University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Early records indicate that the university grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge, probably formed in 1209 by scholars escaping from Oxford after a fight with local townsmen.

The universities of Cambridge and Oxford are jointly referred to by the portmanteau term Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of British society, the two universities also have a long history of rivalry with each other.

Cambridge is a member of the Russell Group, a network of large, research-led British universities; the Coimbra Group, an association of leading European universities; the LERU (League of European Research Universities), and the IARU (International Alliance of Research Universities).

General information

Cambridge is a collegiate university, with its main functions divided between the central departments of the university and a number of colleges. In general, the departments perform research and provide centralised lectures to students, while the colleges are responsible for the domestic arrangements and welfare of undergraduate students, graduate students, some of the postdocs and some University staff. The colleges also provide most of the small group teaching for undergraduates, referred to as supervisions. The thirty-one colleges are technically institutions independent of the university itself and enjoy considerable autonomy. For example, colleges decide which students they are to admit, and appoint their own fellows (senior members). (In Cambridge, "the university" often means the University as opposed to the Colleges.)

The current Chancellor of the university is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The current Vice-Chancellor is Professor Alison Richard. The office of Chancellor, who holds office for life, is mainly symbolic, while the Vice-Chancellor (as is usual at British universities) is the real executive chief. The University is governed entirely by its own members, with no outside representation in its governing bodies. Ultimate authority lies with the Regent House, of which all current Cambridge academic staff are members, but most business is carried out by the Council. The Senate consists of all holders of the M.A. degree or higher degrees. It elects the Chancellor; until their abolition in 1950, it elected Members to the House of Commons for Cambridge University, but otherwise has not had a major role since 1926.

Reputation

According to UCAS, Cambridge and Oxford are the most academically selective universities in the United Kingdom - there is a special national admissions process which sets Oxbridge apart from other UK universities.

The university has often topped league tables ranking British universities - for instance, Cambridge was ranked first in the Sunday Times league table every year between 1997 and 2005. In the most recent UK government Research Assessment Exercise in 2001[1], Cambridge was ranked first in the country. In 2005, it was reported that Cambridge produces substantially more PhDs per year than any other UK university (over 30% more than second placed Oxford)[2]. In 2006, a Thomson Scientific study showed that Cambridge has the highest research paper output of any UK university, and is also the top research producer (as assessed by total paper citation count) in 10 out of 21 major UK research fields analyzed[3].

International league tables produced in 2005 by The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranked Cambridge third ³ and second ⁴ in the world respectively. The THES also ranked Cambridge first in science, second in biomedicine, third in the arts & humanities, sixth in technology, and eighth in social sciences. Note that all university rankings are subject to controversy about their methodology, and that the THES and Jiao Tong tables are the only international rankings available.

Historically, the two universities have produced a significant proportion of Britain's prominent scientists, writers and politicians. Affiliates of Cambridge University have won a total of 81 Nobel Prizes ¹, more than any other university in the world ². Seventy of these awardees also attended Cambridge as undergraduate or graduate students.

In addition to a long distinguished tradition in the humanities and the arts, the University of Cambridge is especially known for producing prominent scientists and mathematicians. This distinguished list includes Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, William Harvey, Paul Dirac, J. J. Thomson, Ernest Rutherford, James Clerk Maxwell, James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking, and Fred Sanger.

The university is also closely linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster in and around Cambridge, which forms the area known as Silicon Fen or sometimes the "Cambridge Phenomenon". In 2004, it was reported that Silicon Fen was the second largest venture capital market in the world, after Silicon Valley. Estimates reported in February 2006 suggest that there were about 250 active startup companies directly linked with the university, worth around US$6 billion.

Endowment

Cambridge's endowment (including the colleges) was estimated at £3.1 billion in late 2005[4] and is arguably the highest in Europe. Oxford (including its colleges) was possibly ranked second in 2005 with estimates ranging from £2.4bn to £2.9bn [5], and the Central European University in Budapest third with an estimated €400 million in 2005). The share of Cambridge's endowment directly tied to the university itself exceeds £1 billion. However, Cambridge still relies largely on funding by the UK government. In comparison with US universities, the upper range of the endowment estimates places Cambridge at 6th or 7th (depending on whether one includes the University of Texas System - which incorporates 9 full scale universities and 6 health institutions[6]).

The Colleges

Cambridge's colleges were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself. The colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called Hostels.

Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse in 1284, Cambridge's first college. Many colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the centuries to modern times. The most recent college established is Robinson, built in the late 1970s. A list of the college is available by clicking the link above.

In medieval times, colleges were founded so that their students would pray for the souls of the founders. For that reason they were often associated with chapels or abbeys. A change in the colleges' focus occurred in 1536 with the dissolution of the monasteries. King Henry VIII ordered the university to disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching "scholastic philosophy." In response, colleges changed their curricula away from canon law and towards the classics, the Bible, and mathematics.

Mathematics

From the time of Isaac Newton in the later 17th century until the mid-19th century, the university maintained a strong emphasis on mathematics. Study of this subject was compulsory for graduation, and students were required to take an exam for the Bachelor of Arts degree, the main first degree at Cambridge in both arts and science subjects. This exam is known as a Tripos. Students awarded first-class honours after completing the mathematics Tripos were named wranglers. The Cambridge Mathematical Tripos was competitive and helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, and Lord Rayleigh. However, some famous students, such as G. H. Hardy, disliked the system, feeling that people were too interested in accumulating marks in exams and not interested in the subject itself.

Although diversified in its research and teaching interests, Cambridge today maintains its strength in mathematics. The Isaac Newton Institute, part of the university, is widely regarded as the UK's national research institute for mathematics and theoretical physics. Cambridge alumni have won eight Fields Medals and one Abel Prize for mathematics. The University also runs a special Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics course.

Women's education

Originally all students were male. The first colleges for women were Girton College (founded by Emily Davies) in 1869 and Newnham College in 1872. The first women students were examined in 1882 but attempts to make women full members of the university did not succeed until 1947. While Cambridge did not give degrees to women until this date, this fact is misleading. From the nineteenth century women were allowed to study courses, sit examinations, and have the result recorded. Other institutions treated this as a degree. In the twentieth century women could be given a "titular degree". The difference was that without a full degree women were excluded from the governing of the university. This effectively denied woman a role in governance but not in recognized qualifications. Since students must belong to a college, and since established colleges remained closed to women, women found admissions restricted to colleges established only for women. All of the men's colleges integrated genders between 1960 and 1988. One women's college, Girton, also integrated genders, but the other women's colleges took the view that until the gender ratio problem was completely solved, they should not reduce the number of women's places available by admitting men to their colleges. As of 2005, the university's gender ratio is male 46%: female 54% (Source: Push guide, [7]).

Research and teaching

Cambridge University has research departments and teaching faculties in most academic disciplines. Cambridge tends to have a slight bias towards scientific subjects, but it also has a number of strong humanities and social science faculties. Academic staff (and often graduate students for the larger subjects) teach the undergraduates in both lectures and personal "supervisions" where a teacher-student ratio of between one-to-one and one-to-three is maintained. This pedagogical system is often cited as being unique to the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford (where "supervisions" are known as "tutorials") — similar practices can be found elsewhere, though not on the Oxbridge scale.

All research and lectures are conducted by University Departments. The colleges are in charge of giving or arranging most supervision, student accommodations, and most extra-curricula activities. During the 1990s Cambridge added a substantial number of new specialist research laboratories on several University sites around the city, and major expansion continues on a number of sites[8].

Admission

Historically, undergraduate admission to Cambridge colleges depended on knowledge of Latin and Ancient Greek, subjects taught principally in the United Kingdom at fee-paying schools, called public schools. This resulted in a student body predominantly drawn from members of the British social elite.

The admission process changed in the 1960s. Successful applicants are expected to be predicted at least 3 A-grade A-level qualifications relevant to their chosen undergraduate course, or equivalent overseas qualifications. College Fellows also evaluate candidates on unexamined factors such as potential for original thinking and creativity as expressed in extra-curricular activities and at interview [9]. In a few cases, candidates may be offered an unconditional place.

In recent years, admissions tutors in certain subjects have required applicants to sit the more difficult STEP papers in addition to achieving top grades in their A-levels or International Baccalaureate diplomas. For example, Peterhouse requires 1 and 2 or better in STEP as well as A grades at A-levels including A-level Mathematics and Further Mathematics in order to be considered for entry for the Mathematical Tripos. Between one-half and two-thirds of those who apply with the correct grades are given offers of a place.

Public debate in the United Kingdom continues over whether admissions processes at Oxford and Cambridge are entirely merit based and fair, whether enough students from state schools are encouraged to apply to Cambridge, and whether these students succeed in gaining entry. Almost half of all successful applicants come from public schools. However, the average qualifications for successful applicants from state schools are poorer than the average qualification of successful applicants from private schools. The lack of state school applicants to Cambridge and Oxford has had a negative impact on Oxbridge's reputation for many years, and the University has encouraged pupils from state schools to apply for Cambridge to help redress the imbalance. Critics counter that excessive government pressure to increase state school admissions constitute inappropriate social engineering [10] [11].

Graduate admission is first decided by the faculty or department relating to the applicant's subject. This effectively guarantees admission to a college (probably but not necessarily the applicant's preferred choice).

Colleges

The University of Cambridge currently has 31 colleges, of which three admit only women (New Hall, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish). The remaining 28 are mixed, Magdalene being the last all-male college to admit women in 1988. Two colleges admit only postgraduates (Clare Hall and Darwin), and four more admit mainly mature students or graduate students (Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish, St Edmund's and Wolfson). The other 25 colleges admit mainly undergraduate students, but also postgraduates following courses of study or research. Although various colleges are traditionally strong in a particular subject, for example Churchill has a formalized bias towards the sciences and engineering, the colleges all admit students from just about the whole range of subjects, although some colleges do not take students for a handful of subjects such as architecture or history of art.

There are several historical colleges which no longer exist, such as King's Hall (founded in 1317) and Michaelhouse which were combined together by King Henry VIII to establish Trinity in 1546. Also, Gonville Hall was founded in 1348 and then re-founded in 1557 as Gonville & Caius.

There are also several theological colleges in Cambridge, (for example Westminster College and Ridley Hall Theological College) that are loosely affiliated with the university through the Cambridge Theological Federation.