Warwick in Africa has had many supporters over the years, who have helped make it the success it is today. The idea behind the project is simple. Warwick students, staff and alumni collaborate with local teachers, learners and corporate volunteers to help improve education and life chances for children in some of Africa’s poorest schools.

One learner who has benefitted greatly from the programme is Rose. Rose achieved excellent grades during her time at Realogile Secondary School in Alexandra and is now a student at university. She recently won a prize for best academic achiever in second year Film and TV studies.

Gifts from our donors help students like Fadhi, who has been attending IntoUniversity's Coventry centre since it opened in October 2018. Together, Warwick and education charity IntoUniversity provide academic support, pastoral care and mentoring for young people from low income famlies aged between seven and 18 in the local area. Fadhi says:

“Before coming here, I used to get low marks in school, especially in English. In my last English assessment, I achieved a Grade 7 (equivalent to an A) and my teacher has noticed a big improvement. My main goal is to improve in the core subjects at school so I can become a midwife in the future.”

Sport at Warwick is one of many extra-curricular activities supported by the generosity of our donors. From The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust’s gifts towards the Westwood running track to alumni supporting the canoe club, philanthropy has helped us to become a more active campus.

Did you know? On 29 May 1954, English runner Diane Leather became the first woman to run a sub-five-minute mile, finishing in 4:59.6 during the Midland Championships in Birmingham.

Watch the short video to hear Warwick Arts Centre's Director, Doreen Foster, talk more about The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust and its support for a diverse range of projects, from the Arts Centre to student bursaries.

Thanks to the generosity of the Albukhary Foundation, fifty international students are receiving scholarships to study at Warwick over the next five years. Professor Christine Ennew, Provost, says:

"The scholars have the opportunity while they are here to unleash their academic potential and develop their broader skills through engagement with an active student body. We look forward to nurturing their talents, advancing their ideas and building their careers.”

270 Warwick medical students are volunteering to help fight COVID-19 in NHS hospitals across Coventry and Warwickshire.

The students are helping to assess patients, performng administrative tasks to support clinical teams and operating a doctor ‘buddy’ system.

"This is what we’ve spent the last four years training for, so we’re really pleased be using those skills and knowledge to help support the NHS," student Dhivyaa Premachandra said.

The six-storey Mathematical Sciences Building supports the future of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science at Warwick, with spaces for interdisciplinary collaboration. Opened in 2018, it was made possible by a £2 million grant from the Wolfson Foundation.

Did you know? 29 is the smallest positive whole number that cannot be made from the numbers {1, 2, 3, 4}, using each exactly once and using only addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Molly is a third year History student, and a entrepreneur. In this video she explains how philanthropy helped support her to launch her innovative business, Sophie Stokes, which produces affordable art designs printed onto everyday objects.

Warwick alumni Rui Pan and Weipeng Gu kindly donated £150,000 to support the next generation of entrepreneurs through Warwick Enterprise’s new graduate accelerator programme.

Nearly 60 years ago, £4 million was raised to help turn a vision into a reality – a vision of a pioneering new university campus on the outskirts of Coventry. Our founding donors, many of them businesses and individuals based in Coventry and Warwickshire, are engraved on a sculpture called The Ripple Effect, found between the piazza and the Arts Centre.

PhD researcher Elizabeth Bishop, from Warwick’s School of Engineering, is 3D-printing hundreds of PPE face shields for the NHS.

Elizabeth has designed a new face shield that can be printed in just six minutes using the technique she has devised in her own PhD research. Most other 3D printable shield designs take an hour or more to 3D print. Watch Elizabeth's video to learn more.

Since 1967, the Warwick History Department (joined later by the Warwick Art History Department) has sent a group of third-year undergraduates to Venice every autumn term. While they are in Italy, History students take a module on the history of Venice in the Renaissance, which is taught by Warwick staff. Over the years we have received many donations from Warwick in Venice alumni to ensure that future Warwick students benefit from this opportunity.

Singapore Scholarship alumnus Chandra is pursuing his dream of living and working in London after receiving his degree in Accounting and Finance from Warwick in 2018. In this video he explains how his scholarship widened his experience of the world.

Friends and supporters of the University fund music scholarships at Warwick, providing financial help for music lessons, instruments and travel to concerts. Anthony Searle turns 29 this year and is one of many students to benefit. His experience as a singer in the chamber choir gave him confidence and honed his performance skills, and he is now a successful barrister working in the field of medical law.

“My confidence was boosted by my scholarship, and over the course of my time at Warwick it allowed me to grow both as a musician and as a student generally. In 2018, I got married to Lily Tomkins (now Lily Searle), who also studied Law at Warwick! We first met in the Ramphal Building in 2013.”

First year Biomedical Science student and Warwick Scholar Kyara plays netball and hopes to travel abroad to complete research on her third year placement. Kyara also gives back to the local community by metoring pupils at a school in Coventry. In this video she explains how her scholarship has supported her and increased her confidence.

Thank you to the 156 donors celebrating tenth and 20th anniversaries of giving to Warwick in 2020. What exceptionally loyal supporters!

Alumnus Ian Knight (BSc Mathematics, 1977; MSc Mathematics, 1980) remembers this photograph being taken in 1979 when he was with a group of mathematicians who were hitching to Leamington. “We were offered a ride in the photographer’s car in exchange for the picture,” he says.

In 1997 Warwick launched its first telephone campaign, with the aim of building bridges between our current students and alumni, and sourcing funds for vital projects like scholarships. We are amazed by how much our donors have given since that first campaign - over £3.6 million! For everyone who has given through a telephone campaign – whether it is money or valuable advice to our student fundraisers – we are hugely grateful.

Our new Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building at Gibbet Hill campus has been generously supported by a grant of £750,000 from the Wolfson Foundation.

Professor Mohan Balasubramanian, Pro-Dean of Research at Warwick Medical School and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, led the bid for the new research and teaching space. He says:

"My research field will impact our understanding of a range of diseases from cancer to cardiomyopathy to brittle bones, and we are already developing a team of international researchers to undertake this work. The grant from Wolfson to fund this area means we can hit the ground running - I'm very grateful for this support."

Now that schools across the UK are closed to many pupils due to COVID-19, the challenge is on for parents to keep their children educated.

The outreach team from WMG are encouraging children to use this time to explore some of the fun, creative STEM learning opportunities available online. Volunteers produced a number of digital activities for children of all ages to get involved and learn something new. Dr Phil Jemmett, a Project Officer from WMG says:

"Every product in your house has been made by engineers and shaped by scientists. We want to tell the story behind those items and show you experiments that you can do with everyday stuff."

Philanthropy has helped Warwick bring Classics and Ancient History to school children through outreach work and study days. Gifts from donors including the A.G. Leventis Foundation have supported an Outreach and Impact Research Fellow into 2021, and schools events such as the 'Ancient Worlds Study Day' on campus in November 2019. Watch this short video to see Professor Michael Scott explain more.

Did you know? 29th of Hekatombeion (an Ancient Greek month) was last day of the Panathenaia - the major civic festival of ancient Athens.

Current Economics student Josh Rawcliffe graduates this year and has been supported by the Lloyds Scholars programme. He's enjoyed volunteering and Taekwondo during his time at Warwick and is hoping to pursue a career in development economics. In this video he explains how his scholarship helped him get involved in University life.

The search for life on other planets is being supported by philanthropy at Warwick through the Winton Exoplanet Fellowship, awarded to Tom Louden in 2019.

Tom's research interests include fast winds on the exoplanet hot jupiter HD 189733b. In this artist's impression, the planet is blue due to scattering in the atmosphere, and the hot temperature of 1500C causes its night-side to glow. Fast winds blow along the equator of the planet at speeds of up to 8700 km/h.

Did you know? It takes Saturn 29½ earth years to complete one orbit around the sun.

Many of the sculptures that can be seen around campus were sourced thanks to philanthropic funds: Liliane Lijn’s iconic White Koan, Richard Deacon’s Let’s Not Be Stupid and the recently installed Pollen Bomb by Jo Risley. We're grateful to all individuals and trusts who have helped to make our campus a unique and compelling experience for all who live and visit here.

2020 is the 20th anniversary of Warwick Medical School being established. Over the years our donors have supported a range of medical research including the causes of Alzheimer’s, cancer prevention and treatment, and recurrent miscarriage.

Did you know? The human skull is made up of 29 bones.

Engineering researcher Dr Leandro Pecchia is helping the World Health Organisation set minimum requirements for essential medical devices used to diagnose and treat Covid-19 patients, and also the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) employed to protect NHS nurses and doctors.

With Davide Piaggio, a PhD research student in his lab, he is also supporting manufacturers in UK and in Italy, where four companies have already converted their productions to start manufacturing PPE (including masks, face shields) and medical devices (ventilators, monitors).

Ruhell Amin is a former scholar who turns 29 this year. He grew up on a council estate in the East End of London with his parents, who were first generation Bangladeshi immigrants. They emphasised the importance of Ruhell's education, and he was able to gain both a place at Warwick and a scholarship to support his studies.

"My scholarship helped ease the financial burden of university, allowed me to make friends and provided numerous employment opportunities," he says. "I'm very grateful to donors who support scholarships and help level the playing field, providing opportunities to those who may not necessarily be able to access them otherwise."

Lord Bhattacharyya founded Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) at the University in 1980 to reinvigorate British manufacturing through research. Thirty years later, he would commit £1 million of his own money to support young researchers – one of the largest personal donations to a university by a member of staff. When Lord Bhattacharyya sadly passed away in 2019, we established a memorial fund in his name to provide scholarships for graduating students from the local WMG academies in Coventry and Solihull.

Our new fintech research centre at Warwick Business School was made possible by a £3 million donation from alumnus Clive Gillmore. The Gillmore Centre for Financial Technology will bring together the school’s existing research in the area along with a host of new appointments.

Clive's donation will help fund an academic director, a post-doctoral researcher and a PhD scholarship programme, and will attract world-class talent from the UK and overseas to WBS. He says: “I'm proud to be able to make this contribution and hope it inspires my fellow alumni to support the University. I look forward to the Centre contributing to the global reputation of WBS for its research impact.”

Alumna and former scholar Dr Miriam Hay turns 29 on 29 May this year! She studied for her undergraduate, Masters and PhD degrees at Warwick, and her PhD was generously funded by the Wolfson Foundation.

Miriam, who met her husband at Warwick when they lived in Arthur Vick halls, says: “Funding can be a confidence-boosting gesture of faith in a person’s potential and in the importance of higher education.”

To all who have joined us on this journey through the history of philanthropy at Warwick – thank you. We hope you enjoyed the stories and facts, and you feel pride in what the generosity of our alumni and supporters has help us to acheive.

Our incredible communiuty of supporters is currently helping students forced into challenging circumstances by coronavirus through our Covid-19 Emergency Appeal. Learn more and donate if you can at https://covid19appeal.warwick.ac.uk