Passing the Caduceus

  • 28 September 2018
  • 5 minutes

In the coming academic year, Caius will have not only a new Master, Dr Pippa Rogerson, the first woman to be Master in the 670 years of the College’s history, but also a new Senior Bursar, Robert Gardiner, who has been Bursar at Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall).

Their predecessors, Professor Sir Alan Fersht and Dr David Secher have been a formidable team for the past six years. As they both fully intended, they leave the College in an even stronger position than they found it. Alan says his first task as Master was to make sure David agreed to be Bursar: ‘I worked very hard to persuade him, because I thought he was the ideal choice.’

David says: ‘I never aspired to be Bursar, because I don’t have the financial qualifications that most Colleges look for, but Alan was very persuasive. He said we would make a good team and he thought at that stage it would be helpful to have a Bursar who knew the College well.’ Both men are Caians through and through. Alan says: ‘Caius has had an enormous effect on me, both in terms of success and in the happiness I’ve had in my life’.

With impeccable timing, Alan became Master exactly fifty years after coming up to Caius as an undergraduate and he addressed graduands at his final Dr Caius Dinner fifty years after receiving his PhD here. He has an excellent rapport with students and at the start of the academic year, he exhorted all final year students to do especially well in the Tripos: ‘if not for you, then for me, because I want to go out in a blaze of glory!’ The tactic worked brilliantly because, as he announced at the Dinner, 93% of them graduated with either a First or a 2:1.

Alan says he is ‘a long-term supporter of equal opportunities for women and I’m proud that we now fly the Rainbow Flag at Caius. I’m also particularly proud of the increase in the number of women Fellows during my time as Master and the election of four Honorary Fellows who are women: each is distinguished in different ways, in academic and non-academic spheres.’ They are: the late Professor Patricia Crone (1990), the Islamic historian; Julie Deane (1984), the entrepreneur and founder of the Cambridge Satchel Company; Carolyn Fairbairn (1980), Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry; and Christine Langan (1984), Head of BBC Films.

Alan was surprised to realise that what he will miss most is conferring degrees on graduates: ‘especially as I now have the Latin word-perfect! Well, you try saying “Te etiam admitto ad eundum gradum” 150 times!’ He is, however, looking forward to the next phase of his life ‘with real enthusiasm’. He is moving across Caius Court to K2, Stephen Hawking’s old room, where he hopes to be doing some teaching and organising seminars for undergraduates in Natural Sciences. ‘I’ll also be active on the Research Fellowship Committee and I’m setting up a fund to support Caian undergraduates and postgraduates in research projects and conference travel.’

For David Secher, looking back on his time as Senior Bursar, financial considerations were naturally uppermost, but he was also keen to use his experience in management to improve the managerial structure of the College. He appointed the College’s first communications officer, who has been most influential in modernising the College website and communications all round; and David rationalised the administration elsewhere. When the Domestic Bursar left, the College took the opportunity to change the system, so that the new Operations Director, Jennifer Philips (1996) would be independent on a day-to-day basis, but ultimately responsible to the Senior Bursar. ‘David and I have sat in the join between the staff that keep the College working, and the Fellows and students that are the academic lifeblood of the institution. He has always been clear that the College is only successful when all these groups are valued and given room to work effectively – and whilst we still don’t always get that right, I am sure that Caius has headed in a positive direction in his tenure. He will be missed.’ said Jennifer.

David has also ‘worked hard to ensure that communications between the Tutorial Office and the Bursary work efficiently’. He believes a top priority for any Bursar is ‘to ensure that tutors can support students in need’.

Early in his six years as Bursar, David declared, in the College’s campaign brochure, Caius to the Future: ‘Caius needs at least £200 million more in its endowment, at current valuations, if it is to continue to offer its students the same benefits that previous generations have enjoyed.’ He knew from day one that he would be retiring when he reached the statutory age of 70, so there was never any question of achieving the whole of that target during his own tenure, but he wanted to set the College on an ambitious and strategic course, based on sound principles of financial management.

Caians of all ages rose to this challenge and gave generously. Over 27% make donations to the College every year – a higher percentage than any other Oxbridge college. Alan and David are hugely appreciative of this generosity. David also pays tribute to ‘the invaluable help of the Endowment Manager, Nicky Robert, and the dedication of the Investments Committee. Six years on, the endowment has grown by £80 million, restoring Caius to its position as one of the four or five wealthiest Cambridge Colleges.’

Another of the successes of their joint terms of office is the development of twelve new houses at Gillies Close, in east Cambridge. The name commemorates Sir Harold Gillies (1901) who developed many of the techniques of modern plastic surgery, when treating wounded soldiers in the First World War.

 

The Master and Senior Bursar duo have contributed a great deal to the success of Caius. Dr Pippa Rogerson and Robert Gardiner inherit a College that is stronger and surer than ever about its purpose and values.

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