Campaign Goals
Scholarship of the highest order is at the heart of Cambridge's ability to produce the research that transforms our understanding of the world, and nurture future leaders who will shape it for the greater good.
In order to maintain the University's ability to realise the transformative power of its research and teaching and meet the challenges that face each successive generation, the Campaign is focused on four key areas of investment:
From policy-makers to poets, academics to leaders in business, society, politics and culture, generations of talented students have graduated from Cambridge with one of the most highly valued degrees in the world – and an enduring spirit of radical enquiry.
Cambridge is determined to continue to seek out the brightest students from around the world. This requires support ranging from bursaries and scholarships to specialised resources for students with families and those with disabilities. Support is also required for Cambridge's energetic and imaginative outreach programmes that raise the aspirations and skills of talented young people from diverse backgrounds, who might not feel that Cambridge is for them.
To sustain strong academic leadership of teaching and research in a global market for talent, Cambridge must invest in people and programmes and in the facilities that house them. Support is required to:
- Create new academic posts to meet growing demand and push the boundaries of understanding through pioneering research.
- Build and refurbish facilities to provide the resources to support teaching and research in the 21st century.
- Invest in bold new, cross-disciplinary programmes and collaborations.
Creativity and discovery flourish when brilliant minds have the freedom to explore, and it is a testament to the vitality and integrity of the intellectual environment at Cambridge that it has produced a remarkable 83 Nobel Prize winners.
It is vital that the University has the resources to take risks on its own account, backing and sustaining singular talent, and investing in the power of ideas. The Campaign is:
- Seeking seed capital to enable the academic Schools and Departments to develop innovative research ideas to the point where they become attractive to external funders.
- Building the Vice-Chancellor's Strategic Fund, which is used to back new initiatives and support new talent.
- Creating more junior research fellowships in the Colleges and post-doctoral fellowships in the University, providing young academics with the opportunity to spend three or four years exploring new ideas and pursuing research without significant teaching or administrative duties.
- Developing centres of excellence with the capacity to bring scholars from around the world to Cambridge to engage in innovative and collaborative research programmes.
Cambridge's great libraries and collections are scholarly resources of outstanding international significance. Increasingly, through digitisation, they are available – free – to anyone, anywhere with an internet connection and an appetite for knowledge. The University and College architecture is of enduring historic and aesthetic importance, whether medieval or modern, as well as intrinsic to the experience of living and working here.
To sustain and develop these unique resources for future generations, and continue to be able to draw on the past to enrich the future, the University and Colleges require support for:
- Maintaining and enhancing the libraries, museums and architectural heritage that make Cambridge such a distinctive and beautiful place to learn.
- Posts, programmes and technologies that will increase the accessibility and value of our collections to the wider academic community and to the world at large.
- Programmes to maintain our historic buildings and to create new buildings of architectural distinction and enduring value.
What made Cambridge special for me was the people and the sense of community – the feeling of being treated as an equal and belonging to something bigger than yourself... My time here – so different from my preconceptions of Cambridge – has made me determined to share my experiences with students as unsure about applying to Cambridge as I was four years ago.
Charlotte Richer (Jesus, 2004), Liaison Officer, Cambridge Admissions Office
With its commitment to rigorous intellectual collaboration, outstanding resources and uncompromising support of its academics and students, Cambridge provides the most nurturing environment in which to test new ideas. The resulting advances in fundamental knowledge underpin applications of new knowledge in diverse areas such as biomedicine that benefit the whole of society.
Azim Surani CBE, Professor of Physiology and Reproduction
Cambridge's libraries, museums and historic buildings are amongst the finest in the world. Throughout its 800 years, Cambridge has enjoyed philanthropic support for these great collections and historic buildings. It is important that this history of philanthropy is reinvigorated for the Cambridge 800th Anniversary Campaign, to preserve and enhance the collections and buildings for future generations.
Dr David Starkey (Fitzwilliam, 1964), Historian, Broadcaster and Writer
Cambridge made me. I played sport, I directed plays, I wrote some bad poetry and had it published. I learned to use a film camera. Oh yes, and I did some work as well. Whoever you are, whever you come from, at Cambridge you will always find a means of expression.
Sam Mendes (Peterhouse, 1984), Film Director
Our students make us into better teachers by the demands they make and the challenges they offer: they really make us think. To witness the growth of a student's intellectual personality, and to know that you've played a part is what makes this job so rewarding.
Dr Gavin Alexander, Lecturer in English, 2008 Pilkington Award-winner
Cambridge is a great place! We have outstanding, committed colleagues, first-rate facilities for research and scholarship and excellent students who form an integral part of our community. The support of our benefactors is ensuring that Cambridge continues to attract the very best by providing them with the resources and freedom necessary to fully develop their potential.
Dame Jean Thomas CBE, Master of St Catherine's College, Professor of Macromolecular Biochemistry
