| Description | Minutes of the committee appointed by Senate to discuss and determine the policy of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, and to advise the Senate on administrative recommendations made by the Director of the Centre.
The earliest surviving minutes of this committee date from November 1963, but it is likely that the committee, or a predecessor body, was in existence from earlier in the 1960s, as the University responded to the report of the Hayter Sub-Committee on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies and made plans to establish the Centre for Russian and East European Studies with involvement from existing departments teaching Russian language and literature and Slavonic Studies.Minutes of the first meeting recorded in this sequence refer to the reconstitution of the Committee, which also suggests that it was in existence before November 1963. Membership at this date consisted of the Vice-Chancellor (chair); Vice Principal; the Heads of the Departments of Econometrics, Engineering Production, Geography, History, Political Science, Russian Language and Literature, Sociology; the Chairman of the Board of Studies for the Degree of Bachelor of Social Science (except Social Study); and the Barber Professor of Law. Papers would be sent to all Deans of Faculties who would have the right but not the obligation to attend. Minutes of this meeting also include a copy of a paper setting out plans for the future development of the Centre which refers to the University's plan for it to expand into wider fields of activity than those covered by the old Department run by Professor Baykov. The paper states that initial expansion in the areas of Econometrics and Politics was planned, but that there was also interest in expanding research in History, Geography, Art, Engineering Production, and Literature and Sociology. The paper comments on the future staffing of the Centre, with new posts in Soviet Politics or Sociology, and Soviet Economics or Econometrics mentioned. A Staffing sub-committee was appointed to deal with staffing matters, and there was also to be a sub-committee on teaching of the Russian language, as well as a General Assembly on Russian and East European Studies, composed of all members of academic staff professionally concerned with Russian and East European Studies in the University, comprising the staff of the Centre, members of the Department of Russian Language and Literature, and any others concerned with these subject areas.
Minutes of subsequent meetings include papers and reports of the sub-committee on the teaching of Russian language which discuss the running of Russian language courses for science students, exchanges and summer schools with Soviet university students of English and in the USSR. Minutes of this sub-committee for the meeting held on 27 May 1966 include a paper on language laboratory developments.
Minutes of the Committee on Russian and East European Studies typically contain information about staff appointments and promotions (including some personal information about applicants); details about postgraduate research scholarships; copies of Centre for Russian and East European Studies annual reports, from the first annual report for the 1963-1964 academic session which is included with minutes of the meeting held on 2 November 1964; applications for study leave; information about research grants including new Hayter grants, Leverhulme Research Fellowships and grants from other bodies. Minutes of meetings from the 1970s onwards include information about exchange visits by Centre staff to the Soviet Union, as well as student exchanges. Minutes of later meetings sometimes include information about teaching activities at the Centre, but the primary source for teaching is the annual reports, which also give an overview of Centre activities as a whole, a summary of research activities, an overview of the work of the Alexander Baykov Library and Information Service, staff and postgraduate news, and include a list of publications by Centre members and details of seminars and conferences
Minutes of the meeting held on 1 November 1965 include draft proposals for the Quinquennial Plan, and further information about these proposals can be found with minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 1966.
Minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 1970 include proposals for the development of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies for the Quinquennium 1972-1977
Minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 1966 discuss the University Grants Committee visitation, and also include a paper on the 'Area Centres' [Centre for Russian and East European Studies and Centre of West African Studies], and staff-student ratios, with comment on the teaching strengths of both Centres, and the effect that their extra-Faculty status had on the calculation of the ratios
Minutes of the meeting held on 30 October 1967 mention the reconstitution of the Committee and the addition of the Director of the Centre of West African Studies as an ex-officio member
Minutes of the meeting held on 26 October 1970 include a paper on the representation of Centre members on the Committee in which Committee members agreed on the general principle of that the academic staff of the Centre should have greater representation on its governing committee. The paper proposes that membership should consist of chair; the Director of the Centre; the Deans of Faculties; the Heads of Departments to which members of Centre staff were attached, or involved in the work of the Centre; the Director of the Centre of West African Studies; any other professors who were members of the Centre staff; and one non-professorial member of staff of the Centre from each of the Departments to which members of the Centre were attached. It was agreed not to make any specific proposals for student representation on the Committee until general arrangements for student representation on Senate committees emerged from discussions on University reform, but the Committee suggested the need for a minimum of three or four student representatives, to cover both graduates and undergraduates, from each of the Faculties in which students were registered for degrees
The Committee's concerns about the representation of Russian and East European Studies on University Grants Committee sub-committees dealing with Hayter studies are expressed in minutes of the meeting held on 25 October 1971. These minutes also contain discussion of proposals concerning University Reform and representation on the Committee for Russian and East European Studies, and include a report for the Review Body on this subject. Minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 1972 include further comments on the consultative document of the Review Body, and set out the joint view of the Directors of the Centre of West African Studies and the Centre for Russian and East European Studies that there was no convincing reason for the change proposed by the Review Body to remove the extra-Faculty status of the Centres. Minutes of the meeting held on 30 October 1972 include a paper by the Committee on the report of the Review Body, for Senate, and minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 1973 include additional information to be submitted to the Review Body and argue for the need for academic staff to have greater representation on the governing committee, and to remain as an inter-faculty body. These minutes also contain a report on the Alexander Baykov Library and Information Service [then housed in the Ashley building] with reference to the accommodation problem and the need for more space.
Minutes of the meeting held on 20 February 1973 include a report of the sub-panel on a proposed new undergraduate inter-faculty degree in International Studies, with involvement by Centre staff. Minutes of the meeting held on 31 May 1973 include proposals of the committee for the University's 1975 centenary celebrations appeal, to develop and modernise the Centre's Information Service
Minutes of the meeting held on 24 February 1975 includes a report on teaching by members of Centre staff in the context of financial problems experienced across the institution, and the University's decision to look at Departments and Centres with a generous staff-student ratio. This report gives information about postgraduate and undergraduate teaching at the Centre, the nature of work being undertaken, and future developments. It also sets out reasons why the Committee considered that the staff-student ratio did not accurately reflect the work load of the Centre staff.
Minutes of the meeting held on 16 May 1975 include a paper on the constitution and powers and duties of the Committee. Members are listed as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (chair); the Deans of Faculties to which Centre members were attached; Deans or representatives appointed by other Faculties; the Director; Deputy or Associate Directors; Professors in the Centre; Heads of Departments to which Centre members were attached; and four members of academic staff of the Centre other than professors elected by Departmental Committee. The Committee's duties and powers were to have responsibility for the policy of the Centre; to advise the Director on academic and administrative matters; to recommend to the Council the budget and allocation of grants for the Centre; to take into consideration and make recommendation on any other matter, including staffing matters, bearing upon the work and development of the Centre; and to report to the Academic Executive or the Senate as appropriate. Further discussion about the constitution of the Committee is recorded in the minutes of meetings held in 1976
Minutes of the meeting held on 8 November 1976 include a paper on the financial position of the Hayter and Parry Centres, by R. W. Davies, Director of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies. The Committee held a special meeting on 20 July 1977 to discuss the report of the Senate Working Party on Russian Studies and the future direction of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies.
Minuts of the meeting held on 20 February 1978 include a copy of a proposal for a University-funded research project to set up a social science (Soviet studies) database, as an extension of the Centre's existing information service. Minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 1978 include a paper on the University Grants Committee visitation and the University Development Plan 1979/1980 to 1981/1982, with Committee proposals for the development of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies. There are further papers connected with the Centre's submission for the University Grants Committee's visitation with minutes of the meeting held on 19 February 1979 and minutes of the meeting held on 16 May 1980 which discuss the University Development Plan and include a paper on space problems in the Alexander Baykov Library
A special meeting of the Committee was held on 28 February 1980 to discuss the University Grants Committee report on Russian and Russian Studies in British Universities, with a view to presenting comments to the Committee of Principals and Deans. The minutes contain a summary of the main points from the Committee's discussion. Minutes of the meeting held on 9 December 1981 include discussion of references to the Centre in the University Academic Plan, and record the Committee's concerns about proposed staffing reductions.
Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 1983 mention a review of the Extra-Faculty status of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies and the Centre of West African Studies led by the Committee of Principals and Deans which was considering the position of a number of University Committees and Extra-Faculty Units. These minutes refer to the possible establishment of a Joint Committee for the Centres of Russian and East European Studies and West African Studies, since the assessment was that there was considerable overlap of business and membership of the two separate committees. The minute book contains supporting papers for a further meeting, to be held on 2 June 1983, but minutes for this meeting do not survive.
The Committee on Russian and East European Studies was dissolved in the summer of 1983, and replaced with a joint committee, the Committee for the Area Studies Centres which also administered the business of the Centre of West African Studies, between 1983 and 1987 (see UB/COM/61 for minutes) |