̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and ̽��ֱ��Duchess of Cornwall visit Cambridge to mark auspicious anniversaries

ag236 — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 13:00:16 +0000

Their Royal Highnesses were welcomed to the Fitzwilliam Museum by by the Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Sir Hugh Duberly, by the Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, and by the Museum’s Director, Mr Tim Knox.

At the Museum, they met pupils from King’s Hedges School and Soham Village College taking part in educational activities designed by the museum to allow primary school children to interact with the exhibits.

̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and ̽��ֱ��Duchess of Cornwall met staff from the Fitzwilliam Museum, and were shown treasures from the Museum’s collection including a unique sculpture in wax, “Arabesque over the Right Leg, Left Arm in Front”, by Edgar Degas, and a European medieval illuminated manuscript.

Staff from the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library demonstrated the latest digitisation techniques, and displayed rare items from the UL’s collection including a copy of Charles Darwin’s On the origin of species by means of natural selection (1859) and Andreas Vesalius De humani corporis fabrica librorum epitome (1543).

Also at the Fitzwilliam, Their Royal Highnesses met with representatives of ̽��ֱ��-led and local outreach, education and development initiatives including the Cambridge-Africa Programme, the Cambridge Development Initiative, the Research for Equitable Access and Learning Centre, the Campaign for Female Education, and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, of which ̽��ֱ��Prince is Patron. They were then introduced to foreign students awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarships.

Addressing Their Royal Highnesses after the Museum visit, the Vice-Chancellor said:

“It is especially gratifying to welcome ̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales back to Cambridge as one of our most distinguished alumni. There are some 230,000 active members of the ̽��ֱ��’s alumni networks around the world. His Royal Highness is not only one of the most prominent among them, but also one of the most supportive of the ̽��ֱ��. We are grateful for his key role as Patron to the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and to the Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust.”

In the afternoon, Their Royal Highnesses attended a rehearsal of the King’s College Choir.

̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge on Tuesday 29 November to mark the Fitzwilliam Museum’s bicentenary and to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� Library

His Royal Highness is not only one of the most prominent among our alumni, but also one of the most supportive of the ̽��ֱ��.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

Nick Saffell

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Cambridge has waived application fees for graduate students from most African countries

ag236 — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 09:54:52 +0000

Applause greeted the statement by Professor David Dunne, Director of the Cambridge-Africa Programme, as he confirmed that Cambridge has waived the usual application fee for nationals of many of the world’s least developed countries.

Welcoming participants to the third edition of the Cambridge-Africa Day, he expressed his aspiration that this policy will allow Cambridge to attract increasing numbers of talented graduate students to the various scholarship schemes available for Sub-Saharan students.

“ ̽��ֱ��purpose of the Cambridge-Africa Programme is to make Cambridge’s support available to African researchers working on African problems, allowing them to build capacity in their home universities.” ̽��ֱ��fee waiver, he added, is a “major contribution” to that effort.

In his opening remarks, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, asked: “Why should academic institutions get involved in tackling some of the world’s most insoluble problems?”

“Because we have to decide what our values are, and how they allow us to succeed in our mission. Cambridge’s mission is to contribute to society through education, learning and research. ̽��ֱ��definition of society has changed over the past 800 years –but today that society is global.”

He added: “Being high on league tables does not make a university global. ̽��ֱ��real challenge is: what are you giving up? How are you sharing your influence to support other institutions? It’s not about aggrandising oneself, but about aggrandising others.”

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor described the capacity building Cambridge-Africa Programme, set up in 2008, as an ambitious, long-term project with sustainability at its heart. “Cambridge-Africa is about planting seeds that allow partner institutions to thrive.”

Addressing a packed auditorium in Emmanuel College’s Queen’s Building, the Vice-Chancellor mentioned the Programme’s partnerships with over 50 African institutions across 23 countries, including its two regional hubs at the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana, Legon, and at Makerere ̽��ֱ��, in Uganda.

̽��ֱ��Programme has enlisted the expertise and mentorship of a network of over 200 Cambridge collaborators, and to date has supported 70 African post-doctoral researchers and 35 African PhD students.

“ ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has invested £4 million pounds in the Cambridge-Africa Programme, and has leveraged that to attract £6.9 million to the ̽��ֱ�� for its mentorship and collaboration initiatives”, he said. “Crucially, this has led to almost £21.9 million in external funding being allocated to our African partners”.

In the day’s first keynote address, Kenyan palaeontologist Professor Richard Leakey said that internationally renowned universities like Cambridge should do more to educate civil servants and policymakers in Africa about the importance of research and education:

“A ̽��ֱ�� like Cambridge can play a much bigger role in Africa by interacting with African government at the highest level.”

He assured the audience of students, academics, administrators, NGO representatives and philanthropists that the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is likely to be identified with the next major breakthrough in our understanding of African history.

“ ̽��ֱ��story of Africa is important for Africa, and Africans. There is a gap of self awareness in terms of who we are. We have an opportunity to see some real cooperation between Cambridge and Kenya.”

̽��ֱ��afternoon’s keynote speaker, Her Excellency Mrs Toyin Saraki, made an eloquent plea for closer collaboration between universities and Africa’s maternal and neo-natal health specialists.

Mrs Saraki, founder of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, a non-profit organisation working with governments and NGOs across Africa to ensure better maternal, new-born and child health, remarked on the difficulties faced by women in her own country, Nigeria –where 14% of women are likely to die from maternal mortality complications.

“I started the Wellbeing Foundation out of personal suffering. We’ve moved beyond the suffering to providing the solutions.”

She challenged the audience to consider how academic research can cascade down to impact individuals at a community level: “What we need from our partnership with universities is the evidence that will allow us to advocate for the necessary support to improve maternal health and those providing it.”

̽��ֱ��day’s final keynote speaker, Professor Ebenezer Owusu, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana, recalled the collaborative links between his institution and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge going back to 1948, when Cambridge academics helped to found what was then called the ̽��ֱ�� of the Gold Coast.

“Cambridge has long offered opportunities to train Ghana’s human capital and help meet Ghana’s developmental needs,” he said, reflecting on how the Cambridge-Africa Partnership for Research Excellence (CAPREx) has helped build capacity in research management at the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana.

“There is a shift in the place of Africa in the world today,” he said. “It is amplified by the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative, and by the resoluteness of African growth in the face of an economic downturn. Yet the continent’s higher education institutions have not changed. There is a need for more inclusive partnerships with universities like Cambridge.”

He added: “Africa must lead research initiatives in solving African problems.There is a need for a new type of partnership: equal partnership in the generation of knowledge and creative solutions, not just for Africa abut for the world.”

At the end of a day that included discussions on collaborations in African archaeology, conservation, maternal health, plant science, pharmacology, social enterprise and student-led Africa-focussed initiatives, Professor Eilís Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for International Affairs summed up the key ideas:

“We’ve learned about the need to study a problem in the population most affected by it. We’ve heard about the multiplying effect of training the key people in any discipline. We’ve considered the challenges of mentoring, and raised the question of whether we are doing enough to equip people to operate in challenging environments. And we are clear about the challenges of new partnerships, and the role of African universities in leading those partnerships.”

Regarding the sustainability of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s engagement with Africa, she concluded: “Frankly, it’s here to stay”.

Details of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's Graduate Admissions policy for applicants from Least Developed and Low-Income Countries can be found here.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ��’s policy on graduate admissions was reiterated at the opening of the third Cambridge-Africa Day

̽��ֱ��Cambridge-Africa Programme is about planting seeds that allow partner institutions to thrive.

Professor Sir Leszek Borysewicz

Nic Marchant

Prof Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cambridge Development Initiative

̽��ֱ��Prince of Wales and ̽��ֱ��Duchess of Cornwall visit Cambridge to mark auspicious anniversaries

Cambridge has waived application fees for graduate students from most African countries