Pembroke College, Cambridge has announced it will set up a studentship in memory of its alumna, Jo Cox MP.

The studentship will go to a refugee student or someone “from a background like Jo’s who might otherwise find it difficult to come to Cambridge”.

Cox, who studied Social and Political Sciences (now HSPS) at the college before graduating in 1995, was fatally stabbed and shot last week outside a library in West Yorkshire where she was about to hold a constituency surgery.

Former Labour Cabinet minister and current Master of Pembroke College, Lord Smith of Finsbury, said that Jo stood for “the politics of hope and love”.

Lord Smith also echoed the numerous tributes that have poured in since last Thursday, saying that Jo was a “truly remarkable person”, finding it almost impossible to express how “devastated” he was by her death.

He added that she was “remarkable for the astonishing amount she had achieved in only a year as an MP”, and would always be remembered for being a “bright, energetic and highly respected student” at her alma mater.

The day after Cox died, her husband Brendan set up a GoFundMe page, raising money in aid of three charities which were the “closest to her heart”: the Royal Voluntary Service, HOPE not hate, and the White Helmets, the latter a civil defence group operating in opposition-controlled Syria. Within a day, the page attracted donations from more than 17,000 people, surpassing its £500,000 target. 

"There has been too much fear and hate in recent weeks", Lord Smith went on, saying that, in response: “We must dedicate ourselves to continue her work”.