Access policy

Pembroke seeks to admit students of the highest intellectual potential irrespective of social, racial, religious and gender considerations. We actively encourage, through our Access initiatives, applications from groups that are, at present, under-represented within the College. We work within the agreed inter-collegiate Code of Practice, to ensure that each applicant is individually assessed, without partiality or bias, in accordance with our policy on Equal Opportunities. We are committed to ensuring that each student, once admitted, is given the academic, personal and, where necessary, financial support necessary for the successful completion of the course.

Access initiatives

Further details about access and widening participation within the Cambridge-College-based admissions system are available on the University's Admissions website.

The Cambridge colleges work collectively to encourage students from under-represented groups to apply to Cambridge, not necessarily to their own College. Pembroke fellows and students actively participate in all aspects of the widening participation and access programmes co-ordinated by the Cambridge Admissions Office and activities and events organised by the Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU) Access Officer. Pembroke was a founder member of the Group to Encourage Ethnic Minority Applicants (GEEMA) and remains a very active supporter of their programme.

Within this co-ordinated scheme, Pembroke runs the following specific Access programmes:

The Pembroke-St Catharine's Access Initiative
This work is targeted at schools in the local authorities Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Suffolk, associated urban authorities Leicester, Luton and Peterborough and the London Borough of Southwark. Pembroke and St Catharine's have a full-time Schools Liaison Officer, who organises a full programme of visits, talks and events for students and teachers, and an annual Year 12 Summer School.

The Sciences Masterclass
For the past twenty five years Pembroke has hosted a Science Masterclass for able Year 10 and 11 students from schools in the region.

Northern Ireland School links.
Several Pembroke Fellows have strong links with Northern Ireland, and we have a small NI programme, including teacher visits and student shadowing, focusing on more rural schools.

The College is most grateful for the external financial support that it has received to help fund some of these initiatives, particularly from the Drapers' Company.