University College Oxford Record 2020

expanded its graduate scholarship endowment.
This initiative was helped hugely by the happy
coincidence of a large gift (known as the Oxford-
Radcliffe benefaction) by an anonymous group
of Old Members, and an initiative from the
central University to match graduate scholarship
endowments on a 40:60 basis. A “challenge”
element to the Oxford-Radcliffe benefaction
inspired a number of other generous gifts to the
College, with the result that Univ now funds or
co-funds almost half its annual graduate intake,
making us arguably the most attractive college in
Oxford for graduate study.
Another significant initiative, also supported
financially by Old Members, has been the Univ
Opportunity Programme, that set out to address
the need for Oxford to increase its intake of
deserving undergraduate applicants from a
disadvantaged background. In this model an
additional 10% of places was created for these
students, over and above those admitted in the
usual admissions exercise, and pre-sessional
support is offered. The Univ Opportunity
Programme has been extremely successful
and highly regarded, so much so that the wider
University adopted it centrally, and has partially
seconded the Senior Tutor to help them deploy it.
Ivor has also made contributions to the wider
University and beyond. During the turbulent
years of tuition fee increase from £3,300 to
£9,000 per year and the accompanying stringent
requirements of Government to ensure widened
elite university access, Ivor served as an advisor
on the OFFA Access Agreement to Oxford’s
governing Council, and subsequently served as
an advisor to OFFA itself (now absorbed into
the Office for Students). He also chaired the
University’s Admissions Committee, and served
on the Augar Report Panel that was constituted
by Theresa May to investigate future models for
post-18 education and funding.
Turning to the more social aspects of the
College, this has been very much a double act,
with Jill fully embracing collegial aspects alongside
Ivor. They regularly attended dinners in term time,
especially Sunday dinner, welcoming countless
members of the College community and their
guests. Both Ivor and Jill have also been huge
supporters of music in the life of the College,
ensuring a splendid series of performances,
particularly by the Martlet Ensemble and the
Martlet Voices. One of Ivor’s passions is walking,
and he was a regular attendee at the annual
chalet reading parties in the Haute Savoie.
Another social highlight over the years has been
watching the results come in as Ivor hosted postpolling
discussions after the various UK General
Elections and US Presidential elections. It must be
said, however, that Ivor had cause to question his
own political scientist credentials and forecasting
abilities after one or two of the results emerged!
(The separate prickly topic of Brexit will not even
be mentioned).
Ivor and Jill also embraced living in the
Lodgings, and spent most vacation periods there
too. Indeed, one of their fondest pursuits was to
host their extended family for Christmas dinner
in the deserted and silently atmospheric College.
But at other times they embraced the hustle and
bustle of receptions, soirees and Old Member
gatherings. Also, Jill hosted the graduate Martlets
Society talks in the Lodgings, continuing the
tradition of vibrant academic discourse between
Univ’s graduate students and other members of
the College.
As we come to the end of the Crewe era,
we have much to thank Ivor and Jill for having
accomplished. Ivor has worked tirelessly on
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