News Articles

The college is delighted to have hosted its second General Admission of the year – this time principally for the undergraduates whose degree ceremony was postponed in 2020.

Cambridge University was one of the first in the country to reintroduce in-person graduations, and the ceremony for this year’s undergraduates took place on schedule in July. On September 11th we were able to catch up with the students who had previously missed out, and Selwyn offered them a formal leaving dinner hosted by the Master and Fellows - and then a day when they and their families could celebrate their achievements.

In the university Senate House there was a mix of some degrees being awarded in the usual way; but also some students being “congratulated” if they had previously taken their degree in absence. The ceremony was the same for all, except for a slightly different phrase in Latin!

Our photographs show the traditional graduands’ photo being taken in Old Court; then the procession making its way down West Road; and finally families and friends enjoying a picnic provided by the college.

Selwyn emeritus fellow Professor Sir Colin Humphreys has been awarded one of the premier medals by the Royal Society. They are the Society's most prestigious medals and recognise exceptional and outstanding science. The citation for his Royal Medal reads: “Sir Colin Humphreys CBE FREng FRS, for excelling in basic and applied science, university-industry collaboration, technology development and transfer, academic leadership, promotion of public understanding of science, and advising on science to public bodies.”

Colin Humphreys is a materials scientist who has carried out valuable work on the electron microscopy of semiconducting materials. His world-leading research on gallium nitride (GaN) has resulted in a substantially improved understanding of this important material with a wide range of technological applications.

We send him congratulations from the college for this recognition of his work. Read about all this year’s awards here: https://royalsociety.org/news/2021/08/medals-awards-2021/

Cambridge University has announced that around 72% of its incoming home undergraduates this autumn will be from state schools. This is a record number. Here at Selwyn the number is higher still, with 80% of new home students coming from the maintained sector.

This is the position at the college as the admissions round comes to an end:

We will have 121 undergraduates starting at Selwyn in October. This is our usual number, and there have been no deferrals or allocations to other colleges. It contrasts with 137 last year when we accepted a greater number of students due to a revision in A-level grades, but around 120 is our customary intake.

The students have been selected from 734 initial applications, our second highest total ever, and from many others considered via the pool system. The successful candidates average 3 A* at A-Level or 44/45 marks in the IB.

82% of the incoming students are from the UK, with the rest from overseas. We have met most of our widening participation targets, which means that the college attracts students from a wide range of backgrounds; and we will continue to work hard to make sure that Selwyn is open to everyone of high talent.

Our congratulations to all the students who will be joining us. For anyone thinking of applying in future, all the information you need is here: https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/joining-selwyn/undergraduates

EXAM RESULTS

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 Track. 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 adjustment 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 2022.

There is more information from the University available here: http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/applying

On Friday July 2nd the college held its first in-person graduation ceremony since the start of the pandemic. The University of Cambridge General Admission took place across four days, with students receiving their degrees in the Senate House. The Selwyn contingent formed the traditional procession from the college to the centre of the city, led by the head porter, master and praelector. Earlier in the week they were entertained to a graduation dinner, which this year was held in the marquee on Old Court lawn.  

We offer our heartiest congratulations to all our new graduates. We’re looking forward to more in-person events during the course of the summer, including a delayed General Admission for the 2020 cohort on September 11th.

For more photographs please see our social media feeds.

The Selwyn College and University of Cambridge open days take place on July 8th and 9th.

We've made a video which you can watch anytime and which introduces the college and its people to potential applicants. You’ll also see our beautiful site on the west side of Cambridge.

https://youtu.be/XlozOFfvi8I

The open days themselves will be online. Click here for all the details:

https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/joining-selwyn/undergraduates/open-days

There’s also all the information you might need on our undergraduate admissions page:

https://www.sel.cam.ac.uk/joining-selwyn/undergraduates

A new enhanced bursary scheme is being launched by the University of Cambridge to support undergraduate students facing financial pressures. Over the next ten years, more than £100 million will be awarded to students across all the colleges including Selwyn. The additional funding, to help with living costs, will enable students to enjoy the benefits a Cambridge education offers, regardless of their personal financial circumstances. Students will start benefiting from October 2021.

The new scheme is being made possible through the generosity of philanthropic donations from alumni and friends of the collegiate University. The Harding Challenge, established by David and Claudia Harding as part of their £100 million gift to Cambridge in February 2019, was designed to underpin this expansion in bursary provision. A number of donations to Selwyn have attracted matched funding from the Hardings.

Far more students will qualify for support since the threshold for eligibility will rise from the current maximum household income of £42,620 to £62,215. The University expects 25 – 30% of students will be eligible for the enhanced support (currently it’s around 20%). Once fully rolled out, around 700 students will also qualify for an additional £1,000 because they were eligible for free school meals.

UK students can apply to the Student Loans Company for a maintenance loan to cover basic living costs. There is widespread take-up of these loans: repayments are linked to future earnings which means they are more like a tax than conventional debt, and they are an invaluable support to making University more affordable for as many students as possible.  However, research conducted by the University suggests many students struggle to meet all their expenses because parents often can’t afford to contribute to the extent that these means-tested loans assume they will. It’s these financial gaps that the new bursary scheme will help to alleviate.

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope, said:

“This new enhanced bursary scheme, which wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of donors, will help to ease some of our students' financial worries. The scheme’s launch means far more students will be eligible for support. This is particularly relevant now, at a time when many families’ incomes have been affected adversely by the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The launch of the enhanced bursary scheme follows a pilot scheme involving 20 colleges – including this one – and established and largely funded by Trinity College. Students in receipt of these bursaries said they were able to participate more fully in the academic and wider student activities Cambridge has to offer. The awards also had a positive impact on their mental well-being, reducing the anxieties they had about finances. Colleges also noted that there was a marked reduction in applications for hardship funding in-year. 

Dr Mike Sewell, Senior Tutor of Selwyn College, said:

“The enhanced bursary scheme targets support at students from families whose income is less than £60,000 a year. This removes barriers to such students coming to Cambridge and helps them to participate fully in University life. It not only makes it easier for them to thrive while studying here, it also relieves their families of significant concerns.”

The University’s Faculty of Education has conducted research to find out how effective this level of support is for students. This found it contributes substantially to their wellbeing, participation in academic life and student societies, and overall student experience.

Under the new scheme, bursaries of up to £3,500 per year will be given to students from households with an assessed income of up to £62,215, without any application needed. Previously students were given support if the assessed income rose to £42,620. The bursary will be tapered so those at the lower end will receive more. For example, all undergraduates from households with assessed incomes below £25,000 will receive the full amount. Those at the top end will receive £100. The amount they receive is a grant and so is non-repayable. Awards will be further enhanced for students who join the University from local authority care or who are estranged from their families. In addition, the scheme will include a supplementary award of £1,000 per year to all low-income students who qualified for free school meals, contributing to a bursary of £4,500 in each year of their undergraduate studies.

The photograph shows students at a Selwyn matriculation in 2019.

The Quarry Whitehouse auditorium was officially opened on June 4th by its principal benefactors Gareth Quarry and Jill Whitehouse. Mr Quarry and Ms Whitehouse are both Selwyn alumni, and we are deeply appreciative of their generosity.

The auditorium has hosted its first events with a live audience present: the Ramsay Murray lecture and a concert by the college Music Society. It has a capacity of around 140 in tiered seating, but it is designed to be a flexible space for a variety of meetings, conferences and performances. It is on the ground floor of the new building which completes Ann’s Court.

The college welcomed Dr Christopher Dobson (SE 1957) back to Selwyn this week to mark the completion of Ann’s Court – for which he has been the principal donor. We are enormously grateful for his substantial gifts to the college, going back over many years.

Chris, accompanied by his daughter Abigail, formally named the first two phases of the project as the Christopher Dobson Building. He then unveiled a plaque on the new library and auditorium which marks the contribution that he and his wife Ann – after whom the Court is named – have made to the college. The photograph shows Chris visiting the library with Abigail, and accompanied by the master of Selwyn Roger Mosey (left) and the vice-chancellor of the university Professor Stephen Toope (right).

The cost of the third phase of construction was just under £13m, and all the money was raised by Selwyn alumni and friends.

The college is delighted to report that the new library and auditorium building is open for Selwyn students from Friday, April 30th. In the first instance, the Bartlam library will be available as additional study space.

The building is a major declaration by the college in providing excellent facilities for students; and it has been funded – at a total figure of close to £13m – entirely by alumni and friends. We’re enormously grateful for their gifts to future generations.

Here's the latest information on both the college libraries:

Study space: current library

If you are in Cambridge, you can continue to use the old college library for study space. We have been able to increase the number of spaces available, in line with our Covid-related risk assessments. You will need to book a space and sit in the location you have booked. You do not need to book to access the printer/copier/scanner or to borrow and return books and DVDs.

Study space: Bartlam Library

If you wish to use the new space, you must first book a brief familiarisation visit so we can let you know how to use the building safely. Future familiarisation visits will be advertised on the Bartlam Library (study space) guide, or you will be able to email the library to arrange one.

You can book a study space on the first or second floor of the new library, or book one of the two study rooms, using our booking calendar. You will also find more information on what to expect in the new space this term in our guide.

The Bartlam library will open fully in time for the start of Michaelmas Term. We will be moving the library collection during the long vacation, along with the printer/copier/scanner, remaining MCS PCs, and other resources. We will also be adding adjustable desk chairs and armchairs to the new library, together with extra facilities and seating in the library common room. Students are getting a sneak preview now, but there's more to come.