Newsletter Archive: Spring 2002
New Foundations of the Courtauld:
the constitutional status
Foundation Builders: Professor Eric Fernie, Neil MacGregor, Lord Rothschild,
Dr. Lisbet Rausing, Dr. Barry Munitz, Sir Nicholas Goodison, Nick Ferguson
On 5 December the Council of the University
of London agreed in principle that the Courtauld Institute could become
a College of the University, provided that the Council was satisfied
it would be financially sound and academically and administratively
properly structured. At the Council’s next meeting on 20 March it was agreed that subject to completion
of all legal agreements, the Courtauld would be awarded college staus on
1 August 2002. The Council’s decision will go to the meeting of the
Higher Education Funding Council for England on 18 April, with a request
that from 1 August hefce’s funding should go direct to the Courtauld
and not via the University as at present.
The J. Paul Getty Trust, Lisbet Rausing
in honour of Hans and Ruben Rausing, and the Weston Foundation have
generously agreed endowments amounting to £13m, which will
provide sufficient financial depth to support college status. Other
endowments are being sought to increase the range of activities of
the Courtauld.
Preparations for the submissions to these meetings have been made
by the staff of the University and the Institute, under the guidance
of the Vice-Chancellor’s
Advisory Group, reconstituted as the Vice-Chancellor’s Steering
Group (the Vice-Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. Sir Adam Butler, Professor
R. Cormack, Mr. N. Ferguson, Professor E. Fernie (Director), Sir
Nicholas Goodison, Kirsten McKnight (President of the S.U.), Mr.
J. Morgan (Director of Finance), Mr. C. Perrin, Mr. T. Quirke (Secretary
and Registrar), Dr. P. Rubin, Ms. C. Villers).
The Shadow Board of Govenors has been formed preparatory to assuming
responsibility from 1 August. Its membership is as follows, Nick
Ferguson (Chairman), Neil MacGregor, Sir Nicholas Goodison, Sir Adam
Butler, Dr. Barry Munitz, Dr. Deborah Gribbon, Dr. Lisbet Rausing,
Lord Rothschild, David Landau, Professor Tim O’Shea, Professor
Eric Fernie (ex-officio as Director of the Courtauld), Kirsten McKnight
(ex-officio as President of the S.U.) and five elected members of
the staff of the Institute: Prof. Chris Green, John Murdoch, Sue
Price, Dr. Patricia Rubin, Caroline Villers.
As I have indicated that I wish to retire, a Search Committee has
been established to consider the appointment of the next Director,
from October 2002. The membership of the committee is as follows:
Neil MacGregor (Chair), Prof. Elizabeth Cropper (casva), Nick Ferguson,
Prof. Thomas Gaehtgens (Freie Universtät, Berlin), Prof. Chris Green, Bill Griswold (The Getty Museum),
Prof. Tim O’Shea (Master, Birkbeck College), Dr. David Solkin.
This is a hugely exciting new phase for the Courtauld, made possible by
the generosity of our endowment sponsors. Our thanks go out to all those
who have worked on bringing it to this stage.
PROFESSOR ERIC FERNIE