Churchill was established by generous benefactors with a vision to promote education and research, particularly in science and technology. From its founding year in 1960 the College has flourished, producing generations of innovators and pioneers in many fields in the sciences, arts and humanities.
In recent years we have seen a huge renewal of support for the College from our alumni and friends, with contributions reaching nearly £15million in the last five years alone. These have supported several studentships for graduates, bursaries for undergraduates and ensured we were able to build Cowan Court. This award-winning building means we are now able to house all our undergraduate students on site.
We are committed to recruiting the most talented students, whatever their background, and bursaries help us to ensure that we can encourage more applicants from low-participation groups. We have maintained a very high academic standard throughout this, and we also continue to have one of the highest proportions of state-educated students, with almost 80% of undergraduates coming from the maintained sector in the last admissions round.
We are also continuing to raise funds to endow graduate student support, and have some generous donations which have enabled us to offer to fund several studentships together with the Cambridge Trusts – the most notable being the Gulbenkian-Yuval Studentship. Complementing this is our current focus on graduate accommodation.
To continue to be an intellectual powerhouse we must meet a financial challenge to fund education in College sustainably.
The education provided by College is funded partly by government fees – it receives a proportion of the £9,250 tuition fee that UK students pay and a proportion of overseas students’ fees. However this funding does not meet all of Churchill’s educational expenditure. In the last financial year, ending 30 June 2017, the College spent £4.7million on education- approximately £6,233 per student – it receives an income of £4400 per student or £3.4million altogether. The difference of £1500 per student, or £1.3 million per year has to be made up from its endowment or other income streams. We already generate extra income via the conference business, but this has to be balanced with the use of our space for education and research.
The educational expenditure includes providing the small-group teaching which makes the Cambridge experience unique. Increasingly it includes providing pastoral support, and bursaries for around 100 students per year. The College receives no extra funding to reflect that students are taught in groups of 2 – 3 in many subjects, and the extra teaching resource required to meet this. In terms of bursaries, the College is pleased to have a diverse student intake and it funds over £300,000 of undergraduate bursaries every year. The more of these we can fund from other sources, the more possible it is to spend some of the funding on outreach and other aspects of education.
Some of the difference in funding comes from the College’s endowment- around £3million per year is drawn down from it to provide teaching, bursaries and subsidise accommodation to make it affordable for undergraduate and advanced students alike. Having been founded in 1960, Churchill doesn’t have the benefit of hundreds of years of accrued wealth. However prudent financial management means its endowment has grown to £90million. If you would like more information on College finances you can read the College accounts and annual reports.
The College also receives no subsidy for building maintenance or subsidising the accommodation it offers to graduate and undergraduate students. Therefore in order to be financially sustainable we wish to grow our endowment, and have more flexibility in the provision of student support for both undergraduates and advanced students, the provision of world-class teaching and advancement of research free from interference by government, and the maintenance of our estate and provision of a high standard of accommodation for all our students.
By supporting any of the funds in College through a donation you are helping us to transform lives and educate the next generation of leaders in science, technology, politics and the arts. We can only continue to excel in so many fields and sustain our intellectual strength with your help. Thank you for helping us to go forward together.
