Here's our 2023 Christmas card. It was created by first-year undergraduate in natural sciences Luna Kefford, who painted this view of the Selwyn chapel. There was a brilliant selection of entries in our design competition open to all Selwyn students, and this is the first time that the winner has been an undergraduate fresher.
Many congratulations to Luna - and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.
This year, our campaign focusses on the world-class teaching Selwyn provides. The Sir David Harrison Fund is a major new initiative as part of our tribute to our late master, to support teaching in the sciences, engineering and maths. Teaching is at the heart of what we do as a college. There is nothing more important than instilling the next generation with the learning that they need, and this is an area in which we now need specific investment.
On Wednesday 8th November at Selwyn the first Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogue was launched by Professor Deborah Prentice, who became VC earlier this year. The aim is to hold a series of dialogues about some of the most difficult issues of our time.
There are two purposes to these events. The first, is to establish whether there is any common ground between people who may seem to be far apart. If we are to make progress in legislation or in understanding the world we live in, we need to identify where we agree as well as where we disagree. The second, is to ensure discussions involve the widest range of viewpoints – that nothing, within the law, is taboo and that freedom of speech and of thought, and of academic debate, are upheld.
The first event tackled, literally, a matter of life and death: the question of whether assisted dying is compassionate, or dangerous for society.
The chair was Roger Mosey, the master of Selwyn, and the speakers were:
The full recording can be viewed on the University YouTube channel.
Congratulations to Oketa Zogi Shala who has been elected president of the Selwyn JCR, the body which represents our undergraduates, for 2024.
Oketa is a second year HSPS student. Growing up in a Kosovan working-class home in North London, she says that her background has influenced her deep passion in fighting for social justice and access.
Oketa will become a member of the college council and of Selwyn’s governing body from January 1st. We wish her every success during her term of office.
The college is hosting a range of events in November – keep an eye on our social media feeds for daily updates – and there are two where demand is likely to be particularly high so booking is recommended.
On Wednesday 8 November at 6pm we will be the venue for the first of the Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogues. It will focus on the question of whether assisted dying is compassionate or dangerous for society. This important discussion will happen at a time when a Bill to enable terminally ill adults to be provided with assistance to end their own life is being debated by Parliament. There have been a number of attempts to legislate in this area, all of which so far have failed, although opinion polls suggest public support for the idea.
Speakers for this inaugural Dialogue will be:
The event is public and open to all, but attendees should register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/is-assisted-dying-compassionate-or-dangerous-for-society-tickets-744028438087
Then on Friday 17 November at 6.30pm we will be asking: “Should we believe the News?” - In Conversation with Ros Atkins
Millions of people in the UK, and countless more around the world, are now deeply sceptical about the news presented by established broadcasters and newspapers. The rise of social media has eroded trust in traditional journalism, and there is a daily battle for credibility between our old concept of the truth and what can, at worst, be deliberate disinformation.
Ros Atkins is the newly-created analysis editor for the BBC, and his role is part of the corporation’s argument that factual reporting is needed more than ever. But can it succeed, and still meet the needs of increasingly polarised audiences?
Ros will be in conversation with the master Roger Mosey, a former editorial director of the BBC. We will be inviting questions from the audience. Ros Atkins has written a book “The Art of Explanation”, which will feature in the conversation, and there will be a limited number for sale after the event.
Please book your tickets on this page: https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/events/should-we-believe-news
The college welcomes the new undergraduate and postgraduate students who have joined Selwyn and the University of Cambridge this autumn. Traditional matriculation photographs took place in front of the Chapel for the undergraduate freshers and in front of the Hall for the postgraduates. We wish all our newcomers the greatest success in their studies, and they will have the support of everyone in the college community.
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Graduate Matriculation
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Undergraduate Matriculation
Photographs taken on 30 September and 2 October 2023 by Howard Beaumont.
We are pleased to announce an inaugural bridging course, to take place in September 2024, aimed at eligible students who might benefit from additional support in the transition to life at Cambridge. These students will have met all offer requirements and will be preparing to start their studies at Selwyn in October 2024. The bridging course is a cost-free mix of a residential programme at Selwyn (1–7 September 2024) and online support in the subsequent weeks.
Among other things, participants will have the opportunity to:
The course is funded by the Isaac Newton Trust’s Widening Participation and Induction Fund, and aims to support students who might benefit from additional support in moving into Cambridge’s collegiate system.
In order to be eligible, you will need to have been offered a place to study at Selwyn College beginning in October 2024. Only some of those who have been offered a place at Selwyn will be invited to attend the bridging course. If you are selected, it is because the information supplied by you or your school in the UCAS application, My Cambridge application, Additional Applicant Information Form, and/or Extenuating Circumstances Form, together with our observations at interview and assessment, suggests that there has been more than average disruption to your schooling.
Being invited to attend the bridging course is not a reflection on your ability or potential – we believe that everyone who is admitted to Selwyn has the capacity to excel at Cambridge. It is simply an indication that we think you deserve extra support at the start of your course to help with the transition.
Attendance on the bridging course will not be a formal part of your offer to study at Selwyn, but we strongly encourage you to come and join us if you are invited. Financial support will be available to offset travel expenses and any lost income from summer jobs.
If you are eligible to attend the course, this will be stated in your offer letter and you will also receive email correspondence from us about logistics and financial support.
If there is no mention of the bridging course in your offer letter, then no further action is necessary – you will simply join us for the start of the academic year in October. All students will then share an induction programme designed to introduce you to life at Selwyn.
No! There will be some work during the course, and you will be expected to attend academic sessions and engage, but the purpose is to give you experience of, and to help you get to grips with, the teaching style and pace of Cambridge, rather than assessing you.
…please do get in touch with us at admissions@sel.cam.ac.uk.
Selwyn is thrilled to be exhibiting an artwork reminding us of the preciousness of our environment in one of the college's most prestigious venues. Lincoln Sea by Zaria Forman has been installed in the Harrison Room, used for many college events, temporarily replacing the portrait of former master Arthur Lyttelton.
In 2016 and 2017 the artist was invited to join Nasa’s Operation IceBridge, a science mission that flew aeroplanes over both polar regions for more than ten years. Her remarkable pastel drawings capture the experience of flying over vast polar landscapes.
Forman says: “I was privileged to witness an entirely new perspective of these icy environments, and one that few people have ever seen. For most of us, the polar ice sheets are just giant white spots on a map. (And indeed, they sometimes look like that from the air!). But the IceBridge scientists and engineers know that there’s rapid change occurring beneath the surface—a complex interplay of freshwater rivers, valleys of bedrock, and warmer ocean waters eating away at glaciers from beneath.”
This artwork is presented in collaboration with Silverstrand Philanthropies, a Singapore-based grant maker focused on enhancing biodiversity through advocacy, capacity building, and research. Our thanks to alumnus Kelvin Chiu (2005) for facilitating and supporting the loan of this artwork.
If you are holding a conditional offer of a place at Selwyn College and have met all the conditions in your offer and have the grades required, congratulations! We will contact you via email, and you will soon see your confirmation through UCAS Hub. There is no need for you to contact us.
If you have not quite met the offer, please be patient as we will be in touch with you once our decisions are finalised.
If you are not holding an offer from us, we regret we cannot take an application at this time. Please do not contact the college.
Selwyn College, like all the colleges of Cambridge University, does not participate in clearing.
If your examination results are much better than expected and you are not eligible for August Reconsideration and you wish to try for a place at Cambridge, the only option is to apply in the next admissions cycle for entry in October 2024.
There is more information from the University available here: http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying
Sweden’s foreign minister Tobias Billström gave a talk at Selwyn on April 16th about why his country has joined NATO. He warned that the world is going through a dangerous phase: not just the Russian attack on Ukraine, but also China’s intentions and the current crisis in the Middle East. These changing circumstances were why Sweden decided to relinquish the neutrality that it has held for more than two centuries.
An MA graduation ceremony was held in the university Senate House on Saturday April 6th. Selwyn’s graduands gathered in Old Court on a warm, windy Spring day and then made the journey into the centre of the city via West Bye Lane and King’s College.
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Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Selwyn three minute thesis competition. It’s an opportunity for undergraduate and postgraduate students to explain their academic work - against the clock.
Alumni and friends along with current fellows and students gathered in the magnificent setting of the Drapers' Hall in London to mark the life of our former master Sir David Harrison (1930-2023) and the success already of the fund established in his memory.
