A former Keighley woman and her husband have given a £30 million gift to a Cambridge University college, which has been re-named in their honour.

The bequest, to women-only New Hall, is one of the biggest ever given by any individual to a British university and is the largest ever received by any of the University’s 31 colleges.

Ros Edwards (nee Smith), who attended Greenhead School in Keighley, made the bequest with husband Steve because she wanted to give something back to the college where she studied.

The couple made their fortune from the $700 million sale of their company Geneva Technology in 2001.

New Hall, which was a temporary name given to the college when it opened in 1954, will now be known as Murray Edwards College, after its founder, the late Dame Rosemary Murray, and the couple.

Mrs Edwards said: “It is in absolute gratitude for my education at New Hall – it was a life-changing experience.

“My education was provided thanks to other generous people – and the taxpayers – and I felt an obligation to put something back.

“Also, Steve and I hope that by going public on this donation we may encourage other graduates of any British university to do the same, dependent on what they can afford. We need to fund our universities so that they can compete with richly-endowed ones in the United States.

“At Harvard 54 per cent of graduates donate back to the university but we do not have this culture in Britain.

“Cambridge provides a world-class education, which is our lifeblood, but it can only continue to provide that high standard of education if we are able to compete on an equal footing.

“New Hall has never had an endowment and we felt we could do something to put that right.”

Sheffield-born Ros moved with her family to Keighley when she was three. They lived at Long Lee initially and then Riddlesden. Ros attended Long Lee Primary School and then the former Swire Smith Middle School, when it was situated in Marlborough Street, before moving to Greenhead.

She left the area for Cambridge in the early 1980s to read natural sciences and then did a PhD in electrophysiology at Leicester University.

She then joined the computer industry, first as a programmer but eventually working in commercial and operations management. She was operations director and a major shareholder of Geneva Technology, which her husband founded.

Ros, 44, now holds a number of non-executive directorships and is involved with several charitable education projects.

She said she had fond memories of growing up in Keighley and had revisited the town several times.

She said: “I was a biologist, and the science and biology teachers I had at Greenhead were excellent. I recall them with tremendous fondness.”

Her husband – who read physics at Oxford – founded Geneva Technology, then known as Generic Technology, in 1989. He has several business interests and directorships.

New Hall said it was thrilled with the donation, which would enable it to pursue its desire to recruit more students from “non-traditional” backgrounds.

Anne Lonsdale, the college president, said: “This money will transform the experience of those at the college for generations to come.

“We were set up to provide the best education to able women from all backgrounds. All our students are special – but they may not be rich. Now we can allocate further financial help where it is needed and build on our teaching strengths.”

The college has 460 students.

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