| Description | Minutes of a committee established in 1963 to be responsible for the development of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Engineering Studies. Although these records formed part of a sequence kept by the Registry and initially assumed to have been records of a committee of the Senate, the committee actually reported to the Board of the Faculty of Science, and this set of minutes had probably been kept by the Science and Engineering Registry
The first meeting of the committee was held in November 1963 in order to approve the establishment of a Division for Materials Science which would become part of the Institute. Minutes of this meeting refer to a submission of claim to the University Grants Committee for capital equipment for this Division; information about the organisation of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Engineering Sciences assuming that the new Centre for Materials Science would become part of the Institute; the constitution, membership, and finance of the Divisional Management Committee for the proposed new Division. The minutes also include detailed proposals for the establishment of a Centre for Materials Science, as accepted by the Board of the Faculty of Science, with an interdisciplinary function and with oversight of research students from a number of academic departments
The next meeting was not held until 18 January 1965, at which the committee structure of the Institute was discussed, now that the Centre for Materials Science was incorporated. It was proposed that there would be changes in membership of the General Committee. Membership in 1963 had consisted of the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (chair); Dean of the Faculty of Science; academic staff; and representatives of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The minutes record that it was proposed that membership would now consist of the Dean of the Faculty of Science (chair); Vice-Chancellor (ex officio); Vice-Principal (ex officio); representatives from each Divisional Management committee; and representatives from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
The committee's terms of reference were to be responsible for the overall development of the Institute, including the establishment of new Divisions, and for satisfactory co-ordination between Divisions; to be responsible for the attraction of finance to the Institute; to consider an Institute building should this be possible; and to allocate funds to each Division where appropriate and where a block grant from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is concerned to approve its allocation as between projects. The Divisional Management Committees would be sub-committtees of the General Committee.
There are minutes for two further meetings held after January 1965. Minutes of the first, held on 9 February 1966, include a detailed report of the Manufacturing Processes Division for the period 1962-1965, and a short report of the Centre for Materials Science. Minutes of the second, held on 30 May 1968, include reports of both the Manufacturing Processes Division and the Centre for Materials Science, giving information about current research projects; future planning; and financing of research projects. The report of the Centre for Materials Science covers the period January 1966 to April 1968 and is the first real report of the Centre and its work
Although the meeting held on 30 May 1968 is the last documented meeting of the General Committee, the records also include an agenda for a meeting of the Management Committee of the Manufacturing Processes Division, to be held on 13 November 1968, which gives a list of current research projects and applications |