Downing Development Programme
The objective of the Downing Development Programme is to enable Downing to become a competitive Cambridge College by establishing a strong and growing reputation for excellence. This will be done through the provision of funds, facilities, and buildings to enable our students and Fellows to perform to the best of their academic, creative, and sporting abilities.
This Programme has been designed with two complementary purposes in mind: to enable alumni to remember the College through donations and for the College to remember alumni by recognising their gifts through a variety of naming opportunities and by offering ways in which they can become engaged in the life of the College.
Academic Excellence
The pursuit of academic excellence at all levels is at the heart of the College’s mission.
To achieve this we need to secure donations to:
- name and endow fellowships to enable Downing to attract the leading academics in the University and beyond to become teaching and research Fellows in key subject areas.
- name and endow bursaries to help the most academically able become members of Downing regardless of financial means.
- name and endow prizes and scholarships to recognise academic achievement by undergraduate and graduate students.
- name books or endow a book fund to provide each undergraduate with key text books in subjects where these are essential but expensive (e.g. law, medicine).
- name and endow vacation grants to enable all students to carry out essential research during the summer vacations, to travel and to participate in courses which are relevant to their studies.
Student Support
Once we have attracted the best students to the College, we need to make sure that we can give them all the support that they will need to help them achieve their best. This means providing facilities and services that will alleviate some of the costs of studying at Cambridge and will take care of their health and welfare. You can help us do this if you:
- name and endow bursaries and grants to alleviate financial hardship.
- name a computer grant or endow a computer fund to enable undergraduates to receive a laptop upon matriculation
- name and endow the post of College Nurse to ensure that medical assistance is always available to all students of the College.
- name and endow the post of Access Officer to encourage the best students to consider applying to Downing regardless of background.
High Quality Buildings and Accommodation
There is no doubt that high quality accommodation and first class buildings make the experience of living in College much more pleasurable for students, staff and fellows alike. We have already done much to create en-suite rooms and upgrade facilities to comply with health, safety and disability access requirements. Having such facilities also helps the College generate revenue from private meetings and conferences all of which is used to support the College’s educational mission.
You can help us continue with these improvements by:
- naming student rooms
- naming staircases
- naming West Lodge, originally the home of the Professor of Law where Tchaikovsky once stayed
- naming East Lodge which used to be the home of the Professor of Medicine in Downing’s early days
- naming other principal rooms in College (including the Hall – see below)
All donations raised from this initiative will be credited to an Accommodation Fund designed to refurbish existing rooms and to create new accommodation for fourth year undergraduates and graduate students and flats for students with partners.
Sporting and Creative Endeavour
A huge range of sporting and cultural activities takes place in College largely organised by members of the JCR and MCR. The Boat Club continues to benefit from generous support from former ‘boaties’ and we would like to emulate this success by encouraging Old Members to support the rich variety of sporting, musical, dramatic and other cultural activities in College.
You can do this by:
- endowing and naming funds to support sports teams
- endowing and naming funds to support student societies
The funds will be used to directly support the teams and societies.
If you would like more details and illustrations of funding options, please get in touch and we will send you further information.