Selwyn College, University of Cambridge

Selwyn’s offers for undergraduate admission in 2025 have now been sent out. Congratulations to everyone who has received good news; and we’re only sorry that many brilliant students weren’t successful in a highly competitive process. Of our offers to home students, 85.5% have gone to state schools. The biggest percentage of successful applicants are at comprehensive schools. This reflects the recent composition of the college which has fulfilled high academic ambitions: in 2024, Selwyn was top of the entire university for the proportion of students who received good honours.

Earlier this week, students from The Ruth Gorse Academy in Leeds visited Selwyn. The school posted on their social media account: “A big thank you to Selwyn College and Cambridge University for having our Year 11 students to visit. TRGA students got a personalised admissions talk, tour of the college and English faculty, student ambassador Q&A and a tour of the historic city centre.” We’re delighted everyone had a good time, and our thanks to the school for the photos.

Tim Davie (SE 1986) has one of the highest profile jobs in world media as director-general of the BBC. The corporation’s news services are consumed by hundreds of millions of people across the globe, and in the UK the BBC provides the most popular TV and radio channels with a mission to inform, educate and entertain. But are public service media organisations still relevant in an age of streaming and social media? And, if they are, what’s the best way of paying for them? Tim Davie will be in conversation with Selwyn’s master Roger Mosey, himself a former BBC executive, and will be taking questions from our audience in the Quarry Whitehouse auditorium. Book here: https://lnkd.in/eXu6i74A

If you matriculated in 2018, you're likely to be able to take your MA degree this Spring. Selwyn's date at the Senate House will be Saturday April 5th. You should recently have received an email from us with more details, but if not: please contact Karen Barnard (kb428@cam.ac.uk). We very much hope to see our graduands back in college for this special day.

A jewel-toned January sunset at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge 🌇 📷 Lloyd Mann #CambridgeUniversity #Cambridge

Saskia Brechenmacher, a Gates Cambridge PhD Scholar at Selwyn, has spent her career researching global democracy. Inspired by her work at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, her PhD focused on examining resistance against recent efforts to promote women's political participation in Kenya through a subnational quota system. Is there a future for the quota system? What problems need to be overcome to better ensure women's representation and safety in politics? Saskia's work seeks to address these questions, and she is already sharing her insights with those she collaborated with. You can read our full article below:

Saskia Brechenmacher, a Gates Cambridge PhD Scholar at Selwyn, has spent her career researching global democracy. Inspired by her work at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, her PhD focused on examining resistance against recent efforts to promote women's political participation in Kenya through a subnational quota system. Is there a future for the quota system? What problems need to be overcome to better ensure women's representation and safety in politics? Saskia's work seeks to address these questions, and she is already sharing her insights with those she collaborated with. You can read our full article below:

Selwyn is a proud partner in the University of Cambridge’s International Summer Programme. Watch the video or click the link to find out more, and how to be part of it: https://lnkd.in/eXssufNF Once again in 2025, we will host some of the programme that is run by the Institute of Continuing Education and is the University’s official summer school across four weeks from mid-July. Of the five colleges they use, we normally host the biggest number of students: 200 at any time and typically around 450 over the duration of the programme. The video includes sequences shot in and around Selwyn. If you need any more information, here’s the link to the official webpage: https://lnkd.in/gfxf2Fa9

We can report that the 2024 Telephone Campaign is over and our callers are taking a well-earned breather.  The provisional amount of money raised is an amazing £139,000 - and we are hopeful that the total will rise further. Matched funding for teaching is still available, and just get in touch with us if you’d like to know more. In the meantime, thank you so much to all the alumni and friends who showed such generosity. https://lnkd.in/eDmvASmk

It’s a recent tradition at Selwyn that the college Christmas card is designed by students. There’s a competition open to all JCR and MCR members during the Michaelmas term after which the best entry is chosen, and it then becomes the image for the card that is sent to hundreds of people. This year’s winner was Harriet Palmer, a third-year medical student. She created the picture of a snowy Old Court – with a hint at the Master’s dog-walking across the lawn – using pastels. We congratulate her on her artistry. It also gives us the chance to wish “season’s greetings” to all Selwyn students, staff, fellows, alumni and friends.