As I reflect on the past 12 months, I am honoured that so many alumni and friends are choosing to support the University of London with their ongoing and incredible contributions.

It was exactly ten years ago that we established the University’s first Development Office (recently renamed the Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Office), and we have seen continuous and increasing generosity to our students and priorities over this past decade. The range of support, right across our global community of donors and volunteers, is truly inspiring

Thank you to staff, students and alumni around the world

The University of London is a global community – with the vast majority of our students and alumni from outside the UK. It often feels as though our alumni have an even greater connection with us the further away they are from London. We genuinely value this connection, and I am extremely grateful to all those who engage with us.  

The work of our growing programme of Alumni Ambassadors, who themselves give their time to advise current students and young alumni with careers, is captured by the interview with Dr Ler Ser Yeng in Singapore. Ser Yeng is just one of an amazing community of 60,000 alumni in Singapore. 

Our largest student base is in Pakistan, with more than 8,000 current students studying for a University of London degree. I was privileged to be able to travel to Lahore and Karachi in May to meet our students, engage with our dedicated alumni and launch a new international scholarship in honour of Professor Emerita Mary Stiasny OBE.

Closer to home, here in our fabulous Senate House Library, we continue to receive unique gifts that grow our knowledge base and provide information for all our students and alumni. The support received from University of London alumnus Mark Storey and the Friends of the Nations' Libraries allowed us to acquire Ambigué Magique, an eighteenth-century blow book, also known as a flip book or magic colouring book – itself a hugely important historical publication, and a great example of the depth of our Senate House Library collections.  

Securing Senate House Library for future generations

On that note, we have started to make plans for a major new campaign in support of our libraries – making them a more accessible, more adaptable, more connected collection of libraries that everyone can enjoy, regardless of where you are in the world. I am looking forward to sharing more news as we develop plans for the transformation of Senate House Library and how we can involve all of our alumni in our ambitious and transformative plans.  

Support in all shapes and sizes  

Alumni engagement and working with our communities, both here in London and around the world, goes hand-in-hand with our philanthropic success.  

In this past year, the generosity of our community of alumni and friends has provided vital scholarship opportunities for our students, enhanced the facilities and estate here in London, helped protect the future of our libraries and collections, and increased the breadth and depth of our reach.  

It is also thanks to this community that we were able to connect with hundreds of former teachers, celebrate their professional commitment to decades of education and public service and welcome them into the University of London alumni family. 

I do urge you all to read the article on how we recognised these outstanding teachers with honorary University of London degrees, as it was, for me, one of the ​​highlights of the year. 

Our alumni and friends around the world are the lifeblood of this unique institution. I would also like to recognise the role played by my talented and dedicated colleagues across the University and especially in the Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Office. It is a real privilege to work with such a team of dedicated and positive people, all of whom fully value our alumni and supporters. 

Thank you to all those who play a part in delivering the mission of the University of London.  

Here’s to the next 12 months  

After such a spectacular year of generosity from our donors and deepened connections with our alumni and friends, I’m looking forward to the future with even more hope and excitement for 2025. We’ve seen how much we can achieve when we work together. We’re dedicated to providing even more support to more students, here at home and through cutting-edge distance learning. We’ll keep progressing important projects, including Senate House Library’s transformation, to provide a positive, impactful experience for everyone.  

Thank you once again. We couldn’t – and wouldn’t want to – do it without you.