| Description | Minutes of the committee established in May 1955 to advise the Council on the development of student accommodation in the form of halls of residence. Its terms of reference were to facilitate the co-ordination of the management of individual halls and to delegate business to the Halls sub-committees; to receive the annual accounts and estimates of the Halls sub-committtees and to approve them for transmission to the Finance and General Purposes committee. Membership consisted of the Vice-Chancellor (chair), Pro-Chancellor and Treasurer (ex-officio), the chairs of the Halls sub-committees, two representatives of Council, one representative of Senate, the Lodgings Warden, the University Medical Officer, and the Senior Woman Tutor. The Wardens of Halls of Residence also attended. A single numerical minute sequence was used. The committee usually met twice a year, towards the end of the autumn and spring terms.
Minutes of the first meeting, held on 16 May 1955, state that it was not necessary for the Halls of Residence committee to approve all the decisions of the Halls sub-committees and that minutes of these sub-committees were brought to the committee primarily for information purposes, though some items would require recommendation to Council for approval and would be submitted by the Halls of Residence themselves to Council. The committee received minutes of the Halls sub-committees, and these are typically included. In 1955 the halls of residence in operation were University House, Chancellor's Hall, Manor House, and Chad Hill residence for post-graduate students. Information in the minutes of these individual halls of residence committees include estimates, details about alterations, building work and maintenance, and the use of halls of residence for conferences in university vacations. Minutes of some individual halls of residence committees include Wardens reports, and this inclusion is routine from 1959 onwards. Some of these reports do not survive elsewhere; for example, the Manor House Warden's reports with minutes of the Manor House sub-committee included with minutes of the Halls of Residence committee meetings held on 2 March 1959 and 8 June 1959 pre-date the Warden's reports included with minutes of the Manor House sub-committee catalogued at UB/HMH/B/1, which date from November 1959. Warden's reports from the 1960s sometimes include figures for the number of international students living in halls of residence, together with details of countries of origin and subjects studied by residents.
As the committee made recommendations to Council and to the Finance and General Purposes committee to approve estimates for the provision of equipment, the minutes contain discussion of estimates submitted by each of the halls of residence, and and express concerns about individual halls experiencing financial difficulties, particularly Chancellor's Hall which regularly operated at a loss. The committee also discussed student fees, Wardens' salaries and staff wages, funds for repairs and redecoration, and food costs. It also considered the adoption of rules and regulations and a disciplinary system by all halls of residence, and the standardisation of fees in the early 1960s. Minutes sometimes include copies of the report of the Halls of Residence committee to Council, and annual accounts for halls of residence are routinely included for the 1960s.
Particular issues discussed by the Halls of Residence committee include the proposed move by the Arts Faculty to Edgbaston and the possible use of University House by the Faculty with the transfer of the activities of University House to a new hall of residence to be built on the site of Wyddrington, on the Vale site. Minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 1955 record the committee's divided opinions on the matter, and discuss the probability that the new halls of residence being planned would need to operate differently from the older, smaller, halls which had tried to emulate the traditional Oxbridge collegiate structure and ethos. The committee also expressed concerns about the provision of a hall of residence for graduate students and the limited lease on Chad Hill, accommodation for post-graduates which was proving successful. Minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 1956 include a copy of a report by the Vice-Chancellor addressing objections to using University House for the Faculty of Arts and setting out ways of funding the new halls of residence from the University Grants Committee and other means.
Minutes of the meeting held on 30 December 1957 include a copy of a memorandum on procedures to be adopted on the introduction of a revised plan for the domestic administration and finance of halls of residence from August 1958 which contains information about revised budgets for submission to the Halls of Residence sub-committees, general procedure concerning the maintenance of buildings and grounds by the university departments concerned, and the functions of the responsible committee and sub-committees. It was agreed that full responsibility for the maintenance of buildings and grounds would rest with the Works and Maintenance committee and with university officers concerned. The Halls of Residence committee therefore now referred some matters to the Works and Maintenance committee, and matters relating to the extension of halls of residence or other major works were sometimes referred to the Planning and Priorities committee (see UB/COM/5 for records). Minor repairs continued to be the responsibility of selected employees in each hall of residence, but major repairs were to be the responsibility of the Maintenance department, with the co-operation of the Wardens. Grounds staff reported to the Superintendant of Grounds, and their wages were chargeable to the General Account. Minutes of this meeting also contain a copy of a memorandum on conferences held at University House and analyses their organisation and financial value.
Minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 1958 include a copy of a memorandum on the domestic administration and finance of halls of residence for Chancellor's Hall, Chad Hill, and Manor House, setting out the responsibilities of the housekeeper, warden, maintenance, grounds, and responsibility for accounts. Minutes of the meeting held on 24 November 1958 suggest that this revised scheme was in operation and working well at Chad Hill and Manor House, but was subject to amendments at University House and Chancellor's Hall where the gardeners were under the day to day control of the Warden
Minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 1961 include the results of a questionnaire circulated to other universities with the aim of providing a comparative analysis of fees charged and services provided in student accommodation at other institutions. Minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 1963 refer to requests from the Junior Common Room at both Chancellor's Hall and Manor House for student representation on the Halls of Residence committee, and this issue was regularly discussed by the Senate Committee on Halls of Residence in the mid and late 1960s (see UB/COM/25)
From 1963 onwards, the minutes begin to record discussion about the use of the new halls of residence being constructed on the Vale site for men and women students. Minutes of the meeting held on 18 November 1963 include a copy of a memorandum by the Warden of University House on its conversion to a mixed hall of residence, its governance, and the appointment of Senior Common Room members. The report of Chancellor's Hall committee included with minutes of the same meeting discuss suggested changes to the management and organisation of Chancellor's Hall following the resignation of the Warden. The minute book described at UB/COM/24/3 includes a copy of a memorandum from the Vice-Chancellor to the Deputy Principal dated May 1964 which refers to the transfer of the sub-committees of the 'old' halls of residence, in other words University house, Chancellor's Hall, Manor House, and Chad Hill, to the Senate Halls of Residence committee, transferring responsibility for the Senior Common Room and Junior Common Room of individual halls to the Senate Halls of Residence committee and responsibility for the domestic management of the halls to central University Administration. This minute book volume also includes copies of correspondence between the Deputy Principal, Dr T. Alty, the Registrar, George Cartland, and representatives of University House and Manor House about the University Scholarship scheme and terms governing scholarship students' residence in halls, May to September 1964
These records are of particular research interest because of the Wardens' reports and reports of the individual Halls of Residence sub-committees they include. These reports provide a useful overview of the University's student accommodation between 1955 and 1964, with the exception of the new halls of residence being built on the Vale site, and allow for some statistical comparison of the different halls using student numbers and basic demographic information. Minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 1965 mention that the next meeting of the committee was due to be held on 13 May 1965 but later minutes do not survive. For further study of the development, management, and operation of the University of Birmingham's student accommodation, particularly the new halls of residence on the Vale site, in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, records of the Senate Committee on Halls of Residence 1962-1966 and 1973-1982 (UB/COM/25) and the Joint Senate and Council Committee on Halls of Residence 1966-1972 (UB/COM/26) are the best source of information |