£1.25 million gift to Wolfson College

Wolfson College Cambridge has announced that the Wolfson Foundation, after which the College is named, has made a grant of £1.25 million for the College’s 50th anniversary campaign.
The gift will transform the lives of students living and working at the College, and will support generations of students in their work at the highest international levels of excellence.
The Wolfson Foundation established the College on a firm footing in 1972 with a grant that secured its future. On 1 January 1973, the College’s name was changed from University College to Wolfson College Cambridge.
At its inception, the College had just six students. Today it is transforming the lives of almost 1,000 postgraduates, mature undergraduates and part-time students. Wolfson College will reach its 50th anniversary in 2015, and its vision is to become the College of choice for postgraduates and mature undergraduates at the University of Cambridge.
Wolfson College’s £5 million 50th anniversary campaign has the interests of its students at its core. The campaign aims to provide modern, environmentally sustainable accommodation for the College’s mature student body; to increase the College’s ability to provide scholarships, academic prizes and conference grants to support the world’s best students; and to provide bursaries to allow those without the financial means to flourish in Wolfson’s uniquely inclusive, egalitarian and cosmopolitan environment.
The £1.25 million gift will enable the College to refurbish extensively the core student accommodation built with the original Wolfson Foundation grant in 1972. It will enable the College to meet the wide-ranging needs of its diverse student community, creating a living environment that supports them in achieving their academic potential. And it will provide a welcoming home for the College’s students, who often bring with them a partner or family.
The project is environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient, in keeping with the College’s commitment to carbon reduction, and is essential to the College’s long-term goals.
Wolfson College President Professor Sir Richard Evans said: “This transformational gift from the Wolfson Foundation comes at a momentous point in the history of Wolfson College, and provides a firm foundation for the forthcoming 50 years and beyond.”
Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside Wolfson College to fund this important project in the build up to the College’s 50th anniversary. It is an endorsement of the outstanding work of the College and its current leadership.