Friends of Robinson College

In the past many parents of Robinsonians expressed the wish that there was a formal mechanism for staying in touch with Robinson after their child's graduation. With this in mind we launched "The Friends of Robinson College" in 2005 and now invite parents, friends and relatives of our College Members to become Friends.

Friends receive the College magazine, Bin Brook, twice a year and regular email news updates about achievements, activities and events. They are invited to join us for College and Alumni events, such as the Varsity Match, the Annual Reception and concerts, and may make use of the College's renowned accommodation and conference facilities at prevailing alumni rates, subject to availability. The current alumni rate for conference facilities is a 10% discount on list price.

To become a Friend of Robinson, please complete and return this form. There is no membership fee for Friends, but we ask you to make a regular monthly, quarterly or annual donation according to your means. Donations from the Friends will be used to support College activities, such as supervision teaching, sports and music, and facilities, like the Library, maintenance of the buildings and the beautiful gardens.

Robinson College is unique. As Cambridge University's only purpose-built co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate College, the College and its governing Fellowship have a progressive and highly inclusive approach to their mission of providing world-class education to students from throughout the globe. In 2003/4, the College's income was £665,000 less than the full cost of educating our students. That is £1,750 per student, per year. As a very young Cambridge college, Robinson has not yet had time to build a significant endowment of the sort enjoyed by the older colleges. In 2004/5, a mere 25% of our income came from academic fees and charges and only 10% from investment income. State support continues to decline: the "College Fee" - supplementary funding received by the Universities of Cambridge, Durham and Oxford to support the Collegiate system - reduces in real terms each year as part of a phased reduction in Government funding. It should be noted that although the advent of "top-up" fees in 2006/7 brought directly additional income to the central University, it did not benefit the individual colleges, which bear many of the costs of the supervision system - an essential part of the world-class education that Robinson and Cambridge offers. The balance was therefore made up with income from conferences and student accommodation, residential services and, very importantly, gifts from our friends and alumni.

It is a founding principle that no candidate applying to Robinson should ever be evaluated on political, racial, religious or social grounds. This commitment to access through merit alone was the over-riding, guiding value for our founder Benefactor, the late Sir David Robinson, and the founding Fellows. Today, Robinson is the embodiment of that founding dream: a confident, progressive, forward-thinking, and enterprising academic community, genuinely mixed by gender, race, politics, education, religion and social background. We are proud of our reputation for achievement and strive to provide ever-wider access to academic excellence in a friendly, informal atmosphere. Our members. successes, in all walks of life, enrich the communities within which they choose to live and work.

By becoming a Friend, you will not only remain in close contact with the College and an important part of our community, but you will help Robinson to continue to offer excellence in education to outstanding students from all backgrounds and walks of life. Do join us!