Home > Robinson College, Cambridge

It was founded as the direct result of an offer of £18 million by the British philanthropist David Robinson to establish a new Cambridge college in his name: this is still one of the largest donations ever accepted by the university. 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 students of both sexes. Despite maintaining some Cambridge traditions such as Formal Hall, the college has eschewed others: for example, it is one of the few colleges that allows students to walk on the grass in the college gardens. Robinson is in general less formal and traditional than most other Cambridge colleges.

Robinson's architecture is distinctive for its generous use 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 few students live in college-owned houses elsewhere in Cambridge. The main entrance to the college is via a drawbridgeA drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle, but the term is also used to describe modern bascule bridges. The most common type of drawbridge consists of a wooden platform with one fixed side (normally with-style rampThis article deals with the physical structure, not a canal inclined plane. An inclined plane or a ramp is an sloped surface; for example a roadway to bridge a height difference. The inclined plane is used to reduce the force necessary to overcome the for, which is accessible to wheelchairA wheelchair is a device used for mobility by people for whom walking is difficult or impossible, due to illness or disability. It typically consists of a seat supported on two large wheels on an axle attached towards the back of the seat and two small wh users. There are 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 conferenceThe term conference can be used to describe any meeting of people that confer about a certain topic. In politics, a conference is usually a multilateral diplomatic negotiation (like the Potsdam Conference). In science, a conference is a formalized event w 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 InstituteThe Needham Research Institute or NRI is one of the world's leading centres for the study of the history of East Asian science, technology and medicine. It is part of the University of Cambridge in England. The institute is named after the scientist and h is located in the college grounds.