Cambridge vice-chancellor gives annual address at Senate House

The vice-chancellor highlighted the university’s national importance and student support offering in her speech

3 weeks ago | UPDATED 1 day ago

On Tuesday 1st October, to mark the start of a new academic year, Cambridge vice-chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice gave the vice-chancellor’s annual address to the University in Senate House. In her address, Professor Prentice placed an emphasis on both the university’s student support provisions, and its role as a “genuine national asset” to the UK.

Professor Prentice announced that the university has fundraised £500 million for student support, meeting the goal it set in 2018, stating that this is a “thrilling achievement”.

This money has been used by the university to fund a number of initiatives focused on widening participation, including the Cambridge Foundation Year, which took on its first cohort in 2022 and offers a free year-long Humanities-based pre-university course to talented students from disadvantaged circumstances.

As well as this, Professor Prentice emphasised how Cambridge is a “national resource” to the UK, with its annual contribution to the UK economy estimated at around £30 billion.

Outlining the university’s ambition to become the “go-t0 location for the world’s leading innovators”, Professor Prentice described how the focus of the university’s development in West Cambridge is on making it an “Innovation Hub”, seeking to “bring together the very best researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, spin-outs and funders under one roof”. The West Cambridge development includes a number of key projects mentioned in her address, such as the new Whittle Lab and Ray Dolby Centre.

The Ray Dolby Centre in West Cambridge (Image Credits: Youtube)

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Later in her address, Professor Prentice commented on the improving collaborative partnership between the university and its constituent colleges on issues such as student well-being and fundraising, with 42 joint gifts being brought in over the past year. She also addressed concerns about the university’s investments and research relationships that arose in response to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, stating that a university working group would begin to review these in Michaelmas Term and make recommendations to the relevant university committees.

Addressing Cambridge’s finances, Professor Prentice stated that although times are tough for universities across the UK, Cambridge has “resources that make us more resilient than other universities are”, with a the current focus being on achieving a “balance between spending today and investing for tomorrow”.

Professor Prentice ended her address by thanking the outgoing Chancellor, Lord Sainsbury, for his “unwavering service and his commitment to Cambridge”.