Fundraising priorities

The Worcester Fund

The Worcester Fund underpins our efforts to provide today’s students with the best possible learning and living experience during their time here. Donations to the Worcester Fund are particularly valuable, as they are unrestricted, and can be directed to the area of College life where they will have the biggest impact, allowing us to respond quickly and appropriately to the areas of greatest need for all students.

If you would like to discuss making a gift to support the College’s areas of greatest need, please do get in touch with Dr Millie Papworth, Deputy Director of Development.

Support the Worcester Fund with a regular gift or single donation

Read about our priorities…

Jump to academic excellence Jump to Worcester life Jump to buildings, gardens & grounds

Academic excellence

Graduate scholarships

Graduate students at Worcester are tomorrow’s leaders, pushing forward the research happening in Oxford’s laboratories, libraries, and seminars. They go on to play outstanding roles in society, business and academia worldwide, forging new paths in their fields and expanding frontiers of knowledge. However, too many of Worcester’s graduate students do not have the security of full, assured funding to cover course fees and living costs. Our Old Members are crucial to fixing this and ensuring that the brightest minds choose Worcester as the launchpad to a bright future.

Early career fellowships

Early career fellowships give academics beginning their career the opportunity to pursue their innovative work. The years after a DPhil are a ‘cliff edge’, with hundreds of talented applicants for every Junior Research Fellowship position in Oxford or Cambridge. It is our responsibility to ensure those with the most to offer are able to build an academic career here at Worcester, and contribute their expertise to solving the world’s most pressing problems.

Tutorial fellowships

Tutorials make a student’s time at Worcester unique. Often inspiring, sometimes challenging, always thought-provoking, the tutorial system is at the heart of the academic growth all our undergraduates enjoy. Tutorials are a core part of Worcester, but are vulnerable to government funding levels which have been frozen since 2016. Each year the College subsidises the cost of every student’s education by £5,000. With our relatively small endowment, this is not financially sustainable, so Old Member support is crucial to giving tomorrow’s generation the same teaching opportunities you enjoyed.

To secure the future of tutorial teaching we aim to endow tutorial fellowships in all subjects. Our priority is to safeguard fellowships in the following subjects, which currently have no endowed fellows: Biology, Biochemistry, Classics, Earth Sciences, Geography, Music, Physics, Psychology.

To explore supporting research excellence in a subject that matters to you, please contact Viola Kerr, Director of Development.

WORCESTER LIFE

A flourishing college

As well as offering a world-class education, Worcester also seeks to offer students the chance to thrive beyond the classroom and get the very most out of their time here. These are some ways in which your donations can help enrich the lives of students here at Worcester:

Access & outreach – gifts to this fund help the brightest young people from all backgrounds, with the support of our outreach and admissions team, make successful applications and achieve their potential at Worcester, ensuring that our community is open minded and diverse.
Community life in College – Worcester’s vibrant College community continues to flourish, with support from your gifts. From the Chapel and the Library, to all of our clubs and societies, including sports and music, your donations will help our students to make friends and explore interests beyond their studies.
Financial support such as bursaries and hardship grants allow students the freedom to focus on their studies by alleviating financial worries.
Student welfare is of paramount importance, and the pastoral support provided by Worcester’s Welfare team plays a key role in the wellbeing of the College’s community as a whole.

To support one of these areas of Worcester life, please get in touch with Millie Papworth, Deputy Director of Development.

BUILDINGS, GARDENS & GROUNDS

Did you know? The lake is around 200 years old

Safeguarding the lake

The lake at Worcester College is the most iconic feature of its 26 acres of gardens and grounds. Now over 200 years old, the lake is at risk due to leaks and poor water health. It is a priority for the College to restore the lake and ensure it can remain at the heart of the Worcester landscape for generations to come. The leaks are in several places, particularly near the Provost’s Bridge and along the western bank. They pose a serious risk to the lake’s survival and are a priority to fix, but the work will be highly complex.

In addition, poor water quality is causing degradation to the aquatic and plant life in the lake, and reducing its biodiversity. This is due to the build-up of silt and organic matter on the lakebed, which causes high nitrogen levels that allow algae to bloom and shade out aquatic plants. The reduced depth of the lake raises the temperature of the water which further reduces the species that can survive. An expert team will be coming in to assess the lakebed, identify the leaks and seal them, which will involve serious underwater work. The lake will be dredged too, to allow our beautiful aquatic flora and fauna to flourish once more.

The specialist nature of the work means restoring the lake to health will be costly. We are asking alumni to help save this integral part of the Worcester landscape.

To explore how you can lend your support, to the lake or any other aspect of Worcester’s buildings, gardens and grounds, please contact Millie Papworth, Deputy Director of Development.