The Oxonia University Network and Oxford City Academy Leadership Programmes

Software is only half of change

A Vice-Chancellor can buy the best platform in the world and still find, a year later, that papers are printed, marks are typed into spreadsheets and AI is used without a policy. The technology was ready. The people, processes and governance were not.

Universities that change well tend to share three things: leaders who understand what is possible, staff who are trained and confident, and peers elsewhere to learn from. Oxonia is designed to help with all three, through the organisation that stands behind it.

Experience in many universities points the same way. When senior leaders understand what the tools can do, they ask for the right reports, set sensible policies and model new habits in their own committees. When staff are trained, they trust the tools and use them. And when a university can talk to others that have walked the same road, it avoids their mistakes. Each of these is about people rather than software.

Who stands behind Oxonia

Oxonia Academy is part of Oxford City Academy for Education and Development, known as OAED. OAED was established and registered in England in 2004, company number 05216710, and is based in Oxford.

For two decades OAED has provided educational services to institutions worldwide: leadership training, capacity building and continuing professional development, educational consultancy, and collaboration and networking between institutions. OAED is an accredited provider with The CPD Standards Office, provider number 21198.

Oxonia brings that experience into software, built for universities in the UK, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, the Gulf, Malaysia and beyond. Read more on our about page.

OAED's work draws on a group of senior consultants and advisors in higher education from other UK educational institutions and agencies. In response to demand for quality professional training from institutions and individuals outside the UK, its board chose to focus mainly on executive professional training and consulting services. Oxonia is a natural extension of that work: the same focus on how universities are led, now supported by a platform.

The Oxonia University Network

The Oxonia University Network connects member universities and partners worldwide, for collaboration and networking. Members shown on our home page include universities, colleges, centres and a national regulator, among them OxCHEPS in Oxford, the Centre for Global Education, Oxford International College, the National Universities Commission of Nigeria, Bayero University in Kano, the Medical University of Plovdiv, Yerevan State Medical University, and, in Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, UNITAR International University and MILA University.

The network gives universities facing the same challenges a way to meet and learn from each other, alongside the platform they share. Network events bring members together.

What network members receive

Universities that join the network through Oxford City Academy receive extra benefits with Oxonia:

• more AI credits every year;
• a named success manager;
• two onboarding days with our team;
• early access to new modules;
• shared templates and benchmark reports;
• network events with other members.

Members receive a network code to enter in the quote builder on the pricing page. Codes are given to members directly.

The benefits are designed for the first year in particular, when a university is setting Oxonia up. Onboarding days with our team help with sign-in, data import and training. A named success manager is a single person to call. Shared templates give members a starting point rather than a blank page, and benchmark reports help leaders see how their university compares.

Leadership programmes in Oxford

OAED runs leadership training, capacity building and continuing professional development, in Oxford, England, drawing on a group of senior consultants and advisors in higher education from other UK institutions and agencies. It also offers educational consultancy to institutions.

OAED is an accredited provider with The CPD Standards Office, provider number 21198. Current programmes and dates are listed at oxfordacademy.org.uk. And because the same organisation stands behind Oxonia, the ideas discussed in Oxford can be put into practice on the platform at home.

Pairing programmes with the platform

The platform supports the same goals the programmes do. Oxonia Policy helps a university write its AI policy, take it through Senate and train staff and students, with certificates that anyone can check online. Short lessons can even be delivered on WhatsApp. Compass gives leaders a live view of the university, and Senate makes governance faster and more transparent.

A leadership team that has studied good governance together in Oxford can then see it working in its own committees. Read how to govern AI in your university and how Compass gives the Vice-Chancellor a live cockpit.

The two work well in either order. Some universities send their senior team on a programme first, then choose the suite that fits the priorities they agreed. Others start with the platform for one faculty and use a programme to bring the wider leadership team along. Either way, the conversation in Oxford and the work on the platform reinforce each other.

Governance is a good example. A programme can explore what good committee practice looks like; in Senate, the same university can then see papers arrive on time, packs reach members securely and minutes signed with a clear record. Leaders can point to the change rather than describe it.

How to join

Universities can join the Oxonia University Network through Oxford City Academy at oxfordacademy.org.uk. Leadership programmes are listed on the same site.

To see the platform, book a demo or visit oxonia.ai. Many universities start with both: a leadership programme for the senior team and a first Oxonia suite for one faculty.

When you get in touch, tell us which country you are in, roughly how many students you have, and which part of the university you want to start with. That is enough for a first conversation about the network, the programmes and the platform.

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