The governance of Oxford University is plumbing new depths – and this doesn’t mean dons or deans, but the university’s 2,000-strong central bureaucracy based in Wellington Square.

Everyone thinks of Oxford in terms of colleges but there is a whole other layer of university administration that has been steadily encroaching on the parts of the university which are responsible for teaching and research – the colleges and the academic faculties and departments.

The latest grim example of the trend is a new consultation document from the bureaucrats called the Strategic Plan 2025-2030. The draft copy I have seen runs to a dozen pages and at the moment is only available to current staff members of Oxford University. Notwithstanding the title, the fundamental element of consultation is lacking:

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