The University Council (UC) has this week issued a response to the Board of Scrutiny’s annual report, which called for the “assumptions surrounding the financial positions of North West Cambridge” to “remain under constant review.”

Varsity had previously reported on the financial challenges faced by the North West Cambridge Development, and how the project has been criticised for “systematic failures” in an audit report for the University Financial Committee. In a tense discussion at Senate House three weeks ago, academics and project overseers condemned the “grossly incompetent” project management, while Professor David McKay warned of the potential for serious road hazards near the new university primary school.

In response, Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Duncan Maskell said: “The development remains broadly on track financially and in terms of delivering the strategic aims of the university.”

However, this latest report from Board of Scrutiny highlights the development as one of the “two main areas of risk for the University” in coming years, alongside “potential liabilities in pension provision”.

In response, the University Council has said that work on implementing the recommendations from the audit of the development “has already commenced.” This includes “a comprehensive re-baselining of costs, budgets, and revenues”, which should be completed in early 2016. A second report outlining “lessons to be learned” from the project is expected towards the beginning of next term.

The Council also said Cambridge “takes the opportunity” to respond to matters of higher education funding “when it is appropriate to do so”, and works alongside other Russell Group universities when lobbying collectively is appropriate.

Furthermore, the Council noted that the Vice-Chancellor and other senior university figures “seek to influence policy through their own personal contacts in government and other bodies”, in response to the Board of Scrutiny’s recommendation that the University proactively lobby on issues such as Higher Education funding and EU representation, in order to protect Cambridge’s ability to carry out “world-class research”.

The University Council has also said that graduate numbers will be monitored to meet a planned increase of two per cent per year in those admitted. This is in response to the Board of Scrutiny’s recommendation that “assumptions about graduate numbers” be “kept under active review”.

Minutes of the Council’s recommendations describe how a “downturn” in the finances of “the Chest” – referring to the university’s bank accounts – was due to a drop in income from academic fees of £4.1million as a result of decreased numbers of graduate students.

The Postgraduate Admissions Committee is expected to produce a “graduate recruitment strategy” to aid in meeting targets for the intake in graduate students, and plans for graduate student numbers will be “challenged” in order “to ensure that the basis of the projections and consequent risks are fully understood.” It pointed out that the university was already developing a recruitment strategy after it was recommended that Cambridge “develop a competitive strategy for international recruitment”, particularly in regard to undergraduates.

The UC also agreed to investigate the use of unestablished posts in staff recruitment following the Board’s assessment, which noted that many new appointments in the University Information Services were made in this way.

Unestablished posts are those which “are not recognised Offices in the University’s Statues and Ordinances”. The Board’s concern stems from the fact that such posts remove holders “from the extra protections afford to University officers” by the university’s rules.

The UC has also said they will look into the “perennial problem of the unequal distribution” of university teaching officers across colleges by engaging with the relevant institutions.