Indian alumni help Cambridge raise 1-b pounds

Many Indians who studied at the University of Cambridge have contributed to a major fund-raising campaign that has reached the figure of one billion pounds two years ahead of schedule.

This total of one billion pounds, raised by the 800th Anniversary Campaign, does not include more than 250 million pounds of pledged bequests, a significant contribution to the Colleges and University over the long term, the university said.

The Campaign launched publicly in autumn of 2005 under the banner of "Transforming Tomorrow" has attracted broad support from alumni and friends globally, including Indians.

To date more than 45,000 alumni, a quarter of the total, have made at least one gift to their College or to the University during the Campaign to date, with many making regular donations. Acknowledging this achievement, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alison Richard, said: "I am profoundly grateful to our alumni and benefactors who are investing in Cambridge's future.

"Cambridge is consistently ranked among the top handful of universities in the world and is at the heart of Europe's most important cluster of innovative enterprises".

Richard, who recently visited India, said: "To sustain our international pre-eminence against better-funded competitors, we must continue to invest in students and staff, our collections and facilities. This Campaign is helping to ensure that those long term investments can be made."

Money raised by the University and the 31 Colleges in this Campaign has increased the number and level of bursaries and scholarships, enhanced initiatives to encourage applicants regardless of their financial circumstances, funded new buildings for research, teaching and student accommodation, endowed professorships and teaching posts, attracted brilliant new academic staff and strengthened the University's already outstanding capacity to translate research discoveries and scholarship into benefits for society as a whole.

Given the importance and challenge of maintaining Cambridge's global position, the campaign will continue, providing the resources and diversity of income that are key to Cambridge remaining amongst the world's best, the university said.

Campaign Co-Chairman Sir David Walker said: "Our alumni and friends in the UK and internationally are responding with generosity and vision to the call of this Campaign. "They understand the need for sustained investment if teaching and research are to remain cornerstones of Cambridge's excellence and ability to seed the world with ideas."