Learning with a purpose

Why the Gates Cambridge's Learning for Purpose programme is a key part of the Gates experience.

The Learning for Purpose programme focuses on transferable skills which are useful across academic fields. Scholars will learn something that is useful in whatever they do. It is something which is quite unique to Gates and we think it gives the scholarship a lot of added value.

Shraddha Kaur

When Nikolas Oktaba signed up for a video workshop earlier this year he was keen to learn the kind of skills that would help him meet his ambition to take his research on sexuality in the ancient world to a wider audience.

The one-day workshop, run by the Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council’s Learning for Purpose programme, saw him and his team putting together a talk show called “Awkward Questions with Paolo” which the team may now turn into a web series.

In the show, fellow Scholar Paulo Savaget [2015] asks Nikolas [2015] for relationship advice which he responds to in the manner of an ancient Greek. The film went down well with the workshop leaders and with scholars. Some are already calling Nikolas “the David Attenborough of sexuality”.

“The video workshop was the perfect launchpad for me into an exciting new way of communicating my research,” he says. “The Learning for Purpose programme is a key part of the Gates experience and one of the reasons the scholarship is so appealing.”

The programme was established by Tara Cookson [2011], who led a dedicated working group and presented the case for financing the programme to the Trust. From 2014-2015 Tara and her team built strong foundations for the scholar-driven programme, piloting a series of highly successful workshops. These included training in public speaking with TEDGlobal's speaker coach, a two-day deep-dive into crafting authentic leadership and public engagement with the award-winning The Op-Ed Project, which taught Scholars to craft opinion editorials from their research.

In January 2015 Victor Roy [2012] and Andrea Cabrero Vilatela [2011] took over as directors from Tara. In consultation with scholars, Andrea and Victor pitched a new name and structure for the programme to the Gates Cambridge Trust in April 2015, changing the name from professional development to Learning for Purpose. “We wanted to brand it around the idea that Gates Cambridge is truly a learning community with a purpose," says Andrea.

Under the new structure, the programme was divided into three areas: personalised learning; workshops with internal and external facilitators; and an online library and website with articles and advice.

Personalised learning includes a ‘brain trust’ which allows scholars who are facing a particular challenge to choose five other scholars to brainstorm a solution for an hour. “It means you have the brains of five people who can help you think things through,” says Andrea. Sometimes scholars suggest the five people they want, but LfP can also make suggestions. Personalised learning also includes skills sharing. One scholar, for instance, shared her knowledge of using citation software with others who needed it.

There are five themes in the Learning for Purpose programme: sharing ideas, driving change, catalysing remarkable teams, reflection and resilience and crafting and creativity. Workshops are crafted around these and scholars can also suggest ideas. Recent workshop themes have included improvisation, creative writing and film techniques. The next one is on photography.

In April Shraddha Kaur [2015] and Kerstin Goepfrich [2013] took over from Andrea and Victor. Shraddha says she heard about the programme in her interview for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship and came along to one of the programme’s regular open meetings about it in January where scholars have an opportunity to shape future events. She took part in the improvisation workshop and wanted to become more involved. She helped out with spreading the word about the film workshop, proposed the photography workshop and is now fully on board as a co-director.

She says her and Kerstin’s plans include promoting the programme better around scholars and alumni, for instance, through a Gates Cambridge film on what LfP is. Learning for Purpose will also run a session at the Gates Cambridge Biennial event in July, organised by Tara, and is also working with the Gates Cambridge Scholars’ Council on a living project called ‘Why you do what you do’ where scholars are asked what they do and why.

Shraddha says: “The Learning for Purpose programme focuses on transferable skills which are useful across academic fields. Scholars will learn something that is useful in whatever they do. It is something which is quite unique to Gates and we think it gives the scholarship a lot of added value.”

*For more information about Learning for Purpose click here. The next workshop is on photography and takes place on 28th May.