THE man who has put Cambridge University at the top of the fundraising tree has arrived in Oxford, pledging to create a "philanthropic culture".

Development director Mike Smithson, credited with helping to forge Cambridge's 'silicon fen' image, has started work at Oxford University.

He wants to bring charitable giving in England up to its level in the US, where it accounts for almost two per cent of gross domestic product, compared with 0.5 per cent in the UK.

He has asked the UK Treasury to consider tax breaks for benefactors. He said: "If Britain is to have universities that can compete with the very best internationally, then the leading institutions here have to have the capability to attract significant sums in philanthropic gifts."

He has welcomed changes announced in the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's pre-Budget, by which benefactors cut their own tax bills by making donations of shares and bonds.

During his four years at Cambridge he oversaw record fundraising, with £100m raised in the last two years alone.

A university spokesman, Nicky Old, played down suggestions of poaching. "He was appointed following an open recruitment process to find a successor to Dr Jill Pellew, who left the university at the end of September," she said.

Mr Smithson, who was a journalist and later head of publicity for the RSPCA, will arrive at Oxford to find several big projects under way, including the £45m Said Business School, the £27m Rothermere American Institute and the university swimming pool in Iffley Road.

Oxford, the first UK university with a properly structured development office, has raised more than £225m through the Campaign for Oxford.

Story date: Wednesday 15 December

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