"We organised a networking session for alumni and prospective Oxbridge applicants and their parents, kindly hosted by Dubai College. The event was filled to capacity of 100 and included schools, University Counsellors and alumni who shared their experiences with aspiring students from a number of different schools across Dubai.

In this last year of the Schools Outreach Programme, over 20 students from UAE schools received offers from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. It's clear that the Group’s support in the form of mock interviews, reviews of personal statements and mentoring, as part of a co-ordinated effort with schools and students, is having a significant impact on the numbers of UAE students gaining access to an Oxbridge education.

Munira Rajkotwalla, a Year 13 student from GEMS Wellington Academy Silicon Oasis is hoping to study Human, Social and Political Science at Cambridge, described the event as ‘absolutely inspirational’ and many of the school representatives said that they had acquired a better understanding of what more they could be doing to support students wishing to apply to Oxbridge."

"Volunteering has always been a hugely enjoyable part of my life to be involved with a number of activities connected to Cambridge, but I hadn’t thought of it as ‘volunteering’ until recently. Volunteering is an increasingly important part of our university’s life and future and I would love other people to understand the significance of it and how rewarding it is. I have always felt that I was doing things because they were fun rather than because they were needed, and I have got just as much out of them personally as I have contributed, if not more!

For the last 35 years I have been immensely proud to have had dozens of committed and talented young Cambridge rowers staying with me, nine at a time, for an intense week of training (and eating!). Most of the girls were here for just one year but several for two and a couple for three, and it has been fantastic to see some of them go on to such amazing success, including several Olympic medals. I often feel that I acquired a large number of additional daughters, some of whom I still see regularly.

I have been helping run the Oxfordshire Alumni Group for the last 20 years. Following a massive recruitment campaign with the help of the alumni office, we now have nearly 600 members, of all ages, which makes us one of the largest groups. We run a varied programme of lectures and outings and I am currently in charge of organising and marketing these. The ‘Welcome to Cambridge events’ are held around the country in September each year for the youngsters in the area who are about to take up places at Cambridge. I see them as the most important thing that the local Alumni Groups do - they are immensely rewarding and fun. Once again I am finding it very rewarding and fun to be involved in something I care passionately about and which has such a valuable role to play – which is what volunteering is all about."

"We moved to Cambridge this summer and volunteering at the Alumni Festival seemed the ideal way to reconnect with the university and give something back to an institution which has been so important in our lives. Our first impression on the day was of the lively, atmosphere; it felt good to be part of the team making it all happen. Everyone was relaxed and friendly and our polo shirts and badges gave us a good excuse to strike up conversations with all kinds of interesting people. An added bonus was that we were both assigned to lectures we would not normally have chosen to attend, and which proved fascinating. A great day and we’re already looking forward to the next one!"

"Wishing to make new contacts and shape a social circle I sought the Birmingham Group of the Cambridge Society, when in 2001 I relocated from Hampshire to Stratford-upon-Avon. I found the Group in hibernation and set about reconvening their organising committee. From this intervention stemmed an annual itinerary of five or six events, comprising a Christmas lunch; Freshers’ welcome event; lectures by leading University of Cambridge academics, in collaboration with Birmingham Universities and professional bodies; ‘technical visits’, often to manufacturing plants, such as Jaguar cars; social evenings, regularly to the theatre, and; visits to historic buildings.

My involvement in the committee and eventual chairmanship brought me back to Cambridge initially through my attendance at the Leadership Conference, arranged each July by The Development and Alumni Relations office for Alumni Group organisers. Through this I was invited to join the ‘Networks and Volunteers Working Group’, which meets bi-annually to offer guidance to the Alumni Relations team specifically on the network of Alumni Groups around the world. My volunteering later expanded to lending a hand at the Alumni Festival in September and Graduation Ceremonies, which take place throughout all three terms, these are both rewarding and up-lifting occasions. It has been good to give something back."