Court

The 2020 meeting of Court took place on 4 December.

The minutes from the meeting are now available:

The Convening Notice was circulated to all Court members on 29 October 2020. For a copy of the Convening Notice, please see below:

The following papers for the meeting are now available to download:

If you have any queries, please contact the Governance Team directly.

Court 2020: Diversity Monitoring

Further to a question submitted to the December 2019 meeting of Court, the University confirmed that we would conduct diversity monitoring of Court members in 2020. In our invitation to attend Court sent on 31 October we included a link to a diversity monitoring survey and asked Court members to complete it. Many thanks to those Court members who have responded. However, we have only received responses from 27% of Court members so far.

To enable this data to be as useful and informative as possible, we extended the period for submissions until 3rd January 2021, and will aim to publish the data in advance of the workshop sessions in May.

Members of Court

The membership of Court has been revised as part of the Court Reform process. The new membership of Court is set out in Statute 11 of the University's Statutes. In summary, the composition is:

Core Members

Elected

          • 30 Alumni Association Representatives elected by and from the Alumni Association, of whom five should be elected exclusively from the international alumni
          • 5 Emeriti elected by and from the emeritus professors

Nominated

          • 20 Members nominated by their organisations, drawn from civic, cultural and community organisations or bodies including (but not limited to) organisations or bodies located in or around the city of Bristol;
          • 20 Members nominated from unions, professional organisations, business community and industry or other knowledge-intensive organisations including (but not limited to) oganisations or bodies located in or around the city of Bristol;
          • 5 representatives from amongst those formally elected to represent the people of the City of Bristol and its surrounding areas.

Ex Officio

          • The Chancellor;
          • The Pro Chancelors;
          • Honorary Fellows.

Additional Members

The Chancellor may appoint up to 20 Additional Appointed Members from the body of honorary graduates or nominations put forward by civic, cultural and community, professional, industry and business organisations or bodies including (but not limited to) organisations or bodies located in or around the city of Bristol.  The nomination process shall be conducted in such a manner as the Nominations Committee considers appropriate from time to time.

Attendees

          • 20 individuals elected by and from the employees of the University
          • the elected Sabbatical Officers of the Union of Students
          • The Board of Trustees
          • The Vice-Chancellor
          • The Pro Vice-Chancellors
          • The Registrar
          • The Chief Operating Officer
          • The Deans of Faculty
          • The University Secretary
          • The University Librarian
          • The Chief Property Officer (the Bursar)
          • The Secretary & Clerk to Court

Powers of Court

The University Charter stipulates that there shall be a Court whose members shall be kept informed by the Board of Trustees about the University's strategic aims, ambitions and initiatives and who will have the opportunity to provide comments, opinion, wise counsel and other support to the Board of Trustees at the Annual Meeting of Court in accordance with the Statutes. The constitution of Court is defined by Statute.

As an important stakeholder group, Court serves as a bridge between the wider community and the University and provides a source of ideas, influence and support from the wider community to assist the University in pursuit of its mission.

Court appoints the Chancellor and Pro-Chancellors upon the nomination of the Board of Trustees, and has the power to approve extensions to prescribed terms of office for the Chancellor and Pro Chancellors. Court shall also appoint two of its Members to serve on the Nominations Committee of the Board of Trustees. Court may remove members of Court other than those who are Ex Officio Members, for good cause, as defined by Statute 31.

Further information can be found in the University of Bristol Charter, Acts, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations (Statute 13).

Meetings of Court

Court normally meets once a year in December.  The Chancellor presides.  At each annual meeting, Court shall receive:

          • a report from the Board of Trustees of its proceedings during the preceding academic year, including a report on changes to the Charter, Statutes and Oridinances, that relate, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, directly to Court;
          • a report from the Vice-Chancellor & Provost and the University's senior management team on the execution of the University's strategy in the preceding year;
          • a report on the financial statements for the preceding year.

Court may offer independent opinion on any matter or activity relating to the University and may:

          • pose questions to the Chair of the Board of Trustees on the activity of the Board in the preceding year and the plans for the year ahead;
          • pose questions to the Vice-Chancellor & Provost and the University's senior management team on the execution of the strategy of the University;
          • pose questions to the University Treasurer and/or Chief Operating Officer on the financial statements;
          • ask questions and offer comment to the Board of Trustees and the University's senior management team on any aspect of the University's business.

Court may hold special meetings at the request of its members.  Formal minutes, papers and presentations from the meetings of Court are made available to members of the public. 

Further information can be found in the University of Bristol Charter, Acts, Statutes, Ordinances and Regulations (Statute 12).

Secretariat

Court is organised by:

The Governance team

Court membership

Court Membership - 2020/21 (PDF, 136kB)

Court membership - 2019/20 (PDF, 132kB)