The Haberdashers’ Company annual Education Lecture aims to introduce new ideas and challenge preconceptions of the members and educationalists who attend. This was achieved expertly by Dorothy Byrne in 2024 when she spoke on the topic of ‘Why girls are different’.
Through this she emphasised why, as President of Murray Edwards College Cambridge, she believes that ‘Girls are different because they so often undervalue themselves and we must help them to stop doing that.’
Dorothy’s words and call to action inspired a new partnership with Murray Edwards College and a programme launching in 2025. This will be a three-year pilot project focusing on young women with the purpose of increasing their confidence, encouraging them to have high expectations, providing them with a peer network of like-minded girls and supporting them to apply to study at the University of Cambridge and other highly selective institutions.
The potential for this pilot, therefore, is that it will deliver an engagement model that delivers consistent, high impact engagement for a well-targeted cohort of students across Haberdashers’. Focussing on highly able young women, Murray Edwards College is ideally positioned as the delivery partner with its mission for increasing representation of women at Cambridge – especially in those subjects where they are traditionally most underrepresented.
This programme will benefit around 40-50 young women annually. They will be studying A Levels (Year 12) across Haberdashers’ sixth forms and will participate alongside around 60 girls studying GCSEs with the potential to take part as sixth formers in future years of the pilot. For students and their families, this opportunity will be positioned as part of the existing Haberdashers’ Advantage enrichment programme.
This will include a programme launch event, to be held at Haberdashers’ Hall in London, followed by a range of online and in-person events in Cambridge throughout the remainder of the academic year – culminating in a visit to Cambridge in July for the University of Cambridge Open Days.
Attitudes towards higher education and the University of Cambridge will be surveyed and impact assessed through attitudinal change and number of applications made to the College and the wider University of Cambridge in the October following each programme cycle.
Keep an eye on our latest news for further information as this programme develops.