On Saturday 8 June 2024, we were delighted to welcome alumni supporters and friends of the University to Streatham Campus to celebrate the fantastic contribution that their time and donations make to the University of Exeter community.
The event was hosted by our President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Lisa Roberts, at the Weston Exchange Space in the Sir Steve Smith building, named in honour of our former Vice-Chancellor. In attendance were a mix of supporters, volunteers, regular donors and staff from across our global community, and it was a pleasure to welcome our 68 attendees to Campus.
Within the last year, Exeter has secured a record £33 million in donations, alongside 17,500 volunteering hours – all of which is critical to the delivery of the University’s 2030 Strategy. As well as being incredible in their impact, these totals reflect the combined time and kindness of many individuals and groups who we are thankful for each day.
During the afternoon, Professor Roberts gave a speech, which warmly celebrated some of the University’s fantastic achievements over the past year and how this exact generosity of alumni and our supporters have made this possible. As part of her speech, she mentioned: “I am so impressed by the scope and scale of support we receive from our community of friends. We never take this for granted – thank you.”
With the event taking place in the Sir Steve Smith building, it also provided an opportunity to recognise their generosity within the environment around the attendees. This state-of-the-art facility was funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation and guests were able to observe philanthropy in action during the afternoon. Professor Roberts in particular mentioned the Wolfson Laboratories funded by the Wolfson Foundation, where scientists research illnesses such as Motor Neuron Disease and Cancer. As well as the Philip Booth Seminar Room; Philip was a physics graduate who wanted to give back and who donated a significant legacy to his alma mater. And the Carlotta Palmer Terrace, named after a local Devon resident who gave a generous bequest to the University in support of science and mathematics.
The afternoon also paid homage to the thousands of amazing alumni who volunteer their time every year, and we recognise this annually through our Alumni Volunteer Awards. These celebrate those exceptional individuals who have shown outstanding commitment to our University, and our 2024 winners were: Holly Allday (BEng Mining Engineering 2007 and Mohammad Ali Ahsan (MSc International Management 2004). With both of them living abroad, it demonstrated how global our alumni network is, alongside meaning that they were unfortunately unable to attend the event in person.
Additionally, our supporters make a real-time difference to enhancing and improving the student experience by providing grants for a wide variety of student-led projects which otherwise wouldn’t receive funding through our Alumni Annual Fund. This year, we’ve already supported more than 80 projects and allocated more than £120,000 of alumni donations towards projects from across Exeter’s Faculties, Clubs and Societies. Examples of the areas supported include the funding of the Women in Business Speaker Series, the first Canadian Career Development Programme, a mountain bike accessibility project for the University’s Cycling Club, and many more!
These gifts of support from our alumni community goes such long way, both locally and globally, affecting individuals and communities. We couldn’t have achieved any of our highlights from the last year without you. We’d like to say a huge thank you to our alumni supporters and friends for their ongoing support.