Our Current Priorities
Fitzwilliam has been at the forefront of expanding access to a world-leading Cambridge education since its inception. However, student fees provide only 27% of the College’s income each year, leaving Fitzwilliam to cross subsidise the cost of each student’s education by £2,000 per annum. The support of alumni and friends is particularly valuable to the College, as it provides the resource that enables us to provide the best possible education and support to our students. Unrestricted gifts are particularly valuable in enabling us to respond to the greatest priority when each gift is received. In addition, the College is focused on supporting these current areas of need:
Access and Outreach
Ensuring that the very best and brightest are able to access a Cambridge education at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level is vital to Fitzwilliam’s mission. Every year, Fitzwilliam hosts three open days, dozens of school visits, and runs a variety of in-person and online programmes to engage with potential applicants across the country. The College seeks support to ensure that we can expand the depth and breadth of our work so that we can continue to identify and encourage the very best applicants to study at Fitzwilliam.
Student Support
Fitzwilliam makes over 125 financial awards each year to students, to ensure that no student is unable to afford to make the most of their studies at Cambridge. Gifts to the College’s Student Opportunities fund support the costs of the Cambridge bursary scheme, which ensures that all home students from lower income backgrounds receive additional non-loan support to help with their tuition and living costs. In addition, the student opportunities fund supports awards for unexpected financial hardship, and offers additional awards for participation in sports and travel that enrich a student’s extracurricular experience.
Modern Teaching and Learning
The supervision system is at the heart of a Cambridge education. This small group teaching gives students individual contact with those at the cutting edge of their field, and the agile and intellectually rigorous nature of the supervision system helps students to learn whilst developing skills that prepare them for the rest of their lives. However, small group teaching is far more expensive than larger group or seminar teaching. Gifts to support teaching at Fitzwilliam enable the College to ensure that Fitzwilliam students continue to receive high quality small group supervisions.
Investing in the College Estate
The College’s buildings are one of Fitzwilliam’s greatest assets, but they need renewal to ensure that our spaces are fit for the demands of the 21st Century. Gifts to support the fabric of the College estate will ensure that all student bedrooms are renovated to contemporary standards needed by Fitzwilliam students, and that all students have equal access to modern facilities that are on a par with other institutions and their own expectations. In addition, a gift to the College estate is an investment in long term environmental and financial sustainability for Fitzwilliam. A renovated main site will ensure that Fitzwilliam becomes more environmentally sustainable through enhanced energy efficiency, and that the College is more financially sustainable, through the increased revenue this enhancement enables the College to generate through its summer conference business.
