A New Gateway into Cambridge

The Cambridge Foundation Year Programme is the University’s new, one-year, fully-funded residential programme for students who have faced educational disruption or disadvantage. The programme recognises that academic achievement is a function not just of a student’s ability, but also of their circumstances. While we are under no illusion that this programme alone will right the wrongs of inequality, it represents an important step toward making Cambridge an inclusive place of study, and Girton has been there from the start, with Bye-Fellows Shyane Siriwardena and Marieke Dhont

Writing now, in the summer of 2023, it is hard to believe that it was less than a year ago that we welcomed the first Cambridge Foundation Year cohort over the threshold, in the beautiful Stanley Library here at Girton. For a week, we and the 47 students were surrounded by images of pioneering women, and the symbolism was not lost on any of us. What better place to inaugurate the Foundation Year than a college with a unique history of championing the education of the disenfranchised?

To begin their journey, students on the programme undergo a rigorous admissions process. After they submit their initial application form, those who are shortlisted are invited to complete a further test as well as two separate admissions interviews. Once on the programme, students complete an intensive year of study designed to prepare them for study at undergraduate level. Each week, they have approximately three hours of lectures, three hours of supervisions, and six to nine hours of seminars. This is in addition to the time spent on independent study, completing readings and writing supervision assignments. Students also undertake a series of assessed coursework essays and a short dissertation of approximately 5,000 words, in addition to an end-of- year exam. In other words, the Foundation Year is a crucible of learning for these aspirational young people.

Despite the demands of the programme, many of the students on it this year have been very active in their colleges and beyond. They have been members of their JCR committees, have competed in college and University sports, have been active in national politics, and much more besides. We are so proud of the way that our students have thrown themselves into university life, both academically and otherwise.

Students on the programme get the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics, spanning a variety of subjects in the arts, humanities and social sciences. They have taken papers on, for instance, data and policy-making during the Covid-19 pandemic, an interdisciplinary study of King’s College Chapel, the poetry of Generation Windrush, and language in the age of the Internet. The benefit of this approach has been that we teach academic skills in an integrated and interdisciplinary way, so that our students are as ready as they can be to transition to the first-year undergraduate programme of their choice. The programme’s breadth has also enabled students to explore disciplines they have never encountered before. Indeed, while most students arrived with an interest in progressing to subjects such as Law or Human, Social and Political Studies, many of those have since discovered a passion for disciplines they had not studied prior to the Foundation Year, such as Theology, Philosophy or Classics.

It has been truly delightful to watch them develop over the last few months: to see so many of them flourish, even in the face of great personal adversity. So many people across the University are responsible for providing vital support, enabling our students to thrive, from the Accessibility and Disability Resource Centre and the University Counselling Service, to – of course – the stalwart Directors of Studies and Tutors at each participating college. Together, we form a safety net for students, empowering them with the confidence and skills to pursue their learning and realise their true potential. It is wonderful that Girton College has played a key role in supporting the Foundation Year and enabling this to happen; our Deputy Senior Tutor Dr Stuart Davis has championed the programme since its inception and is one of two representatives from the colleges on the Management Committee, while Girton itself has been home to four of the 2022 cohort.

In October 2023, many of our students will begin their undergraduate Tripos of choice. We are delighted for each and every one of them, and will certainly miss them as they pass through the next gateway on their academic journey. As staff look to the second year of the programme, we will be casting our gaze forward and back. Back, to the 2022 cohort and all they continue to achieve. And forward, to the new cohort of promising young people whose University adventures are just beginning.

Shyane Siriwardena

Foundation Year Teaching Associate and Bye-Fellow of Girton

I completed my PhD in Philosophy in 2016 here at Cambridge. While my academic career has taken a winding path since then, one thing that has remained constant is that I have always delighted in sharing my passion for exploring interesting questions. Socrates once likened teaching to midwifery; it is an analogy that always resonated with me. I provide the tools and environment students need to birth their own ideas and lines of inquiry. I want to empower students to engage critically with everything around them. And I want my excitement to be infectious – I want them to feel the thrill that comes with asking big questions.

For all these reasons, when I saw the job posting for the Foundation Year Programme, I leapt at the opportunity. I was fortunate enough to be chosen for the team and began working on the Foundation Year a year ago. I have absolutely revelled in every minute of it! It has been an extraordinary amount of work putting together the curriculum for this programme; all of the staff have dedicated themselves to providing students with a course that is edifying and engaging. I am very fortunate to be working alongside colleagues who care deeply about the project we are undertaking more broadly, and about the success and wellbeing of each student we see in our classes in particular. What is more, it has been incredibly rewarding teaching the inspiring young people on this programme. I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for them, and for the Foundation Year students who will walk into my classroom in the years to come.

Marieke Dhont

Foundation Year Teaching Associate, Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Divinity and Bye-Fellow of Girton

My background is in Classics, and I have a PhD in Religious Studies and Theology from Leuven, focusing on ancient Jewish literature. I arrived in Cambridge in 2018 as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Divinity, and joined preparations for the Foundation Year in Spring 2022. Engaging in research in the humanities can be quite a solitary experience, and after Covid, I longed for the opportunity to focus on connecting with students again. When I saw the job ad for the Foundation Year just as my postdoctoral fellowship came to an end, it felt like the perfect next step. My main responsibilities relate to the papers in the languages stream. The first year of the programme has been stimulating, challenging, and rewarding. It has been a ton of work developing the programme, but the Foundation Year team has been wonderful and supportive, and being able to witness the enthusiasm and progress of our students is wonderfully encouraging. The Foundation Year exactly encapsulates what I wish for the future of the university: inclusivity and kindness, alongside a high academic standard.