The Integrated Charging Mechanism (ICM) is a means of streamlining the charges paid by the colleges to the University. It is a convenient and cost-effective method of the colleges contributing to services provided by the University on their behalf.
The ICM does not set charge levels for the College body as a whole. The level of charges are agreed between individual service areas and the colleges. Typically, a Bursar leads discussions with one or more service areas before formal agreement by the Estates Bursars' Committee and the Conference of Colleges.
The ICM is run twice each year. The initial version updates the charges for each area, whilst the in-year adjustment updates the driver data for the distribution of these charges across the Colleges.
