Robinson College, Cambridge
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Template:Oxbridge College Infobox Robinson College is one of the colleges of the University of Cambridge.
It was founded after the British philanthropist David Robinson offered the university £17 million to establish a new Cambridge college in his name: this is still one of the largest donations ever accepted by the university. Robinson later gave his college another £1 million. The first undergraduate students (20 of them) were admitted in 1979, but significant numbers only began arriving the next year. The college was formally opened by the Queen in May 1981.
Robinson is the newest of the Cambridge colleges, and consequently the only one that has always been open to graduate and undergraduate students of both sexes. Despite maintaining some Cambridge traditions, such as Formal Hall, the college has tended to avoid others: for example, it is one of the few colleges that allows its students to walk on the grass in the college garden. Robinson is in general less formal and traditional than most of the other colleges in the university.
Designed by the Scottish architectural firm Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, Robinson's buildings are distinctive for their generous usage of red bricks as a construction material. The college buildings are located west of the city centre, opposite the Cambridge University Library, near the science buildings in West Cambridge and the arts faculties on the university's Sidgwick Site. A number of second-year students live in college-owned houses elsewhere in Cambridge. The main entrance to the college is via a drawbridge-style ramp, which is accessible to wheelchair users. There are also some special facilities for those with physical or visual disabilities.
Because of its modern facilities and accommodation, Robinson is also one of Cambridge's most important conference centres, and it always hosts conferences during the summer months when it is not being inhabited by undergraduate students. Unlike some of the older colleges, Robinson does not own large amounts of land which can be used as a source of income, and the conferences are an important source of cash for the college.
The Needham Research Institute is located in the college grounds.
Student Life
| Missing image Robinsongarden.jpg The college garden |
| Missing image Robinsonchapel.jpg A view of the Robinson College chapel |
Students of the college are represented by the Robinson College Students' Association, or RCSA, with members of the college elected into positions on the RCSA committee every year. Politically, Robinson is liberal, but its reputation normally places it among the more apathetic Cambridge colleges, unlike King's or Clare, which have a more radical left-wing reputation. Nonetheless, Robinson has supplied a large number of Green Officers to the Cambridge University Students' Union in recent years.
Like other colleges, Robinson provides its students with social facilities such as a TV room and a bar. It also has many active college-based societies, including ones dedicated to music, film and drama. There are also several sports teams, involved in everything from waterpolo and cricket to rowing and rugby.
Notable Alumni
- Charles Hart, songwriter and musician
- Konnie Huq, television presenter
External links
- Sketches of the college from Cambridge Art (http://www.cambridgeart.com/paintings/p/robinson.html)
- Robinson College Students' Association (http://www-stud.robinson.cam.ac.uk/rcsa/)
- Robinson College MCR (http://www-stud.robinson.cam.ac.uk/mcr/) (Graduate Society)
| Colleges of the University of Cambridge | 
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Christ's | Churchill | Clare | Clare Hall | Corpus Christi | Darwin | Downing | Emmanuel | Fitzwilliam | Girton | Gonville and Caius | Homerton | Hughes Hall | Jesus | King's | Lucy Cavendish | Magdalene | New Hall | Newnham | Pembroke | Peterhouse | Queens' | Robinson | St Catharine's | St Edmund's | St John's | Selwyn | Sidney Sussex | Trinity | Trinity Hall | Wolfson | |