This body was first established in 1966 as a sub-committee of the Colleges Committee to enquire into future numbers of undergraduate and graduate students. In May 1967, it was reorganised as a joint committee of the Colleges Committee and the Council of the Senate, with the name the Joint Committee on Future Student Numbers. It reported in November 1968. In March 1970 it was reconvened, under the chairmanship of Gordon Sutherland (1907-1980), Master of Emmanuel College, and with the name Joint Committee on Student Numbers. Its remit was 'to make recommendations on the future size and shape of the University ... on the total numbers of students to be accommodated in the University and Colleges alike reading for first degrees and postgraduate degrees, diplomas and certificates and on their distribution between undergraduates and postgraduates, between men and women, and between Faculties and subjects, in the light of the resources available ...'.