Lucy Cavendish College
Lucy Cavendish College aims to transform women’s lives and work.
We seek to enable outstanding women aged 21 and over to achieve their academic ambitions within the University of Cambridge at a time of their lives that suits them.
Current target
We aim to build a fund of £3 million to generate support for undergraduate and graduate students in the form of bursaries, scholarships and hardship assistance.
Buying an Allia Bond is one of the ways that you can help us achieve this target.
About us
Lucy Cavendish College is unique. It admits undergraduate and graduate women students who are over 21 and is the only college of its type in the UK. We are the latest and perhaps the last women's college to be founded in the United Kingdom.
The University of Cambridge first admitted women to full degrees in 1947. Lucy Cavendish was established in 1965 and was an experimental female college for women graduates. The development of the College grew out of the vision and determination of a handful of women. Their aim was to provide ‘practical assistance and the stimulus of regular social contact, to encourage academic achievement in teaching, learning and research.’
The Times of 11 October 1965 carried a report on this newest college for women:
‘So it is that without towers or turrets, without chaplain or Porters, without a building of its own or even a foundation grant, Britain’s first graduate college for women has quietly come into being’.
From modest beginnings, Lucy Cavendish College has developed into a fully self-governing College within the University. It has its own unique identity, is noted for its innovative approach and its continued commitment to widening women’s participation in higher education.
Near central Cambridge, close to the river Cam and just off the famous ‘Backs’, the College occupies a secluded site with a mixture of Victorian houses and elegant modern buildings.
What we do
The College provides opportunities for women over 21 from every possible background to come to study for undergraduate or graduate degrees. The College gives access to Cambridge University for talented women from non-traditional backgrounds and consistently exceeds the access targets which have been agreed for the University, with well over 80% of our undergraduate students originally coming from the state school sector.
Lucy Cavendish is a relatively new college - we will celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2015. The College has grown significantly, expanding its student numbers by 50% over the last five years to a current total of over 350 with approximately 40% undergraduates and 60% graduate students.
The top subject areas for undergraduates are: Medicine, Law, English, Veterinary Medicine, Natural Sciences and Politics, Psychology and Sociology.
The top subject areas for graduates are: Science, Education, Medicine, Management, Politics and International Studies and Engineering.
Lucy Cavendish College has undergraduates from every conceivable walk of life - banking, the theatre, international business, the police force, the health service. Our graduate students come to us from the world’s best universities. In nearly fifty years, Lucy Cavendish has established a track record for enabling women over the age of 21 to achieve their academic ambitions at the University of Cambridge and to progress to successful professional careers in fields such as law, business, medicine, veterinary science and academia. They are important figures in government departments and major international organisations. They are found in all walks of life and on every continent.
What we’re raising funds for
Support for students.
Lucy Cavendish College is committed to providing more financial support for our students, so that the new funding arrangements for higher education do not dissuade students of modest means from applying to the College, or prevent them from continuing their education once they have joined our community.
From 2012 undergraduates will be required to pay annual University tuition fees of £9,000, almost triple the fees paid currently.
Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, in his inaugural address as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge on 1st October, 2010, made a number of pertinent points regarding the future:
‘Our intention must remain to provide the resources to ensure that no undergraduate student is deterred from studying at Cambridge because of financial need...’
‘Our community is reliant on the strengths of the Colleges which are integral to the success of the University.... Without sustained philanthropy and a capacity to attract funding now and in the future, we simply won’t be able to compete with far better funded peers both in the United States and increasingly in the East....’.
Mature women students often have extreme financial need and would generally prefer help with the costs of supporting themselves (and any dependents) whilst studying rather than simply receiving bursaries for tuition costs.
Maintenance bursaries and other support, such as accommodation grants, are most attractive to them.
This issue of funding for students is of great concern to the College since our resources to support students in this way are so limited. There are many requests for help that we were unable to meet with the existing number of students, and the student numbers are growing.
Contact
Caroline Sier
Head of Development and Fellow
Telephone: 01223 764020
Email: cs554@cam.ac.uk
Or
Sarah Pesonen
Development Assistant
Telephone: 01223 339243
Email: sj214@cam.ac.uk
Visit Lucy Cavendish College website: www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk
Lucy Cavendish College - registered charity No. 1137875
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