number of awards made was 80, out of a Home/EU undergraduate population of 417; 30 of the awards were at the maximum value of £3,150; and the average value of the awards was £2.154.) That scheme is approved by the Office of Fair Access and provides benefits at a substantially higher level than the minimum OFA requirement. To support the costs of graduate students, the College provides a range of financial support. This includes scholarships to fund fees and living costs. The College also supports all students through schemes to assist with the purchase of books and equipment, attendance at conferences and travel grants. In addition to its other programmes, the College operates a hardship scheme for all students in financial hardship. The full range of financial assistance to students is advertised on the University and College websites and extensively within. c) Private benefit In order to fulfil its charitable purposes of advancing education, learning and research, the College employs a Warden along with Fellows, Lecturers, a Chaplain and non-academic staff. It also includes amongst its Fellows university professors with whom it has no contract of employment. The Fellows with the Warden ex officio, serve as charity trustees through being members of the College Governing Body. The employment of the Warden and Fellows is undertaken with the intention of furthering the College’s aims and their employment directly contributes to the fulfilment of those aims. The private benefit accruing to the Warden and Fellows through salaries, stipends and employment related benefits is objectively reasonable, measured against academic stipends generally; moreover annual pay increases normally follow national settlements applying to the university sector. Without the employment of Fellows, the College could not fulfil its charitable aims as a College in the University of Oxford. The Warden and Fellows of the College also receive benefits as beneficiaries. These comprise research grants, conference grants, book grants etc. These benefits are provided with the intention of furthering the College’s aims, primarily that of advancing research. The amounts of the benefits provided are objectively reasonable, measured against the academic benefits made available to other beneficiaries of the College. Further details on private benefit are provided in section E. |