There’s just a short time left before the October 15th deadline for applications to Cambridge for 2017. Here's the information from the university: http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying
And for help in choosing a college, the new Selwyn prospectus is available online: http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/…/Selwyn_College_Prospectus-2017.p…. There’s also plenty of information on this website: http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/
Good luck!
Selwyn has been welcoming its new students at the start of the academic year. The formal opening session for new undergraduates took place earlier than usual, on Sunday afternoon – with short addresses from the Master, Senior Tutor and JCR President. Then matriculation on Monday morning was followed by the traditional photograph on the lawn of Old Court. Our graduate and undergraduate community includes people from Britain, Europe and across the world – emphasising that it’s ‘business as usual’ for Selwyn despite the UK’s changing relationship with the EU.
The photograph below shows Dr Mike Sewell (Senior Tutor) and Dr Stewart Sage (Praelector) in Hall just ahead of matriculation.
Selwyn celebrated the 40th anniversary of the admission of women students with a reunion and dinner on Saturday September 24th. There was an excellent turnout from the 1976 year group, the first to be co-educational. The Master, Roger Mosey, used the occasion to salute the pioneers – and to underline the College’s commitment to diversity. Here’s an extract from his speech:
“The admission of women was part of a movement for equality that has made Cambridge and our country better places. It is, happily, impossible now to imagine that we could lock out more than 50% of the population and deny them access to our education. The women of Selwyn have gone on to distinguish themselves in a wide range of fields, and – like our men students – they have enriched their communities and their families and friends because of the doors that were opened to them, and the learning they undertook.
“They started out in a world still very different to today. In 1976 it was illegal, under the threat of prison, for gay undergraduates to have a sexual relationship. The age of consent remained at 21 until 1994. Race relations had a long way to go too. As a small example, The Black and White Minstrel Show was broadcast on television until 1978. Awareness of disability was low, and it wasn’t until 1995 that we got a Disability Discrimination Act.
“And yet we also know in 2016 that we still have a long way to go. It was only a tiny minority of the population who vented their xenophobia in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, but the hurt to immigrant communities and the damage to our national reputation were significant. We do have our second woman prime minister, but women are seriously underrepresented in our FTSE 100 companies. Even here in Cambridge University, we can’t be said to have achieved equality: there simply aren’t enough women in senior positions. We have also seen the bravery it requires for students to say that they’re transgender, and the amount of pastoral support that’s required to help any of our community if they face individual challenges or decide to take a less conventional path in life.
“I therefore want to renew the commitment which was made by the decision to admit women, and which is still needed today: we are open to everyone irrespective of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religion… and the most important thing of all is that people have the right to be themselves. Our chaplain always says at the Freshers’ service that Cambridge can be about finding out who you are, an important step in a long journey – and we want to nurture whatever it is that our students want to become, with the values that have sustained the college since its foundation.
“There is something vital to add to that, too. None of this qualifies our commitment to free speech or to intellectual inquiry. Respecting people as individuals doesn’t mean that we can’t discuss the big issues of our time openly – and we don’t want to retreat into a place where there are taboos around thinking about our society, and debating whether we’ve got the balance right between our national community and personal rights. Selwyn and Cambridge are lively, disputatious places; and I hope we show every day that we can provide exhilarating exploration of ideas and respectful behaviour towards our colleagues.
“So we have here a College which is proud of its diversity – proud of what 40 years of women, and men, have added to our lives.”
As part of the Cambridge University Alumni Weekend from September 23rd to 25th, Selwyn will be offering three contrasting lectures delivered by its Fellows. They are all scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday September 24th.
This is the time of year when prospective students start thinking about their choice of University or College for a potential start date in 2017 – and Selwyn has produced a new prospectus to help with that decision. It features detailed information about what to expect if you come to Selwyn, and includes a wide range of photographs of daily life at the College. The Master’s basset hound YoYo makes an appearance too, alongside some of our current students.
We set out our aim for the College on the opening page: “Selwyn is a special place. It provides a supportive, exciting community in which students excel academically and personally, and make the very best of their time in Cambridge.” You can read the prospectus online Selwyn_College_Prospectus 2017; or to have your own copy delivered, please fill in the form here http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/order-prospectus/.
The College was delighted to welcome a large group of prospective students to its latest Summer
School. The aim is to give a flavour of life at Selwyn and at Cambridge through a combination of
academic sessions and socialising. Our new Schools Liaison Officer, Michelle Tang, has written an
account of what went on.
Summer
School News Article 2016
People have often said that Selwyn’s gardens are one of Cambridge’s best-kept secrets. They’re not on the busiest tourist routes; but for visitors who discover them, and for our students and staff, they’re a wonderful place for a gentle walk and some relaxation.
Now we’re inviting more visitors to share the experience. We’re going to be part of “Open Cambridge”, the University’s weekend celebrating the rich and diverse heritage of our city. It’s the first time we’ve offered a guided tour of the Selwyn gardens as part of this event, and to mark the occasion our head gardener Paul Gallant has been interviewed about his work. You can read more at /sites/default/files/assets/news/PaulGallant.docx. Below, Paul is photographed in front of Selwyn’s celebrated Victorian Border.
Selwyn’s gardens are open every day to visitors if you want to see the work of Paul and his team. Please call at the Porters’ Lodge in Grange Road if you need directions. There’s more about the gardens at http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/selwyn-college/college-gardens/ and there are details of all the other “Open Cambridge” activities online: http://www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/
One of the most successful books in recent months has been “Skyfaring” by Mark Vanhoenacker – a pilot’s account of the wonders of flying. It’s just out in paperback and is currently number 2 in the Sunday Times chart, and it was a best-seller in hardback too. Mark took an MPhil in History at Selwyn in the 1990s, and he went on to become a British Airways pilot.
His book has received glowing reviews. The New York Times said it was “a superb chronicle of his career as an airline pilot… Mark Vanhoenacker makes jet travel seem uncanny and intriguing all over again, finding delight in clouds, airports, rainstorms, fuel loads, sky gates, fragments of jargon, lonely electric lights on the plain, suns that rise and set four times in a single daylong journey and the fanciful names of waypoints on flight maps.” It was also a Book Of The Week on BBC Radio 4.
Mark tells us he’s not alone as a Selwyn pilot. A few months ago he found himself sharing a cockpit with Mark Benterman (SE2005). “Two Selwyn Marks, piloting a 747 to Cape Town, what are the chances?”
The Royal Society has made one of its major awards to a former Selwyn student. Sophie Wilson, who is also an Honorary Fellow of the College, has jointly received The Mullard Award - which recognises outstanding scientific work that contributes to national prosperity in the United Kingdom. Ms Wilson, along with Professor Steve Furber, was cited for “their distinguished contributions to the design and analysis of the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) microprocessor which is used in mobile phone and portable electronics world over”.
You can read the Royal Society’s news release here: https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/mullard-award/. ARM itself has been in the news this week after its £24bn takeover: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36822806
Sophie Wilson studied at Selwyn in the late 1970s, and she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in Spring 2016.
There were capacity audiences for two lectures given in the United States by Selwyn History Fellow, Dr David Smith, on the subject of “Cromwell: Hero or Villain?” The events were arranged by the college in association with Cambridge In America, which represents the university and all the colleges; and they took place in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday July 6th and at the British Embassy in Washington the following night. Alumni from across the university attended the talks, and there were lively question and answer sessions after each lecture. Our photo shows the Washington event in the Embassy’s rotunda.
The Master of Selwyn, Roger Mosey, also spoke in both cities to introduce the lectures. He used the occasion to set out briefly the Cambridge response to the Brexit referendum result. He said:
"We meet here in what is clearly a challenging time back home in the UK. But the university and colleges of Cambridge have had 800 years' experience of dealing with what the world throws at us, and we have a policy of trying to emerge all the stronger.
"So there was a very clear message from a meeting I was at with the Vice-Chancellor and others Heads of House at the start of the month. We remain a global university with international connections that matter enormously to us - and those include, and will continue to include, the continent of Europe. It's business as usual. Cambridge will pursue its collaborations in Europe, in the Americas, in Asia and Africa: right around the world.
"It's particularly important that we help to lead the UK's commitment to science, because the best Cambridge minds can change all our lives for the better with their research. And across all fields, we want the brightest and best to come to us - irrespective of their nationality or background."
