Lion

Strategic Plan

Wolfson College will offer every member of its international community of scholars the opportunity to fulfil their potential and transform society for the good of all. If you come to Wolfson, you will learn to see the world in a different way. 

Lion

Core Values

  • Academic excellence
  • Respect, trust and mutual understanding
  • Equality, diversity & inclusiveness
  • Restless curiosity

Our Vision for the future

  • Wolfson College is an international, egalitarian and inclusive community of scholars.
  • It is the College of choice for world-class academics, mature students and returning learners.
  • It offers excellence in teaching and support, allowing every member of the College to realise their full potential.
  • Its diversity helps foster new perspectives and new insights in every field of research and scholarship.
  • It has a vibrant cultural and sporting life, enriched by the range of experiences of its members.
  • Wolfson’s active and engaged Fellowship underpins and enhances the college experience.
  • It values its strong links with partners both within and beyond Cambridge and with its world-wide community of members and supporters.
  • It celebrates its pioneering, cosmopolitan spirit in everything it does.
  • We will work towards a sustainable future 
Education and learning

Wolfson College will support all its students to achieve their highest potential.

  • Undergraduate students will receive excellent teaching through the development and maintenance of a cohort of outstanding supervisors and Directors of Studies, who have the skills to support undergraduates who come from diverse educational backgrounds.
  • The primary responsibility for the academic achievement of graduate students lies with the department. However, the College will enhance their learning by offering structured support for students’ academic and personal development at all levels - mature undergraduate, Masters (full- and part-time) and PhD - to offer an integrated programme from admission to graduation.
  • It will develop new systems for monitoring the progress of students, and cohorts of students, and establish targets for educational achievement at undergraduate, Masters, and PhD level.
  • It will engage in continuous improvement of its provision for all students, based on enhanced systems for obtaining student feedback.
  • It will develop plans, and a fund-raising campaign, for a purpose-built “Centre for Teaching and Learning”.
Student recruitment

Wolfson College will recruit the best students across a broad subject base at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

  • There is no intention to increase overall student numbers. But the College will aim to increase the number of applicants for each undergraduate and PhD place, to widen its choice and build a more diverse community in which the representation of women and BME students matches the UK population.
  • It will adopt a proactive approach to initiatives to attract mature undergraduates, including first-time university applicants and returners to learning.
  • 70% of its full-time student body will be enrolled on courses of at least three years and its full-time postgraduate community will evolve to comprise 60% doctoral students and 40%students taking Masters and other one-year courses. Those Masters students who continue to a PhD will remain at Wolfson.
  • It will offer generous bursaries, targeted to meet these strategic objectives.
Student experience

Wolfson College will foster strong engagement, a sense of belonging, and community spirit throughout its diverse and integrated student body which will build a relationship that extends beyond the students’ time at Wolfson.

  • It will develop its social, communal, and academic facilities, beginning with the refurbishment of the Club Room with a daytime cafe and provision of a new Common Room. This will be followed by improvement of the environment of the Library.
  • It will provide regular and comprehensive communications to its students (including part-time students) about academic, personal, financial and career-related support.
  • It will develop and promote well-being initiatives, initially focussing on sport and a student garden.
  • It will enhance its facilities for families and for students with disabilities, and make new facilities available for students who live out of College.
  • It will assess the specific needs of part-time students in order to determine how to provide them with a meaningful and rewarding experience of College life. It will continue to refurbish and upgrade living accommodation.
Governance, Fellowship and membership

The Fellowship, and broader senior membership of Wolfson College, will be an engaged and dynamic community of scholars, senior University managers, and leaders in the wider community.  Interactions of Fellows with students and other members of the community contribute to the personal and professional development of all and are core to achieving our goal to transform society for the good of all. 

  • We will elect Fellows strategically to support our key goals of Education, Learning and Research in their broadest sense.  Wolfson College Fellows should be diverse in terms of discipline, gender, ethnicity and other protected characteristics.
  • The College will be a supportive, welcoming environment for its Fellows, and will offer support for their career development.
  • It will explore ways that the College can support Fellows’ research. 
  • All Fellows are expected to contribute to College life.
  • We will offer early career researchers an opportunity to engage in College life and offer them career development opportunities. 
  • It will develop the Bye Fellow scheme for individuals (appointed on a fixed term basis) who can engage in a way that is of benefit to College Life.
  • Senior Members will be expected and encouraged to support and promote the strategic priorities of the College.
Intellectual and cultural life

Wolfson College will offer a vibrant intellectual and cultural life for all its members which reflects its mission and values and complements its teaching and research.

  • We will organise a comprehensive, coordinated and balanced annual programme of events which will be well communicated, internally and externally.
  • The diversity of events will reflect the diversity of the College membership both in terms of discipline and of the cultural background of our student body.  We will aim for diversity both in those organising and presenting events, but also in the audiences they attract.
  • We will support research and build communities with common interests through specific internal events (such as the annual Wolfson Research Event), through societies (such as Humanities & Science) and through organisation of Interdisciplinary Research Hubs to bring together communities of researchers around specific research themes.
  • We will plan annual events around a cross-disciplinary theme chosen, to provide topicality, coherence and challenge.
  • We will offer events and programmes to complement those of local partners e.g. Cambridge Festival, Festival of Wellbeing) so as to raise its profile in the local community. International and National events (e.g. World Women’s day, Black History Month) will be marked with events in College. 
  • We will consider the needs of such events and activities in planning the development of social and communal spaces and other facilities. 
Networks & External Partnerships

Wolfson College will foster collaborative and supportive networks within College and between College members and form strategic relationships with individuals and organisations that share our values & mission.

  • We will strengthen alumni networks, by recognising students as alumni from admission, developing and running innovative programs that facilitate access to College’s networks, events, and other means of engagement and life-long learning support.
  • We will develop distinctive internal and external activities which add value for students, and early career researchers and promote interaction tailored to the achievements and know-how of the broader global membership.
  • We will strive to be well-connected across the University and foster a leadership role in areas that further the College’s core academic activities, attracting new Fellows and students through the strength of its engagement activities.
  • The College will foster interactions with cultural, research and other organisations in the UK and overseas, that support our core values of academic excellence and diversity and supporting every member to transform society for the good of all.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion

Wolfson College will promote equality diversity and inclusion in all it does.

  • It will collect demographic data for students, fellows, staff and other members to determine how well we reflect the diversity of the communities from which they are drawn. We will draw up targets for recruitment and monitor our performance against those targets.
  • It commits to seeking funding to enable students from under-represented groups to access education in Cambridge, and then provide resources and access to specific support services to ensure that all are able to take advantage of university life to the full extent. We will monitor the academic progress of these students.
  • It will ensure that provision for the intellectual social, cultural, and sporting life of our members reflects the interests and needs of our diverse international community and that this offers opportunities to all. We are committed to freedom of expression for all.
  • Wolfson will actively support activities and research which promote equality, diversity and inclusion. We will work to dismantle discriminatory practices wherever they are found, and to support those whose lives have been affected by discrimination.
  • We will provide diversity and equality training and other activities for all Wolfson members to ensure, so far as we are able, that that no member of Wolfson faces discrimination or harassment. We will take action to ensure that any breach of codes of conduct are dealt with rapidly and effectively, and that lessons are learned. We will ensure that any victim of harassment or discrimination is fully supported.
Sustainability

Wolfson College will deliver leadership in sustainability through innovative education, research and invention to deliver a better, more sustainable future for all inhabitants of our shared planet. Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of all we do, so our community will actively support actions that help deliver sustainable outcomes for all peoples and the planet.

  • We will look to the UN Sustainable Development Goals to guide our vision and set our targets. In particular, we will focus on the climate emergency; biodiversity loss; access and equity; and efficient resource use & waste reduction.
  • We will promote awareness of sustainability issues as central themes in our education, research and innovation.
  • We will encourage all members of Wolfson College – Fellows, students, staff, alumni and others – to engage with pressing sustainability challenges and provide them with opportunities to develop skills in sustainability leadership.
  • We will work with our global alumni community and seek to engage local, national and international partnerships to deliver change.
  • We will transform and support our Estate & Operations to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability, biodiversity and conservation.
  • We will move beyond zero-carbon to become a truly regenerative College.

June 2023