Reporter 26/7/00: Report of the Council on the establishment of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship Trust to provide scholarships for students from overseas: Notice

Report of the Council on the establishment of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship Trust to provide scholarships for students from overseas: Notice

24 July 2000

The Council have considered the remarks made at the Discussion of this Report on 4 July 2000 (see p. 957) and have received comments from the General Board. The Council have noted the strong expressions of support for the proposal in the remarks of six of the speakers and that no-one opposed the establishment of a Gates Cambridge Scholarship Trust.

In response to Professor Lamb's remarks about the Trust Deed, the Council intend to publish the text in the Reporter as soon as it is finalized which they expect to be by the beginning of the Michaelmas Term. The Council have reviewed a draft and do not believe that approval of the scheme need be delayed until the final Deed can be published. It will be similar to other Deeds accepted by the University and if the Scholarships are to be available for 2001 entry to Cambridge, as the Council and the donors wish, recruitment and other detailed arrangements need to be put in hand during the summer. The audited accounts of the new Trust, as a charitable foundation, will be open to the public and will be made available in the usual way to members of the Regent House on request to the Registrary. As Professor Lamb points out, the Trust will be an independent foundation and it will be for the Trustees to decide on the appropriate medium- to long-term management structure for the Trust.

Professor Lamb asked whether the financial support to the Colleges was additional to, or instead of, the College fee. The Council confirm that it will be an additional payment.

Professor Lamb also questions the financial support available to the Faculties and Departments which will host Gates Scholars. Initially, the additional student numbers will contribute to the student load for the parent institution; this is one factor in the resource allocation process. It will also be open to the institution to apply to the Trustees for a support grant when there are identifiable additional expenses related to a Scholar's research. In the longer term the Council will recommend to the Trustees that they should review the arrangements for the support of the Scholars in the light of experience gained in the first two or three years.

On the points raised by Dr Evans, the Council note that it is the express wish of the donors that the scheme should initially be open to overseas students only. The Regent House will be aware that, in addition to the Research Council and Arts and Humanities Research Board studentships which are available to graduate students, the University provides support for home students through the Domestic Research Studentships. The Council can also report that an appeal to alumni for a scheme of Millennium Scholarships for UK graduate students has raised approximately £500,000 to date. As the Council said in their Report, a significant number of offers to overseas students are currently being declined because of a lack of financial support and securing additional support for scholarships for overseas students was a high priority for University fund-raising. However, they assure the Regent House that they will also actively seek to secure increased funding for UK graduate students.

In order to implement the arrangements for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship Trust, the Council are submitting a Grace to the Regent House (Grace 11, p. 1026) for the approval of the recommendations of the Report.

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