Cambridge hold Europe’s highest university fundraising total

Cambridge reached a milestone of US$2.0bn during its 800th Anniversary Campaign making it the university with the highest fundraising total in Europe. A mammoth US$905m (£523m) was raised by the university’s colleges and US$1.1bn (£649 million) was raised by the university itself. This 10 year campaign to raise money had its most successful year between 2010-2011 when they raised US$215 million (£135m).

Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said that the university and colleges were “immensely grateful” to their donors, out of which a massive 54,000 are alumni who have contributed to colleges and 8000 of them to the university.

The US$640m (£390m) of legacy pledges mean that more benefactions will have been created in the future. Bill Janeway, Co-Chairman of the Campaign Board and Senior Advisor to Warburg Pincus said “the case for philanthropy and fundraising to support Britain’s great universities has never been stronger”. Fellow Co-Chairman and Senior Advisor to Morgan Stanley International, Sir David Walker acknowledged that the donors “understand the need for sustained investment” for teaching and research to maintain Cambridge’s excellence.

In the year 2010-2011, Imperial College raised £9.9m; 19% more than the previous financial year. Imperial’s alumni have doubled the participation rates and, as a result, more Rector’s Scholarships have been handed out this year than in 2010-2011. The college aims to award Rector’s Scholarships to students who meet the requirements to attend the university, but are unable to because of financial reasons. Undergraduate scholarships have increased by three times, Masters by five times and PhD scholarships have doubled.