Whether you love or hate technology, it is here to stay. For many of us it has been our lifeline during this long hard year.

For students, technology can never replace tutorials; nor is it a substitute for spending time with friends, running clubs and societies, and experiencing life away from home for the first time. However, it has kept that special tutorial system alive this year, and forged social and academic connections both in college and across the world.

This year we piloted new techniques for study and learning.

Many of you offered your expertise from the commercial world on available technological solutions, and Old Members kindly donated funds to invest in kitting out one meeting room for a pilot programme. We installed a tracking camera that replicates dynamic tutorials as closely as possible, for those unable to attend in real time. And some tutors came up with exciting new ways to get their messages across. You can see one of these here — with thanks to Dr Martin Galpin, Supernumerary Fellow in Chemistry! Our thanks to all who provided this essential support.

These new techniques allowed us to continue teaching throughout the pandemic.

Our priority was to give students the best experience we could offer, keeping them connected to communities both inside and outside of Univ, and ensuring that their education continued as seamlessly as possible.

The social fabric of the College is also essential to student life.

In many ways, the Chapel sits at the heart of Univ, and over the last year it has streamed Evensong and other services to students and Old Members around the world. These have proved so popular, that we’ve decided to install these platforms in other key areas.

Over the coming summer we plan to invest in the future of Univ.
Should the events of 2020 be repeated in coming years, we’ll be ready.

We propose to:
• Install more of the innovative video technology that we used in our pilot scheme in the majority of the College meeting rooms, and
• Upgrade the audio and video capabilities in the Chapel.

The purchase and installation on the High will cost the College around £75,000. It is a challenging time for the College and everyone in our community, but we believe now really is the time to invest and ensure Univ is prepared for whatever the coming years may bring.

I hope you can join us by making a contribution to our undesignated fund so we can make such investments today and in the future.

You can make your gift by clicking the relevant link above — please select “Undesignated (Area of Greatest Need)”.

Thank you!

P.S. The incredible cartoons were created by Univite Richard Jolley (PPE, 1986). His website can be found here.

Published: 11 June 2021

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