, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge
, type =
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
, endowment = £7.121 billion (including colleges)
, budget = £2.308 billion (excluding colleges)
, chancellor =
The Lord Sainsbury of Turville
, vice_chancellor =
Anthony Freeling
Anthony Nigel Stanley Freeling (born 6 August 1956) is a British management consultant, marketing expert, university administrator, and academic. Since October 2022, he has been Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was Presiden ...
, students = 24,450 (2020)
, undergrad = 12,850 (2020)
, postgrad = 11,600 (2020)
, city =
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, country = England
, campus_type =
, sporting_affiliations =
The Sporting Blue
, colours =
Cambridge Blue
, website =
, logo = University of Cambridge logo.svg
, logo_size = 255px
, academic_affiliations =
, faculty = 6,170 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 3,615 (excluding colleges)
The University of Cambridge is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
collegiate research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...
in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, England. Founded in 1209
and granted a
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
by
Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's
third oldest surviving university and one of its most prestigious, currently ranked second-best in the world and the best in Europe by ''
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
''. Among the university's
most notable alumni are 11
Fields Medalists, seven
Turing Award winners, 47
heads of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and ...
, 14
British prime ministers
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the principal minister of the crown of His Majesty's Government, and the head of the British Cabinet. There is no specific date for when the office of prime minister first appeared, as the role was no ...
, 194
Olympic medal
An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...
-winning athletes,
[All Known Cambridge Olympians]
. ''Hawks Club''. Retrieved 17 May 2019. and some of world history's most transformational and iconic figures across disciplines, including
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
,
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
,
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
,
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
,
Stephen Hawking,
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
,
John Milton,
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...
,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
,
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
,
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
,
Manmohan Singh,
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical co ...
,
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is con ...
, and others. Cambridge alumni and faculty have won 121
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
s, the most of any university in the world, according to the university.
The University of Cambridge's 13th-century founding was largely inspired by an association of scholars then who fled the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
for Cambridge following the ''suspendium clericorium'' (hanging of the scholars) in a dispute with local townspeople. The two
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...
English universities, though sometimes described as rivals, share many common features and are often jointly referred to as ''
Oxbridge''. The university was founded from a variety of institutions, including
31 semi-autonomous constituent colleges and
over 150 academic departments, faculties, and other institutions organised into six schools. All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, managing their own personnel and policies, and all students are required to have a college affiliation within the university. The university does not have a main campus, and its colleges and central facilities are scattered throughout the city. Undergraduate teaching at Cambridge centres on weekly group
supervisions in the colleges in small groups of typically one to four students. This intensive method of teaching is widely considered the jewel in the crown of an Oxbridge undergraduate education. Lectures, seminars, laboratory work, and occasionally further supervisions are provided by the central university faculties and departments, and Postgraduate education is also predominantly provided centrally; degrees, however, are conferred by the university, not the colleges.
By both
endowment size and material consolidated assets, Cambridge is the wealthiest university in Europe and among the wealthiest in the world. In the 2019 fiscal year, the central university, excluding colleges, had total income of £2.192 billion, £592.4 million of which was from research grants and contracts.
The central university and colleges together possessed a combined endowment of over £7.1 billion and overall consolidated net assets, excluding immaterial historical assets, of over £12.5 billion.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment combines
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
, the world's oldest university press, with one of the world's leading examining bodies; their publications reach in excess of eight million learners globally each year and some fifty million learners, teachers, and researchers monthly. The university operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including the
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
and
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in Cambridge, England, associated with the university Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany School). It lies between Trumpington Road to the west, Bateman Street to ...
.
Cambridge's 116 libraries hold a total of around 16 million books, around nine million of which are in
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
, a
legal deposit library
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposit ...
and one of the world's largest academic libraries.
Cambridge Union
The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debati ...
, the world's oldest debating society founded in 1815, inspired the emergence of university debating societies globally, including at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. The university is closely linked to the high technology
business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and gl ...
known as
Silicon Fen
Silicon Fen (also known as the Cambridge Cluster) is the name given to the region around Cambridge, England, which is home to a large business cluster, cluster of high-tech businesses focusing on software, electronics and biotechnology, s ...
, Europe's largest technology cluster. The university is also the central member of
Cambridge University Health Partners
Cambridge University Health Partners is an academic health science centre that brings together the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridgeshire and Pe ...
, an
academic health science centre based around the
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. The site is located at the southern end of Hills Road in Cambridge, England.
Over 20,000 people work at the site, which is home to Cambridge ...
, which is Europe's largest medical and science centre.
History
Founding
Prior to the founding of the University of Cambridge in 1209, Cambridge and the area surrounding it already had developed a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation, due largely to the intellectual reputation and contribution of monks from the nearby bishopric church of
Ely. The founding of the University of Cambridge, however, was inspired largely by an incident at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
during which three Oxford scholars, as an administration of justice in the death of a local woman, were
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
by town authorities without first consulting ecclesiastical authorities, who traditionally would be inclined to pardon scholars in such cases. But during this time,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
's town authorities were in conflict with
King John. Fearing more violence from Oxford townsfolk, University of Oxford scholars consequently began leaving Oxford for other more hospitable cities, including
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
,
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
, and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
. Enough scholars ultimately took residence in Cambridge to form the nucleus for the formation of a new university.
In order to lay controversial claim to being England's oldest university, Cambridge often traces its founding to
Henry III's 1231 charter, which granted the University of Cambridge the right to discipline its own members (''ius non-trahi extra'') and an exemption from some taxes.
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...
' s
bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
gave Cambridge graduates the right to teach everywhere in
Christendom
Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
. After Cambridge was described as a ''
studium generale
is the old customary name for a medieval university in medieval Europe.
Overview
There is no official definition for the term . The term ' first appeared at the beginning of the 13th century out of customary usage, and meant a place where stud ...
'' in a letter from
Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV ( la, Nicolaus IV; 30 September 1227 – 4 April 1292), born Girolamo Masci, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1288 to his death on 4 April 1292. He was the first Franciscan to be ele ...
in 1290,
and confirmed as such
Pope John XXII's 1318 papal bull, it became common for researchers from other European
medieval universities
A medieval university was a corporation organized during the Middle Ages for the purposes of higher education. The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy (including the ...
to visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture courses.
Foundation of the colleges
![Peterhouse Chapel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Peterhouse_Chapel.jpg)
The
colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the university; no college is as old as the university itself. The colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, which were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, and they have left some traces, such as the name Garret Hostel Lane.
Hugh de Balsham
Hugh de Balsham (or Hugo; died 16 June 1286) was a medieval English bishop.
Life
Nothing is known of Balsham's background, although during the dispute over his election he was alleged to have been of servile birth, and his name suggests a conn ...
,
Bishop of Ely, founded
Peterhouse
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...
, Cambridge's first college, in 1284. Multiple additional colleges were founded during the 14th and 15th centuries, but colleges continued being established through modern times, though there was a 204-year gap between the founding of
Sidney Sussex
Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...
in 1596 and that of
Downing in 1800. The most recent college to be established is
Robinson Robinson may refer to:
People and names
* Robinson (name)
Fictional characters
* Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719
Geography
* Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...
, which was built in the late 1970s. However,
Homerton College
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the co ...
only achieved full university college status in March 2010, making it technically the newest full college.
In
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
times, many colleges were founded so that their members could
pray
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...
for the
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...
s of the founders. University of Cambridge colleges often were associated with chapels or
abbey
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The con ...
s. The colleges' focus began to shift in 1536, however, with the
Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Henry VIII ordered the university to disband its Faculty of
canon law
Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...
and to stop teaching
scholastic philosophy
Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical organic method of philosophical analysis predicated upon the Aristotelian 10 Categories. Christian scholasticism emerged within the monastic schools that translate ...
. In response, colleges changed their curricula away from canon law, and towards the
classics, the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
, and mathematics.
Nearly a century later, the university found itself at the centre of a
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
schism. Many nobles, intellectuals, and even commoners saw the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
as too similar to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and felt that it was being used by
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
to usurp the counties' rightful powers.
East Anglia emerged as the centre of what ultimately became the
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
movement. In Cambridge, the Puritan movement was particularly strong at Emmanuel, St Catharine's Hall, Sidney Sussex, and
Christ's College. These colleges produced many non-conformist graduates who greatly influenced, by social position or preaching, some 20,000 Puritans who ultimately left England for
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
and especially the
Massachusetts Bay Colony during the
Great Migration decade of the 1630s, becoming
America's first settlers.
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
, Parliamentary commander during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
and head of the English Commonwealth from 1649 to 1660, attended
Sidney Sussex
Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...
.
Mathematics and mathematical physics
The university quickly established itself as a global leader in the study of
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
.
Examination in mathematics was initially compulsory for all undergraduates studying for the
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree, the most common degree first offered at Cambridge. From the time of
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
in the late 17th century until the mid-19th century, the university maintained an especially strong emphasis on
applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...
, particularly
mathematical physics
Mathematical physics refers to the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and t ...
. The university established a mathematics exam known as a
Tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
. Students awarded
first class honours
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
after completing the mathematics Tripos exam are called
wranglers, and the top student among them is known as the
Senior Wrangler
The Senior Frog Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain."
Specifically, it is the person who a ...
, a position that has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain."
The Cambridge Mathematical Tripos is highly competitive and has helped produce some of the most famous names in British science, including
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and li ...
,
Lord Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important ...
, and
Lord Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Am ...
. However, some famous students, such as
G. H. Hardy
Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...
, disliked the Tripos system, feeling that students were becoming too interested in accumulating high exam marks and less interested in the subject itself.
Pure mathematics at Cambridge in the 19th century achieved great things, but also missed out on substantial developments in French and German mathematics. Pure mathematical research at Cambridge finally reached the highest international standard in the early 20th century, thanks largely to G. H. Hardy and his collaborators,
J. E. Littlewood
John Edensor Littlewood (9 June 1885 – 6 September 1977) was a British mathematician. He worked on topics relating to mathematical analysis, analysis, number theory, and differential equations, and had lengthy collaborations with G. H. H ...
and
Srinivasa Ramanujan.
W. V. D. Hodge established Cambridge as a global leader in
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...
in the 1930s.
Although diversified in its research and teaching interests, Cambridge today maintains its traditional strength as a world leader in the teaching of mathematics. Cambridge alumni have won six
Fields Medals and one
Abel Prize for mathematics, and individuals representing Cambridge have won four additional Fields Medals.
Modern period
![Selwyn College Old Court, Cambridge, UK - Diliff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Selwyn_College_Old_Court%2C_Cambridge%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg)
The
Cambridge University Act 1856
The Cambridge University Act 1856The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpr ...
formalised the university's organisational structure and introduced the study of many new subjects, including theology, history and
Modern language
A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead classical languages such a ...
s. Resources necessary for new courses in the arts, architecture, and
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
were donated by
Viscount Fitzwilliam
Viscount FitzWilliam, of Merrion in the County of Dublin, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1629 for Thomas FitzWilliam, along with the subsidiary title Baron FitzWilliam, of Thorncastle in the County of Dublin, also in th ...
of
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, who also founded the
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
. In 1847,
Prince Albert was elected the university's chancellor in a close contest with the
Earl of Powis
Earl of Powis (Powys) is a title that has been created three times. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1674 in favour of William Herbert, 3rd Baron Powis, a descendant of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (c. 1501–15 ...
. As chancellor, Albert reformed university curricula beyond its initial focus on mathematics and classics, adding modern history and the natural sciences. Between 1896 and 1902,
Downing College
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...
sold part of its land to permit the construction of
Downing Site
The Downing Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located in the centre of the city of Cambridge, England, on Downing Street and Tennis Court Road, adjacent to Downing College. The Downing Site is the larger and newer of two ci ...
, the university's new grouping of scientific laboratories for the study of
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
,
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...
, and
Earth sciences
Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
. During this period, the
New Museums Site
The New Museums Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located on Pembroke Street and Free School Lane, sandwiched between Corpus Christi College, Pembroke College and Lion Yard. Its postcode is CB2 3QH. The smaller and older of ...
was erected, including the
Cavendish Laboratory, which has since moved to
West Cambridge
West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the ''West Cambridge Master Plan'', several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the centre ...
, and other
departments for chemistry and medicine.
The University of Cambridge began to award
PhD degrees in the first third of the 20th century; the first Cambridge PhD in mathematics was awarded in 1924.
The university contributed significantly to the
Allies' forces in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
with 13,878 members of the university serving and 2,470 being killed in the war. Teaching, and the fees it earned, nearly came to a stop during World War I, and severe financial difficulties followed. As a result, the university received its first systematic state support in 1919, and a
Royal commission was appointed in 1920 to recommend that the university (but not its colleges) begin receiving an annual grant. Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the university experienced a rapid expansion in applications and enrollment, partly due to the success and popularity gained by many Cambridge scientists.
Parliamentary representation
Cambridge was one of only two universities to hold parliamentary seats in the
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...
and was later one of only eight represented in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
. The constituency was created by a
Royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
of 1603 and returned two members of parliament until 1950 when it was abolished by the
Representation of the People Act 1948
The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections. It is noteworthy for abolishing plural voting for parliamentary elections, including ...
. The constituency was not a geographical area; rather, its electorate consisted of university graduates. Before 1918, the franchise was restricted to male graduates with a
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
or
MA degree.
Women's education
![Cambridge Newnham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Cambridge_Newnham.JPG)
For the first several centuries of its existence, as was the case broadly in England and the world, the University of Cambridge was only open to male students. The first colleges established for women were
Girton College
Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...
(founded by
Emily Davies
Sarah Emily Davies (22 April 1830 – 13 July 1921) was an English feminist and suffragist, and a pioneering campaigner for women's rights to university access. She is remembered above all as a co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton Coll ...
in 1869) and
Newnham College
Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millice ...
(founded by
Anne Clough
Anne Jemima Clough (20 January 182027 February 1892) was an early English suffragist and a promoter of higher education for women. She was the first principal of Newnham College.
Life
Clough was born at Liverpool, Lancashire, the daughter of c ...
and
Henry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected i ...
in 1872) followed by
Hughes Hall (founded in 1885 by
Elizabeth Phillips Hughes
Elizabeth Phillips Hughes MBE (12 July 1851 – 19 December 1925) was a Welsh scholar, teacher, and promoter of women's education, first principal of the Cambridge Training College for Women.
Early life
Hughes was born in Carmarthen, Carma ...
as the Cambridge Teaching College for Women),
Murray Edwards College
Murray Edwards College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1954 as New Hall. In 2008, following a donation of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Steve, it was renamed Murray Edwar ...
(founded in 1954 by
Rosemary Murray as
New Hall), and
Lucy Cavendish College
Lucy Cavendish College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
The college is named in honour of Lucy Cavendish (1841–1925), who campaigned for the reform of women's education.
History
The college was founded in 1965 by ...
in 1965. Prior to ultimately being permitted admission to the university, female students had been granted the right to take University of Cambridge exams beginning in the late 19th century. In 1948, the university officially permitted them entry to the university. Women were allowed to study courses, take examinations, and have prior exam results recorded retroactively, dating back to 1881; for a brief period after the turn of the 20th century, this allowed the
steamboat ladies
"Steamboat ladies" was a nickname given to a number of female students at the women's colleges of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge who were awarded ''ad eundem'' University of Dublin degrees at Trinity College Dublin, between 1904 and 19 ...
to receive ''
ad eundem
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
'' degrees from the
University of Dublin.
Beginning in 1921, women were awarded diplomas that conferred the title associated with the Bachelor of Arts degree. But since women were not yet admitted to the Bachelor of Arts degree program, women were excluded from the university's governance structure. Since students must belong to a college, and since established colleges remained closed to women, women found admissions restricted to few university colleges that had been established only for them.
Darwin College, the first graduate college of the university, matriculated both male and female students from its inception in 1964 and elected a mixed fellowship. Among undergraduate colleges, starting with
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
,
Clare, and
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
's Colleges, the former male-only colleges began to admit women between 1972 and 1988. Among female-only colleges,
Girton began admitting male students in 1979, and
Lucy Cavendish
Lucy Caroline Cavendish, also known as Lady Frederick Cavendish ( Lyttelton; 5 September 1841 – 22 April 1925), was a pioneer of women's education.
A daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, she married into another aristocratic fa ...
began admitting men in 2021. But the other female-only colleges have remained female-only colleges. As a result of
St Hilda's College, Oxford ending its ban on male students in 2008, Cambridge is now the only remaining university in the United Kingdom with female-only colleges (
Newnham and
Murray Edwards). As of the 2019–2020 academic year, the university's male to female enrollment, including post-graduates, was nearly balanced with its total student population being 53% male and 47% female.
Town and gown
The relationship between the university and the city has sometimes been uneasy. The phrase town and gown is employed to distinguish between Cambridge residents and University of Cambridge students, who historically wore
academical dress
Academic dress is a traditional form of clothing for academic settings, mainly tertiary (and sometimes secondary) education, worn mainly by those who have obtained a university degree (or similar), or hold a status that entitles them to assum ...
. There are many stories of ferocious rivalry between Cambridge's residents and university students. During the
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...
of 1381, strong clashes led to attacks and
looting of university properties while locals contested the privileges granted by the government to the academic staff. Residents burned university property in
Market Square to the famed rallying cry "
Away with the learning of clerks, away with it!". Following these events, the University of Cambridge's Chancellor was given special powers allowing him to prosecute criminals and reestablish order in the city. Attempts at reconciliation between the city's residents and students followed. In the 16th century, agreements were signed to improve the quality of streets and student accommodation around the city. However, this was followed by new confrontations when the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pe ...
reached Cambridge in 1630 and colleges refused to assist those affected by the disease by locking their sites.
Such conflicts between Cambridge's residents and university students have largely disappeared. The university is a source of enormous employment and expanded wealth in Cambridge and the region. The university also has proven a source of enormous growth in
high tech
High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
and
biotech
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
start-ups and established companies and associated providers of services to these companies. The economic growth associated with the university's high tech and biotech growth has been labeled the Cambridge Phenomenon, and has included the addition of 1,500 new companies and as many as 40,000 new jobs added between 1960 and 2010.
Myths, legends and traditions
![Queens' College - Mathematical Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Queens%27_College_-_Mathematical_Bridge.jpg)
Partly because of the University of Cambridge's extensive eight century history, the university has developed a large number of traditions, myths, and legends. Some are true, some are not, and some were true but have been discontinued but have been propagated nonetheless by generations of students and tour guides.
One such discontinued tradition is that of the
wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to:
* Wooden spoon, implement
* Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...
, the prize awarded to the student with the lowest passing honours grade in the final examinations of the
Mathematical Tripos
The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University.
Origin
In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was ...
. The last of these spoons was awarded in 1909 to Cuthbert Lempriere Holthouse, an oarsman of the Lady Margaret Boat Club of
St John's College. It was over one metre in length and had an oar blade for a handle. It can now be seen outside the Senior Combination Room of St John's. Since 1908, examination results have been published alphabetically within class rather than in strict order of merit, which made it difficult to ascertain the student with the lowest passing grade deserving of the spoon, leading to discontinuation of the tradition.
Each
Christmas Eve,
The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols sung by the
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Col ...
are broadcast globally on
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
television and radio and syndicated to hundreds of additional radio stations in the U.S. and elsewhere. The radio broadcast has been a national Christmas Eve tradition since 1928, though the festival has existed since 1918. The first television broadcast of the festival was in 1954.
Locations and buildings
Buildings
The university occupies a central location within the city of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
with the students taking up a roughly 20 percent of the town's population, and contributing on whole to a lower age demographic in the city.
Most of the university's older colleges are situated nearby the city centre, through which flows
River Cam, which students and others traditionally
punt to appreciate the university buildings and surroundings viewable from the river.
Other notable buildings include
King's College Chapel
King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan ...
, the history faculty building designed by
James Stirling, and the Cripps Building at
St John's College. The
brickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...
of several colleges is notable:
Queens' College
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...
has "some of the earliest patterned brickwork in the country" and the brick walls of St John's College provide examples of
English bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...
,
Flemish bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...
, and
Running bond
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall.
Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...
.
Sites
The university is divided into several sites where departments are located. These include:
*
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...
*
Downing Site
The Downing Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located in the centre of the city of Cambridge, England, on Downing Street and Tennis Court Road, adjacent to Downing College. The Downing Site is the larger and newer of two ci ...
* Madingley/Gorton
*
New Museums Site
The New Museums Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located on Pembroke Street and Free School Lane, sandwiched between Corpus Christi College, Pembroke College and Lion Yard. Its postcode is CB2 3QH. The smaller and older of ...
*
North West Cambridge Development
The North West Cambridge Development is a University of Cambridge site to the north west of Cambridge city centre in England. The development is meant to alleviate overcrowding and rising land prices in Cambridge. The first phase resulted from ...
*
Old Addenbrooke's Site
The Old Addenbrooke's Site is a site owned by the University of Cambridge in the south of central Cambridge, England.
It is located on the block formed by Fitzwilliam Street to the north, Tennis Court Road to the east, Lensfield Road to th ...
*
Old Schools
The Old Schools are part of the University of Cambridge, in the centre of Cambridge, England. The Old Schools house the Cambridge University Offices, which form the main administration for the University.
The building is Grade I listed.
*
Silver Street
''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community,
Broadcast history
It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...
/
Mill Lane
*
Sidgwick Site
The Sidgwick Site is one of the largest sites within the University of Cambridge, England.
Overview and history
The Sidgwick Site is located on the western side of Cambridge city centre, near the Backs. The site is north of Sidgwick Avenue an ...
*
West Cambridge
West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the ''West Cambridge Master Plan'', several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the centre ...
The university's School of Clinical Medicine is based in
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...
, where medical students undergo their three-year clinical placement period after obtaining their
BA degree. The West Cambridge site is undergoing a major expansion and will host new buildings and fields for university sports. Since 1990,
Cambridge Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school.
The School is considered to be par ...
, on Trumpington Street, provides management education courses and is consistently ranked within the top 20 business schools globally by ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
''.
Given that the sites are in relative proximity and the area around Cambridge is reasonably flat, one of the favourite modes of transport for students is the bicycle; an estimated fifth of journeys in the city are made by bike, a figure enhanced by the fact that students are not permitted to hold car park permits except under special circumstances.
Notable locations
The University of Cambridge and its constituency campuses include many notable locations, some iconic, of historical, academic, religious, and cultural significance, including:
*
Bridge of Sighs, Cambridge
*
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in Cambridge, England, associated with the university Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany School). It lies between Trumpington Road to the west, Bateman Street to ...
*
Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge
*
Downing Site
The Downing Site is a major site of the University of Cambridge, located in the centre of the city of Cambridge, England, on Downing Street and Tennis Court Road, adjacent to Downing College. The Downing Site is the larger and newer of two ci ...
*
Fenner's
Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground.
History
Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchard ...
*
Goldie Boathouse
Goldie Boathouse is the fitness and administrative base of Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC), located on the river Cam in Cambridge, England. It was originally the University boathouse and was named after CUBC's President J. H. D. Goldie, ...
*
King's College Chapel, Cambridge
King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bu ...
*
Lady Mitchell Hall
Lady Mitchell Hall (LMH) is a large lecture theatre owned by the University of Cambridge. It is located on the University's Sidgwick Site, north of Sidgwick Avenue in Cambridge, England.
The lecture theatre is used for important general interest ...
*
Mathematical Bridge
The Mathematical Bridge is the popular name of a wooden footbridge in the southwest of central Cambridge, England.
It bridges the River Cam about one hundred feet northwest of Silver Street Bridge and connects two parts of Queens' College. It ...
*
Nevile's Court, Trinity College, Cambridge
Nevile's Court is a court in Trinity College, Cambridge, England, created by a bequest by the college's master, Thomas Nevile.Stourton, E. 2011, Trinity: A Portrait . Third Millennium Press Limited. Available Online a/ref>
The east side is dom ...
*
Sidgwick Site
The Sidgwick Site is one of the largest sites within the University of Cambridge, England.
Overview and history
The Sidgwick Site is located on the western side of Cambridge city centre, near the Backs. The site is north of Sidgwick Avenue an ...
*
St Bene't's Church
St Bene't's Church is a Church of England parish church in central Cambridge, England. Parts of the church, most notably the tower, are Anglo-Saxon, and it is the oldest church in Cambridgeshire as well as the oldest building in Cambridge.
Th ...
*
The Backs
The Backs is a picturesque area to the east of Queen's Road in the city of Cambridge, England, where several colleges of the University of Cambridge back on to the River Cam, their grounds covering both banks of the river.
National Trust chairm ...
*
Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge
Trinity College Chapel is the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Part of a complex of Grade I listed buildings at Trinity, it dates from the mid 16th century. It is an Anglican church in t ...
*
West Cambridge
West Cambridge is a university site to the west of Cambridge city centre in England. As part of the ''West Cambridge Master Plan'', several of the University of Cambridge's departments have relocated to the West Cambridge site from the centre ...
Organisation and administration
![Cam colls from johns](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Cam_colls_from_johns.jpg)
Cambridge is defined as a
collegiate university
A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...
, meaning that it is made up of self-governing and independent colleges, each with its own property and income. Most colleges bring together academics and students from a broad range of disciplines. Within each faculty, school, or department within the university, are academics from many differing colleges.
The faculties are responsible for ensuring that lectures are given, arranging seminars, performing research and determining the syllabi for teaching, all of which is overseen by the university's general board. Together with the central administration headed by the
Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...
, they make up the University of Cambridge. Facilities such as libraries are provided on all these levels by the university (the
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
), by the faculties (including faculty libraries such as the
Squire Law Library
The Faculty of Law, Cambridge is the law school of the University of Cambridge.
The study of law at the University of Cambridge began in the thirteenth century. The faculty sits the oldest law professorship in the English-speaking world, the R ...
), and by individual colleges, all of which maintain a multi-discipline library generally designed for each college's respective undergraduates.
Legally, the university is an
exempt charity An exempt charity is an institution established in England and Wales for charitable purposes which is exempt from registration with, and oversight by, the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
Exempt charities are largely institutions of furth ...
and a common law
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
with the corporate title The Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.
Colleges
![Bridge of Sighs, St John's College, Cambridge, UK - Diliff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Bridge_of_Sighs%2C_St_John%27s_College%2C_Cambridge%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg)
The colleges are self-governing institutions with their own endowments and property, each founded as components of the university. All students and most academics are attached to a college. The colleges' importance lies in the housing, welfare, social functions, and undergraduate teaching they provide. All faculties, departments, research centres, and laboratories belong to the university, which arranges lectures and awards degrees but undergraduates receive their overall academic supervision through small group teaching sessions often with just one student within the colleges (though in many cases students go to other colleges for supervision if the teaching fellows at their college do not specialise in a student's particular area of focus). Each college appoints its own teaching staff and
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
s, both of whom are members of a university department. The colleges also decide which undergraduates to admit to the university, in accordance with university regulations.
Cambridge has 31 colleges, two of which,
Murray Edwards and
Newnham, admit women only. The other colleges are
mixed.
Darwin was the first college to admit both men and women while, beginning in 1972,
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
,
Clare, and
King's were the first previously all-male colleges to admit female undergraduates. In 1988,
Magdalene became the last all-male college to accept women. Clare Hall and Darwin admit only postgraduates, and
Hughes Hall,
St Edmund's, and
Wolfson admit only
mature (i.e., 21 years or older on date of
matriculation
Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination.
Australia
In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...
) students, encompassing both undergraduate and graduate students).
Lucy Cavendish
Lucy Caroline Cavendish, also known as Lady Frederick Cavendish ( Lyttelton; 5 September 1841 – 22 April 1925), was a pioneer of women's education.
A daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, she married into another aristocratic fa ...
, which was previously a women-only mature college, began admitting both men and women in 2021. All other colleges admit both undergraduate and postgraduate students with no age restrictions.
Colleges are not required to admit students in all subjects; some colleges choose not to offer subjects such as architecture, art history, or theology, but most offer close to the complete range of academic specialties and related courses. Some colleges maintain a relative strength and associated reputation for expertise in certain academic disciplines. For example,
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
has a reputation for its expertise and focus on the sciences and engineering, while others such as
St Catharine's aim for a balanced intake. Other colleges have more informal academic focus and even demonstrated ideological focus, such as
King's, which is known for its
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
political orientation, and
Robinson Robinson may refer to:
People and names
* Robinson (name)
Fictional characters
* Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719
Geography
* Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...
and
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
, both of which have a reputation in
sustainability and
environmentalism
Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks ...
.
Costs to students for room and board vary considerably from college to college. Similarly, the investment in student education by each college at the university varies widely between the colleges.
There are several theological colleges, including
Westcott House,
Westminster College, and
Ridley Hall Theological College, that are members of the
Cambridge Theological Federation
The Cambridge Theological Federation (CTF) is an association of theological colleges, courses and houses based in Cambridge, England and founded in 1972. The federation offers several joint theological programmes of study open to students in membe ...
and only informally associated with the university.
The University of Cambridge's 31 colleges include:
#
Christ's
#
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
#
Clare
#
Clare Hall
#
Corpus Christi
#
Darwin
#
Downing
#
Emmanuel
Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...
#
Fitzwilliam
#
Girton
#
Gonville & Caius
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...
#
Homerton
#
Hughes Hall
#
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
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King's
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Lucy Cavendish
Lucy Caroline Cavendish, also known as Lady Frederick Cavendish ( Lyttelton; 5 September 1841 – 22 April 1925), was a pioneer of women's education.
A daughter of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, she married into another aristocratic fa ...
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Magdalene
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Murray Edwards
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Newnham
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Pembroke
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Peterhouse
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...
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Queens'
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Robinson Robinson may refer to:
People and names
* Robinson (name)
Fictional characters
* Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719
Geography
* Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...
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Selwyn
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Sidney Sussex
Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...
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St Catharine's
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St Edmund's
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St John's
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Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
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Trinity Hall
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Wolfson
Schools, faculties and departments
![Across the lake to Madingley Hall (geograph 6402209 by John Sutton)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Across_the_lake_to_Madingley_Hall_%28geograph_6402209_by_John_Sutton%29.jpg)
In addition to the 31 colleges, the university is made up of over 150 departments, faculties, schools, syndicates, and other institutions. Members of these are usually members of one of the colleges with responsibility for the entire academic programme of the university divided among them.
The university has a department dedicated to providing
continuing education, the
Institute of Continuing Education
The University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) is a department of the University of Cambridge dedicated to providing continuing education programmes which allow students to obtain University of Cambridge qualifications at un ...
, which is based primarily in
Madingley Hall
Madingley is a small village near Cambridge, England. It is located close to the nearby villages of Coton and Dry Drayton on the western outskirts of Cambridge. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 210.
The village was kno ...
, a 16th-century manor house in
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...
. Its award-bearing programmes range from undergraduate certificates through part-time master's degrees.
![Old Schools from Kings Parade, Cambridge, UK - Diliff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Old_Schools_from_Kings_Parade%2C_Cambridge%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg)
A school in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative grouping of related faculties and other units. Each has an elected supervisory body known as a Council, composed of representatives of the various constituent bodies. The University of Cambridge maintains six schools:
* Arts and Humanities
* Biological Sciences
* Clinical Medicine
* Humanities and Social Sciences
* Physical Sciences
* Technology
Teaching and research at the university is organised by faculties. The faculties have different organisational substructures that partly reflect their history and partly the university's operational needs, which may include a number of departments and other institutions. A small number of bodies called Syndicates hold responsibility for teaching and research, including for the
University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate
University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, which operates under the brand name Cambridge Assessment, and is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It provi ...
, the
University Press
A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. Most are nonprofit organizations and an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by schola ...
, and the
University Library
An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution and serves two complementary purposes: to support the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. It is unknown how many academic librar ...
.
Central administration
Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor
![DivinityFaculty](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/DivinityFaculty.jpg)
The
Chancellor of the university is limitless term position that is mainly ceremonial and is held currently by
David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville
David John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, , raeng.org.uk. Accessed 8 September 2022. (24 October 1940) is a British politician, businessman and philanthropist. From 1992 to 1997, he served as chairman of Sainsbury's, the supermarket c ...
, who succeeded the
Duke of Edinburgh following his retirement on his 90th birthday in June 2011. Lord Sainsbury was nominated by the nomination board.
The
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
took place on 14 and 15 October 2011
with Sainsbury taking 2,893 of the 5,888 votes cast, and winning on the election's first count.
The current Acting
Vice-Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...
is
Anthony Freeling
Anthony Nigel Stanley Freeling (born 6 August 1956) is a British management consultant, marketing expert, university administrator, and academic. Since October 2022, he has been Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was Presiden ...
.
While the Chancellor's office is ceremonial, the Vice-Chancellor is the university's ''de facto'' principal administrative officer. The university's internal governance is carried out almost entirely by
Regent House
The Regent House is the governing body of the University of Cambridge. It consists of most academic and academic-related staff of the University's colleges and departments. It currently has more than 3,000 members.
Meetings of the Regent House ...
augmented by some external representation from the Audit Committee and four external members of the
University's Council.
Senate and the Regent House
![20130808 Castle End from Kings Bridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/20130808_Castle_End_from_Kings_Bridge.jpg)
The university Senate consists of all holders of the
MA degree or higher degrees and is responsible for electing the Chancellor, the High Steward, and two members of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
(until the
Cambridge University constituency was abolished in 1950). Prior to 1926, the university Senate was the university's governing body, fulfilling the functions that
Regent House
The Regent House is the governing body of the University of Cambridge. It consists of most academic and academic-related staff of the University's colleges and departments. It currently has more than 3,000 members.
Meetings of the Regent House ...
provides today. Regent House is the university's governing body, a direct democracy comprising all resident senior members of the university and the colleges, together with the Chancellor, the
High Steward, the Deputy High Steward, and the Commissary. Public representatives of the Regent House are the two
Proctors, elected to serve for one year upon nomination by the Colleges.
Council and General Board
![Senate House Passage in the snow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Senate_House_Passage_in_the_snow.JPG)
Although the
University Council is the university's principal executive and policy-making body, the Council reports to, and is held accountable by,
Regent House
The Regent House is the governing body of the University of Cambridge. It consists of most academic and academic-related staff of the University's colleges and departments. It currently has more than 3,000 members.
Meetings of the Regent House ...
through a variety of checks and balances. The council is obliged to advise Regent House on matters of general concern to the university. It does this by publishing notices to the ''
Cambridge University Reporter
The ''Cambridge University Reporter'', founded in 1870, is the official journal of record of the University of Cambridge, England.
Overview
The ''Cambridge University Reporter'' appears within the University and online every Wednesday during ...
'', the university's official journal. Since January 2005, the council's membership has included two external members. In March 2008, Regent House voted to increase from two to four the number of external members on the council. and this was approved by Her Majesty the Queen in July 2008.
The General Board of the Faculties is responsible for the university's academic and educational policies and is accountable to the council for its management of these affairs.
Faculty Boards are accountable to the General Board; other Boards and Syndicates are accountable either to the General Board or to the council. Under this organizational structure, the university's various arms are kept under the supervision of both the central administration and Regent House.
Finances
Benefactions and fundraising
In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2019, the central university, excluding colleges, reported total income of £2.192 billion, of which £592.4 million was from research grants and contracts.
In the decade prior to 2019, the University of Cambridge reported an average of £271m a year in philanthropic donations.
The
Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students covers tuition costs for two students and maintenance grants for up to four years.
In 2000,
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
of
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
donated US$210 million through the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...
to endow
Gates Scholarships for students from outside the UK pursuing post-graduate study at Cambridge.
In October 2021, the university suspended its £400m collaboration with the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
, citing allegation that the UAE was involved in illegal hacking using the
NSO Group
NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company's founders) is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance ...
's
Pegasus software. UAE also was behind the leak of over 50,000 phone numbers, including hundreds belonging to British citizens. The university's outgoing Vice-Chancellor,
Stephen Toope
Stephen John Toope (born February 14, 1958) is a Canadian legal scholar, academic administrator and a scholar specializing in human rights, public international law and international relations.
In April 2013 he announced he was stepping down ...
said the decision to suspend its collaboration with UAE also was a result of additional revelations about UAE's Pegasus software hacking.
Bonds
The University of Cambridge borrowed £350 million by issuing a 40-year security bond in October 2012.
[Cambridge university issues its first £350m bond](_blank)
L. Tidy, The Cambridge Student, News, 11 October 2012 Its interest rate is about 0.6 percent higher than a British government 40-year bond. Vice-Chancellor
Leszek Borysiewicz
Sir Leszek Krzysztof Borysiewicz (born 13 April 1951) is a British professor, immunologist and scientific administrator. He served as the 345th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, his term of office (a maximum of seven years) sta ...
praised the bond issuance. In a 2010 report, the
Russell Group
The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governmen ...
of 20 leading universities concluded that higher education could be financed by bond issuance.
Affiliations and memberships
The University of Cambridge is a member of the
Russell Group
The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governmen ...
of research-led
British universities
Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by royal charter, papal bull, Act of Parliament, or an instrument of government under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. D ...
, the
G5, the
League of European Research Universities
The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is a consortium of European research universities.
History and overview
The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is an association of research-intensive universities. Founded in 2002 ...
, and the
International Alliance of Research Universities
The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) was launched on 14 January 2006 as a co-operative network of 10 leading, international research-intensive universities who share similar visions for higher education, in particular the edu ...
, and forms part of the so-called
golden triangle
Golden Triangle may refer to:
Places
Asia
* Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production
* Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development
* Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...
of research intensive and southern English universities. It is also closely linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster known as
Silicon Fen
Silicon Fen (also known as the Cambridge Cluster) is the name given to the region around Cambridge, England, which is home to a large business cluster, cluster of high-tech businesses focusing on software, electronics and biotechnology, s ...
and is part of
Cambridge University Health Partners
Cambridge University Health Partners is an academic health science centre that brings together the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridgeshire and Pe ...
, Europe's largest
academic health science centre.
Academic profile
Admissions
![TrinityCollegeCamGreatCourt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/TrinityCollegeCamGreatCourt.jpg)
Process
Admission to the University of Cambridge is competitive: in 2018–2019, 18.8% of applicants were admitted. In 2021, Cambridge introduced an over-subscription clause to its offers, which allows the university to withdraw acceptances if too many students meet its selective entrance criteria. The clause can be invoked in the event of circumstances outside the reasonable control of the university. The clause was introduced following a record number of
A-level pupils obtaining the highest grades from teacher assessment, which was introduced due to the cancellation of A-level examinations during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
The university's standard offer for most courses is set at A*AA, with A*A*A for sciences courses (or equivalent in other examination systems, e.g. 7,6,6 or 7,7,6 in IB). Due to a high proportion of applicants receiving the highest school grades, an interview process was introduced as a component of consideration for admission. Interviews are performed by College Fellows, who evaluate candidates on unexamined factors including potential for original thinking and creativity.
For exceptional candidates, a matriculation offer is sometimes offered, requiring only two A-levels at grade E or above.
Sutton Trust
The Sutton Trust is an educational charity in the United Kingdom which aims to improve social mobility and address educational disadvantage. The charity was set up by educational philanthropist, Sir Peter Lampl in 1997.
Since then, it has unde ...
maintains that Oxford University and the University of Cambridge recruit disproportionately from eight schools which accounted for 1,310
Oxbridge places over three years contrasted with 1,220 from 2,900 other schools.
Strong applicants who are not successful in being admitted to their chosen college at the university may be placed in the
Winter Pool
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
, where they can be considered for admission to other university colleges, which maintains consistency throughout the colleges, some of which receive more applicants than others.
Undergraduate applications are processed through
UCAS
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS ) is a UK-based organisation whose main role is to operate the application process for British universities. It operates as an independent charity, funded by fees charged to applicants an ...
, and the deadline for their submission currently is mid-October in the year before beginning. Until the 1980s, candidates for all subjects were required to take special entrance examinations, which have since been replaced by additional tests for some subjects, such as the Thinking Skills Assessment and Cambridge Law Test. The university has at times considered reintroducing an admissions exam for all subjects.
Graduate admission is first decided by the faculty or department responsible for the applicant's respective academic subject. An offer of acceptance effectively guarantees admission to a college, though not necessarily the applicant's preferred choice.
Winter pool
The Winter Pool or inter-College Pool is an important part of the undergraduate application process intended to ensure that the best applicants are offered places. Approximately 20–25% of undergraduate places are awarded through the Pool. Each college can place applicants in the winter pool. These applicants' applications are then considered by Admissions Tutors and/or Directors of Studies of all colleges during the pool, which takes place over three days in January prior to admissions decisions being released by the university.
For each subject, each college will create an ordered list of the pooled applicants they want, and take turns choosing applicants. Colleges with specific student requirements (i.e. the mature colleges and the women-only colleges) are given priority over applicants eligible for their colleges. Some applicants will be fished (selected from the pool) by the college that originally pooled them.
Once all the colleges have fished as many applicants as they need, the pool ends. Some fished applicants will then be re-interviewed by their fishing college before final admissions decisions are made.
Colleges can pool any candidate, either because the college has no space but believes the applicant is strong enough to get a place, or because the college wants to compare that applicant to other pooled applicants. Most applicants in the pool are pooled at their original college's discretion, but some candidates meet the compulsory pooling criteria. For applicants applying for 2022 entry, compulsory pooling has been suspended for all subjects with pre-interview assessments as well as maths.
There were, as of the 2020/21 admissions cycle, only two grounds for compulsory pooling. For post-qualified applicants, their achieved grades at A level or equivalent (listed below) and, for applicants with overseas interviews, an interview score of at least 8 in all interviews. The second criterion does not apply to medicine applicants.
Previously,
AS-Level UMS have been used as pooling criteria, but after
A-levels
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
became linear this was discontinued.
As of 2012, there is only one specifically identified category for pooled applicants, which is S — in special need of reassessment. This is for candidates whose initial interview scores are of questionable accuracy, for example if a candidate received very different scores from different interviewers, experienced technical issues (in the case of interviews conducted over the internet) or was affected by significant extenuating circumstances (for example illness or the loss of a family member).
Pooled applicants who are "fished" by a college may be offered a place immediately or they may be invited for interview. In 2020 just 89 applicants were invited to re-interview, 34 of whom received offers.
Each year about 3,500 applicants receive offers from their preference college and a further 1,000–1,100 applicants are made an offer by another college through the Pool. On average one in five applicants is pooled and around one in four pooled applicants receives an offer of a place.
Statistics released by the University show that some colleges regularly receive particularly high numbers of applicants, and these colleges tend to take fewer applicants from the Pool. Other colleges regularly draw a greater proportion of their undergraduate intake from the Pool.
Access
![Percentage of state-school students at Oxford and Cambridge](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Percentage_of_state-school_students_at_Oxford_and_Cambridge.png)
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
State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
are encouraged to apply to Cambridge, and whether these students are offered sufficient admission. In 2020–21, 71% of all successful applicants were from
state schools
State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in pa ...
(about 93% of all students in the UK attend state schools, and 82% of post-16 students). Critics have argued that the relative lower percent of state school applicants with the required grades for admission to Cambridge and Oxford has had a negative impact on Oxford and Cambridge's collective reputation, though both universities have encouraged pupils from state schools to apply for Cambridge to help redress the perceived imbalance. Others counter that government pressure to increase state school admissions constitutes inappropriate
social engineering. The proportion of undergraduates drawn from independent schools has dropped over the years, constituting, as of 2020, a minority (26%) of total admissions among the university's 3,436 applicants from independent schools compared to 23% of the 9,237 applications from state schools. Cambridge, together with Oxford and
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, is among those universities that have adopted formulae that issues a rating to the
GCSE performance of every school in the country to weigh the scores of university applicants.
With the release of admissions figures, a 2013 article in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' reported that ethnic minority candidates had lower success rates in individual subjects even when they had the same grades as white applicants. The university was criticised for what was seen as institutional discrimination against ethnic minority applicants in favour of white applicants. The university denied the claims of institutional discrimination, stating the figures did not take into account other variables.
A subsequent article reported that, in the years 2010–2012, ethnic minority applicants to medicine with 3 A* grades or higher were 20% less likely to gain admission than white applicants with similar grades. The university refused to provide figures for a wider range of subjects, claiming such reporting would prove excessively costly.
There are a number of educational consultancies that offer support with the application process to the University of Cambridge. Some make claims of improving chances for admission, though these claims have never been independently verified. None of these companies are affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Cambridge. The university informs applicants that all necessary information regarding the application process is publicly available through the university and none of these services is providing any insight not already publicly available to applicants.
The University of Cambridge has been criticised for admitting a lower percentage of Black students, though many apply. Of the 31 colleges at Cambridge, six of them admitted fewer than 10 Black or mixed race students between 2012 and 2016. Similar criticism exists over a relatively lower admission rate for white working class applicants; in 2019, only 2% of admitted students were white working class.
In January 2021, Cambridge created foundation courses for disadvantaged students.
While the usual entry requirements are A*AA in
A-Levels
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
, the one-year foundation course has 50 places for students who achieve BBB. If successful on the course, students receive a recognised
CertHE qualification and can progress to degrees in the arts, humanities, and social sciences at the university.
Candidates include those who have been in care, who are estranged from their families, who have missed significant periods of learning because of health issues, those from low-income backgrounds and those from schools that send few students to university.
Teaching
![Mathmo results](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Mathmo_results.jpg)
The academic year is divided into three academic terms, determined by the statutes of the university.
Michaelmas term
Michaelmas term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Micha ...
lasts from October to December; the
Lent term last from January to March; and the
Easter term
Easter term is the summer term at the University of Cambridge, University of Wales, Lampeter, University of Durham, and formerly University of Newcastle upon Tyne (before 2004Full Term
Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins.
Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...
s. According to university statutes, it is a requirement during these periods that all students should live within three miles of the
Church of St Mary the Great; this is defined as keeping term. Students eligible for graduation must fulfill this condition for nine terms (three years) while pursuing a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
or twelve terms (four years) when studying for a
Master of Science
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...
, engineering, or mathematics degree.
These terms are shorter than those of many other British universities. Undergraduates are also expected to prepare heavily in the three holidays (known as the Christmas, Easter, and Long Vacation holiday periods), which is they are referred to by the university as vacations rather than holidays; students vacate the premises but are still expected to be pursuing studies and assignments.
The
Tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
exam involves a mixture of lectures (organised by the university departments) and
supervisions (organised by the colleges). Science subjects involve laboratory sessions organised by the departments. The relative importance of these methods of teaching varies according to the needs of the subject. Supervisions are typically weekly hour-long sessions in which small groups of students (usually between one and three) meet with a member of the teaching staff or with a doctoral student. Students are normally required to complete an assignment in advance of this supervision, which they then discuss with the supervisor during the session. The assignment is often an essay on a subject assigned by the supervisor, or a problem sheet set by the lecturer. Depending on the subject and college, students sometimes receive between one and four supervisions per week. This
pedagogical system is often cited as being unique to Oxford (where supervisions are known as
tutorial
A tutorial, in education, is a method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete ...
s) and Cambridge and is sometimes credited with the exceptional nature generally associated with the education at these two world-renowned universities.
A tutor named
William Farish William Farish may refer to:
Senin varyoxunu... Dalbayov Gicdıllaq
* William Farish (chemist) (1759–1837), tutor at the University of Cambridge
* William Stamps Farish I (1843–1899)
* William Stamps Farish II (1881–1942), Standard Oil preside ...
developed the concept of grading students' work quantitatively at the University of Cambridge in 1792.
Research
The University of Cambridge has research departments and teaching faculties in nearly every academic discipline, and ll research and lectures are conducted by university departments. The colleges are charged with giving or arranging most supervisions, student accommodation, and funding most extracurricular activities. During the 1990s, the University of Cambridge added a substantial number of new specialist research laboratories on several sites around the city, and major expansion continues on a number of sites. The University of Cambridge also maintains a research partnership with
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in the United States, known as the
Cambridge–MIT Institute
The Cambridge–MIT Institute, or CMI, was a partnership between the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2008 CMI issued a "final report" describing it ...
.
Graduation tradition and ceremony
![Cam degree ceremony](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Cam_degree_ceremony.jpg)
Each graduation is a separate act of the university's governing body,
Regent House
The Regent House is the governing body of the University of Cambridge. It consists of most academic and academic-related staff of the University's colleges and departments. It currently has more than 3,000 members.
Meetings of the Regent House ...
, and must be voted on as with any other act. A formal meeting of Regent House, known as a
congregation
A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship.
Congregation may also refer to:
* Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship
*Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...
, is held for this purpose.
This is typically the final act during which all university procedures for undergraduate and graduate students and other degrees are finalized. After degrees are approved, candidates must request their respective Colleges to present them during commencement congregation.
Graduates receiving an undergraduate degree wear the
academic dress to which they are entitled prior to graduating; for example, most students becoming
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
graduates wear undergraduate gowns and not BA gowns. Graduates receiving a post-graduate degree (e.g. PhD or Master's) wear the academic dress that they were entitled to before graduating if their first degree was also from the University of Cambridge; if their first degree was from another university, they wear the academic dress of the degree that they are about to receive. The BA gown without the strings is worn if the graduate is 24 years old or younger, and the MA gown without strings is worn if the graduate is 24 years old or over. Graduates are presented their degrees in
Senate House by each respective college in order of foundation or recognition by the university, except for the university's royal colleges.
During the congregation, graduands are brought forth by the
Praelector
A praelector is a traditional role at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. The role differs somewhat between the two ancient universities.
University of Cambridge
At Cambridge, a praelector is the fellow of a college who forma ...
of their respective college, who takes them by the right hand and presents them to the vice-chancellor to receive the degree they have earned. The Praelector presents graduands with the following
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
statement (the following forms were used when the vice-chancellor was female), substituting "____" with the name of the degree:
The new graduate then rises, bows and leaves the Senate House through the Doctor's door in
Senate House Passage
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the eld ...
, where they receive their degree certificate.
For the
Cambridge Master of Arts
In the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts are promoted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts (MA) on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university (including years as an u ...
, the degree is not awarded by merit of study, but by right following six years and one term after matriculation.
Libraries and museums
![FitzwilliamMuseum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/FitzwilliamMuseum.jpg)
The university has
116 libraries.
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
is the central research library, and holds over eight million volumes. It is a
legal deposit
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The number of copies required varies from country to country. Typically, the national library is the primary reposi ...
library, which entitles it to request a free copy of every book published in the UK and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
In addition to the University Library and its dependents, almost every faculty or department has a specialised library; for example, the History Faculty's
Seeley Historical Library
The Seeley Historical Library is the history library of the University of Cambridge, England. It is housed within the History Faculty building on the Sidgwick Site off West Road, Cambridge. Since October 2003, incoming books have been classifie ...
houses in excess of 100,000 books. Every college also maintains a library, partly for the purpose of undergraduate teaching; older colleges often possess many early books and manuscripts in a separate library. For example,
Trinity College's Wren Library
The Wren Library is the library of Trinity College in Cambridge. It was designed by Christopher Wren in 1676 and completed in 1695.
Description
The library is a single large room built over an open colonnade on the ground floor of Nevile' ...
houses over 200,000 books printed before 1800 and
Corpus Christi College's Parker Library
The Parker Library is a library within Corpus Christi College, Cambridge which contains rare books and manuscripts. It is known throughout the world due to its invaluable collection of over 600 manuscripts, particularly medieval texts, the ...
has one of the greatest collections of medieval manuscripts in the world with over 600 manuscripts.
Churchill Archives Centre
The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...
on the campus of
Churchill College
Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities.
In 1958, a trust was establish ...
houses the official papers of former British prime ministers
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
and
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
.
Cambridge University operates eight arts, cultural, and scientific museums, and a botanic garden.
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
is the art and antiquities museum;
Kettle's Yard
Kettle's Yard is an art gallery and house in Cambridge, England. The director of the art gallery is Andrew Nairne. Both the house and gallery reopened in February 2018 after an expansion of the facilities.
Kettle's Yard galleries, shop and caf ...
is a contemporary art gallery; the
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology houses the university's collections of local antiquities along with archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from around the world;
Cambridge University Museum of Zoology
The University Museum of Zoology is a museum of the University of Cambridge and part of the research community of the Department of Zoology. The public is welcome and admission is free (2018). The Museum of Zoology is in the David Attenborough ...
houses a wide range of
zoological
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and dis ...
specimens from around the world and is known for its iconic
finback whale
The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of ce ...
skeleton that hangs outside. Cambridge University Museum of Zoology also holds specimens collected by
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
, an 1831 University of Cambridge alumnus. Other museums include the
Museum of Classical Archaeology,
Whipple Museum of the History of Science
Whipple may refer to:
People
* Whipple (surname) (including a list of people with the surname)
* Whip Jones (1909–2001), American ski industry pioneer, founder, developer and original operator of the Aspen Highlands ski area in Aspen, Colorado
* ...
,
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, is the geology museum of the University of Cambridge. It is part of the Department of Earth Sciences and is located on the university's Downing Site in Downing Street, central Cambridge, England. The Sedgw ...
, the university's
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
museum, and
Polar Museum, part of the
Scott Polar Research Institute, which is dedicated to
Captain Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...
and his men and focuses on the exploration of the
Polar Regions
The polar regions, also called the frigid zones or polar zones, of Earth are the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by floa ...
.
The
Cambridge University Botanic Garden
The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in Cambridge, England, associated with the university Department of Plant Sciences (formerly Botany School). It lies between Trumpington Road to the west, Bateman Street to ...
, created in 1831, is the university's
botanic garden.
Publishing and assessments
The university's publishing arm, the
Cambridge University Press & Assessment, is the oldest printer and publisher in the world and the second largest university press in the world.
The university established its Local Examination Syndicate in 1858. The syndicate is now known as
Cambridge University Press & Assessment having merged with Cambridge University Press (see above) and is Europe's largest assessment agency. Cambridge University Press & Assessment plays a leading role in researching, developing, and delivering assessments across the globe.
Awards
The University of Cambridge issues a considerable number of prestigious awards and prizes annually to accomplished University of Cambridge faculty and students. It also issues some awards to those of varying global academic accomplishment regardless of whether their recipient is affiliated with the University of Cambridge. Some of these awards and prizes rank among the world's most estimable academic and intellectual accomplishments. Among the most prominent of these are:
*
Adam Smith Prize
The Adam Smith Prizes are prizes currently awarded for the best overall examination performance and best dissertation in Part IIB of the Economics Tripos (the graduation examination for economics undergraduates) at the University of Cambridge. The ...
, awarded annually to the university's top-performing student in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
*
Adams Prize
The Adams Prize is one of the most prestigious prizes awarded by the University of Cambridge. It is awarded each year by the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge and St John's College to a UK-based mathematician for distinguis ...
, awarded annually by University of Cambridge mathematics faculty to a UK resident in recognition of distinguished research in mathematics
*
Browne Medal, awarded annually to students who win the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
poetry competition
*
Carus Greek Testament Prizes
The Carus Greek Testament Prizes are two annual prizes (one for undergraduates, one for graduate students) awarded at Cambridge University in England. Candidates are given a passage in Greek from the New Testament and asked to both translate and in ...
, a prize issued to winners of an annual competition of the university's undergraduate and graduate in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
translation of
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
passeges
*
Chancellor's Gold Medal
The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award at Cambridge University for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate Prize. It was first presented by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh during his time as ...
, a prize issued to winners of the university's annual poetry competition
*
Porson Prize
The Porson Prize is an award for Greek verse composition at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in honor of classical scholar Richard Porson and was first awarded in 1817. Winners are known as "Porson prizemen".
Winners of the Porson Pri ...
, a prize for students who develop the best Greek composition
*
Raymond Horton-Smith Prize, awarded annually to the
University of Cambridge Medical School student for the best medical school thesis
*
Seatonian Prize
The Seatonian Prize is awarded by the University of Cambridge for the best English poem on a sacred subject. This prize has been awarded annually since 1750 and is open to any Master of Arts of the university. Lord Byron referred to this prize in ...
, awarded annually for the best English language poem on a sacred subject
*
Senior Wrangler
The Senior Frog Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain."
Specifically, it is the person who a ...
, awarded annually to the university's top performing student on the
Mathematical Tripos
The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University.
Origin
In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was ...
described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain."
*
Thirlwall Prize
Since 1884, the Thirlwall Prize was instituted at Cambridge University in the memory of Bishop Connop Thirlwall, and has been awarded during odd-numbered years, for the best essay about British history or literature for a subject with original rese ...
, awarded every other year for the best essay about British literature or history
*
Thomas Bond Sprague Prize, awarded to the student with the best performing score on
Part III of the Mathematical Tripos
Part III of the Mathematical Tripos (officially Master of Mathematics/Master of Advanced Study) is a one-year Masters-level taught course in mathematics offered at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge. It is regarded as one of the ...
*
Tyson Medal
The Tyson Medal is a prize awarded for the best performance in subjects relating to astronomy at the University of Cambridge, England. It is awarded annually for achievement in the examinations for Part III of the Mathematical Tripos when there is ...
, awarded annually to the top
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...
student
Reputation and rankings
The University of Cambridge is routinely ranked among the world's top five universities, and has sometimes been ranked as the world's best. As of 2023, the University of Cambridge is ranked the second-best university in the world behind the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) by
QS Rankings. As of 2023,
ARWU ranked Cambridge the best university in Europe and third best in the world behind
Harvard and
Stanford. ''
Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' ranks Cambridge the third best university in the world (tied with Stanford) in its 2023 rankings.
In April 2022, the QS Rankings ranked Cambridge's programmes among the world's best. Cambridge's Arts and Humanities program is ranked second-best in the world. The University of Cambridge's Engineering and Technology program is ranked second-best in the world. Its Life Sciences and Medicine program is ranked fourth best in the world. Its Natural Sciences program is ranked third best in the world. Its Social Sciences and Management program is ranked fourth best in the world.
In 2011, ''
Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' recognised the University of Cambridge as one of the world's six super brands on its "World Reputation Rankings" along with
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
,
Harvard,
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, and
Stanford.
Cambridge has been highly ranked by most
international
International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations".
International may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011
* ''International'' (New Order album), 2002
* ''International'' (The T ...
and
UK league tables. It ranked first in the world in the ''QS World University Rankings'', for instance, from 2010–11 to 2011–12.
A 2006 ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' overall ranking, which combined elements of the THES-QS and ARWU rankings with other factors that purportedly evaluated an institution's global "openness and diversity", suggested Cambridge was sixth around the globe. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', in 2012, ranked the University of Cambridge above Oxford in philosophy, law, politics, theology, mathematics, classics, anthropology, and modern languages.
In the 2009 ''Times Good University Guide Subject Rankings'', the University of Cambridge ranked first or tied for first in the world in 34 of the 42 academic disciplines offered at the university.
The University of Cambridge is ranked the best university in the UK by ''
Times Ranking'' and the UK's second-best university by
The Complete University Guide
Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''The Guardian'' and jointly by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been produced in the past ...
. In the 2016 Complete University Guide, the University of Cambridge is ranked first among all UK's universities; this ranking is based on a broad range of criteria, including admissions standards, student satisfaction, quality of teaching in specific subjects, and job prospects for graduates. The university is ranked second-best in the UK for the quality of graduates according to recruiters from UK's major companies.
In the 2001 and 2008 government
Research Assessment Exercise
The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils (HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British hig ...
s, the University of Cambridge ranked first in the UK. In 2005, the University of Cambridge produced more
PhDs
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
annually than any other British university (over 30% more than second placed Oxford). In 2006, a
Thomson Scientific
Thomson Scientific was one of the six (later five) strategic business units of The Thomson Corporation, beginning in 2007, after being separated from Thomson Scientific & Healthcare. Following the merger of Thomson with Reuters Group to form Thom ...
study showed that the University of Cambridge had the highest research paper output of any British university and ranked first in research production as assessed by total paper citation count in ten of 21 major British research fields. An evidence-based study published the same year showed that the University of Cambridge won a larger proportion (6.6%) of total British research grants and contracts than any other university, ranking first in three out of four major measured discipline fields.
The University of Cambridge is also closely linked with the development of the high tech
business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and gl ...
in and around Cambridge, known as
Silicon Fen
Silicon Fen (also known as the Cambridge Cluster) is the name given to the region around Cambridge, England, which is home to a large business cluster, cluster of high-tech businesses focusing on software, electronics and biotechnology, s ...
and sometimes referred to as the Cambridge Phenomenon. As of 2004, Silicon Fen was the second largest
venture capital
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
market in the world after
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
. Estimates in February 2006 reported that approximately 250 active
startup companies
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...
directly linked with the University of Cambridge worth around US$6 billion were based in Silicon Fen.
Student life
Formal halls and May balls
![Cmglee Cambridge University Centre dining hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Cmglee_Cambridge_University_Centre_dining_hall.jpg)
One privilege of student life at Cambridge is the opportunity to attend formal dinners at a student's respective college, known as
Formal Hall
Formal hall or formal meal is a meal held at some of the oldest universities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (as well as some other Commonwealth countries) at which students usually dress in formal attire and often gowns to d ...
and occurring regularly during terms and daily at some of the university's colleges. During Formal Hall, students sit down for a meal in their
gowns
A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown ...
(at most colleges) while
fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
s and sometimes guests eat separately at a so-called High Table. The beginning and end of the function is usually marked with
grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...
said in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. Special Formal Halls are organised for Christmas and the Commemoration of Benefactors.
After the exam period,
May Week
May Week is the name used in the University of Cambridge to refer to a period at the end of the academic year. Originally May Week took place in the week during May before year-end exams began. Nowadays, May Week takes place in June after exam ...
is held during which it is customary to celebrate by attending
May Ball
A May Ball is a ball at the end of the academic year that takes place at any of the colleges of the University of Cambridge. They are elaborate and lavish formal affairs, requiring black tie or sometimes white tie, with ticket prices ranging fro ...
s, which are all-night lavish parties held in the colleges where food and drinks and entertainment are provided. So-called Suicide Sunday, the first day of May Week, is a popular date for
garden parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
.
JCR and MCR
In addition to university-wide representation, students can participate in their own college student unions, which are known as JCR (
Junior Combination Room
A common room is a group into which students and the academic body are organised in some universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland—particularly collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, as well as the University of Bristo ...
) for undergraduates and MCR (Middle Combination Room) for post-graduates. These serve as a link between college staff and members and include officers elected annually between the fellow students; individual JCR and MCRs also report to CUSU, which offers training courses for some of the positions within the body.
Societies
![Stephen Fry at the Cambridge Union](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Stephen_Fry_at_the_Cambridge_Union.jpg)
Numerous student-run societies exist at the University of Cambridge in order to encourage students who share common passions or interests to periodically meet or discuss these interests. , there were 751 registered societies at the university. In addition to these, individual colleges often promote their own societies and sports teams.
Although technically independent from the university,
Cambridge Union
The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debati ...
, a globally-renowned debate organization and the oldest debate organization in the world, offers students high-level debate and public speaking experience. Drama societies include the
Amateur Dramatic Club (ADC) and the comedy club
Footlights
Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University.
History
Footlights' inaugural ...
, which are known for producing well-known show business personalities. The Cambridge University
Chamber Orchestra offers a range of orchestra programs, including symphonies; the orchestra's membership is composed entirely of university students.
Sports
Rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...
is one of the most popular sports at the University of Cambridge, and there are competitions between colleges, notably the
bumps races. The University of Cambridge's rowing competition against
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
is known as
Boat Race
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
.
Varsity match
A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murrayf ...
es against Oxford also exist in other sports, including
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
,
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
,
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
, and
tiddlywinks
Tiddlywinks is a game played on a flat felt mat with sets of small discs called "winks", a pot, which is the target, and a collection of squidgers, which are also discs. Players use a "squidger" (nowadays made of plastic) to shoot a wink in ...
. Athletes representing the university in certain sports are entitled to apply for a
Cambridge Blue at the discretion of the Blues Committee, which includes captains of the thirteen most prestigious university sports teams. University organizations also include the self-described unashamedly elite
Hawks' Club
The Hawks' Club is a members-only social club for sportsmen at the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1872, the club represents the best sportsmen in the University of Cambridge. Membership is by election only, and the usual criterion is that th ...
, open to men only and usually restricted to Cambridge Full Blues and Half Blues. The Ospreys are the equivalent female club.
The
University of Cambridge Sports Centre
The University of Cambridge Sports Centre is the University of Cambridge's main sporting facility.
History
The University of Cambridge Sports Centre opened in West Cambridge in August 2013. The Physical Education Department moved its offices fro ...
opened in August 2013. Phase 1 included a 37x34m Sports Hall, a fitness suite, a strength and conditioning Room, a multi-purpose room and
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and
Rugby Fives
Rugby Fives is a handball game, similar to squash, played in an enclosed court. It has similarities with Winchester Fives (a form of Wessex Fives) and Eton Fives. It is played mainly in the United Kingdom.
It is most commonly believed to be ...
courts. Phase 1b included five glass-backed
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
courts and a team training room. Future phases include indoor and outdoor tennis courts and a swimming pool.
The university also has an
athletic track
An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditions. Historically, v ...
at
Wilberforce Road
Wilberforce Road is a street in the western outskirts of Cambridge, England, which runs north–south for 550 metres, connecting Madingley Road with Adams Road, which runs eastwards to Grange Road. The road was built in 1933, although several ...
, an indoor cricket school, and
Fenner's
Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground.
History
Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchard ...
cricket ground.
Student newspapers and radio
Cambridge's oldest student newspaper is ''
Varsity''. Established in 1947, notable figures to have edited the newspaper include
Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate new ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. The student newspaper also has featured the early writings of
.
''Varsity'' has a circulation of 9,000 and is the only student publication published weekly. News stories from ''Varsity'' have appeared in ''
''. Founded by two Cambridge students in 2009, ''The Tab'' is an online media outlet featuring light-hearted features content. ''
'' is a literary anthology including student prose, poetry, and visual art from both University of Cambridge and
students. Founded in 1992 by three Cambridge students, the anthology publishes once a year and is overseen by Varsity Publications Ltd., the same body responsible for ''Varsity''. Another literary journal, ''Notes'', is published roughly twice per term. Many colleges also have their own publications run by students.
The student radio station,
students. One of few student radio stations to have an
licence (frequency 97.2 MHz), the station hosts a mixture of music, talk, and sports shows.
, which was founded in 2020 as a merger of two existing Student Unions in Cambridge: CUSU (the Cambridge University Students' Union) and the GU (the Graduate Union). CUSU previously represented all University students, and the GU solely represented graduate students.
The eight most important positions in the SU are occupied by
s. In 2020, the sabbatical officers were elected with a turnout of 20.88% of the whole student body.
In 2021, Cambridge Students' Union launched a petition opposing the financial collaboration between the university and the government of
that was worth £400m. The Union cited the "values gap" and threat to "academic freedom and institutional autonomy" reviewed following the release of internal UAE documents. Citing UAE's history of violating international human rights laws, Cambridge UCU warned that university staff were vulnerable to repression by gender, sexuality, or freedom of expression.
In recent years, Cambridge has come under increased criticism and legal challenges resulting from alleged sexual harassment. In 2019, for example, former student Danielle Bradford, represented by sexual harassment lawyer
, sued the university for its handling of her sexual misconduct complaint. "I was told that I should think about it very carefully because making a complaint could affect my place in my department," Bradford alleged in 2019. In 2020, hundreds of current and former students accused the university in a letter, citing "a complete failure" to deal with sexual misconduct complaints.
and faculty have emerged as trailblazing thought leaders, innovators, and historical icons in their respective fields. As of 2020, 121 affiliates of the University of Cambridge have won 122
s (more than any university or college in the world)) with 70 alumni winning the prize. As of 2019, Cambridge alumni, faculty members, and researchers have won 11
at Cambridge, the first residential higher education institution for women, and
(i.e. not public) in England;
.
In the humanities, Greek studies were inaugurated at the University of Cambridge in the early sixteenth century by
.
. The Latinist
taught at the university but is more widely known for his contributions as a poet.
. Notable philosophers include
. Notable alumni historians include
, the bishop of Natal who interpreted Scripture and its relations with native peoples that seemed dangerously radical at the time;
, the highest accolade in the world associated with the study of religion.
Notable University of Cambridge alumni in the field of musical composition include
. The university has also produced world-renowned instrumentalists and conductors, including
. Although the university in music predominantly for its contributions to
, university alumni in popular music include members of contemporary bands such as
are each University of Cambridge alumni.
.
at Magdalene College.
'' is judged to have inspired many modern narrative devices and styles. In the following century, the novelists
served as provost of King's College from 1905 to 1918. Novelist
was the first Jewish woman to attend the university. Modernist writers to have attended the university include
. Playwright
are each early 20th century alumni of the university. They were followed by postmodernists
. More recently, alumni include comedy writers
and Howard Jacobson, the popular novelists A. S. Byatt, Salman Rushdie, Nick Hornby,
, Louise Dean (author), Louise Dean, Robert Harris (novelist), Robert Harris, and Sebastian Faulks, action writers Michael Crichton, David Gibbins, and Jin Yong, and contemporary playwrights and screenwriters, including Julian Fellowes, Stephen Poliakoff, Michael Frayn, and Peter Shaffer.
Within poetry, University of Cambridge alumni include the poets Edmund Spenser, author of ''The Faerie Queene'', metaphysical poets John Donne, who wrote ''For Whom the Bell Tolls (disambiguation), For Whom the Bell Tolls'', George Herbert and Andrew Marvell, and
, who is renowned for ''Paradise Lost'', Restoration poet and playwright John Dryden, pre-romantic poet Thomas Gray best known his ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'', William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose joint work ''Lyrical Ballads'' is often cited as marking the beginning of the Romantic poetry, Romantic movement, later Romantics including
and the post-romantic Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Lord Tennyson, authors of the best known carpe diem poems, including Robert Herrick (poet), Robert Herrick known for "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" with the first line "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may", and Andrew Marvell, who authored "To His Coy Mistress", classical scholar and lyric poet
, war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Rupert Brooke, modernist T. E. Hulme, confessional poets Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and John Berryman, and, more recently, Cecil Day-Lewis, Joseph Brodsky, Kathleen Raine, and Geoffrey Hill. At least nine Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poets Laureate graduated from the University of Cambridge. University alumni have also made notable contributions to literary criticism, having produced, among others, F. R. Leavis, I. A. Richards, C. K. Ogden, and William Empson, often collectively known as the Cambridge Critics, the Marxists Raymond Williams, sometimes regarded as the founding father of cultural studies, and Terry Eagleton, author of ''Literary Theory: An Introduction'', the most successful academic book ever published, the aesthetician Harold Bloom, new historicist Stephen Greenblatt, and biographical writers including Lytton Strachey, a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group, Peter Ackroyd, and Claire Tomalin.
Actors and directors who attended the University of Cambridge include Ian McKellen, Eleanor Bron, Miriam Margolyes, Derek Jacobi, Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, John Cleese, John Oliver, Freddie Highmore, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, Simon Russell Beale, Tilda Swinton, Thandie Newton, Georgie Henley, Rachel Weisz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tom Hiddleston, Sara Mohr-Pietsch, Eddie Redmayne, Dan Stevens, Jamie Bamber, Lily Cole, David Mitchell (comedian), David Mitchell,
, Richard Ayoade, Mel Giedroyc, and Sue Perkins. Directors Mike Newell (director), Mike Newell, Sam Mendes, Stephen Frears, Paul Greengrass, Chris Weitz, and John Madden (director), John Madden each are alumni of the university.
, who conducted many of his experiments on the grounds of Trinity College, ranks among the most famed University of Cambridge alumni. Other alumni of the university include
, who developed the scientific method of inquiry, mathematicians John Dee and Brook Taylor, pure mathematics, pure mathematicians
, John Edensor Littlewood, Mary Cartwright, and Augustus De Morgan; Michael Atiyah, a geometry specialist; William Oughtred, inventor of the logarithmic scale; John Wallis, first to explain the law of acceleration;
, a genius who made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions; and
, who brought about the second great unification of physics (the first being accredited to Newton) with his classical theory of electromagnetic radiation. In 1890, mathematician Philippa Fawcett, a University of Cambridge student, registered the highest score in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos exams but as a woman was then ineligible to claim the title
, famous for developing the theory of natural selection and explaining evolution, is an alumnus of
. Biologists Francis Crick and James D. Watson, James Watson developed the model explaining the three-dimensional structure of DNA while working at the
; University of Cambridge graduates Maurice Wilkins and especially Rosalind Franklin produced key X-ray crystallography data, which was shared with Watson by Wilkins. Wilkins went on to verify the proposed structure and win the
with Watson and Crick. More recently, Ian Wilmut was part of the team responsible for the first cloning of a mammal (Dolly the Sheep in 1996), naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough, ethologist Jane Goodall, expert on chimpanzees was a PhD student at the university, anthropologist Alison Richard, Dame Alison Richard, former vice-chancellor of the university, and Frederick Sanger, a biochemist known for developing Sanger sequencing and receiving two Nobel prizes.
Despite the university's delay in admitting women to its full degree programs, women associated with the University of Cambridge have been at the heart of scientific research throughout the 20th century. Notable female scientists include biochemist Marjory Stephenson, plant physiologist Gabrielle Howard, social anthropologist Audrey Richards, psychoanalyst Alix Strachey, who with her husband translated the works of Sigmund Freud, Kavli Prize-winner Brenda Milner, respnsible for co-discovering specialised brain networks for memory and cognition. Veterinary epidemiologist Sarah Cleaveland has contributed to advances in eliminating rabies in the Serengeti.
The university is widely considered the birthplace of the computer; mathematician and father of the computer Charles Babbage designed the world's first computing system as early as the mid-1800s. Cambridge alumnus
devised the basis for modern computing, and Maurice Wilkes later created the first programmable computer. The webcam was also invented at the University of Cambridge, showing the Trojan Room coffee pot in the university's computer laboratories.
In physics, Ernest Rutherford, regarded as the father of nuclear physics, spent much of his life at the university, where he worked closely with Evan James Williams, E. J. Williams and Niels Bohr, a major contributor to the understanding of the atom, J. J. Thomson, discoverer of the electron, James Chadwick, discoverer of the neutron, and John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, responsible for first splitting the atom. J. Robert Oppenheimer, leader of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb, also studied under Rutherford and Thomson. Joan Curran devised the Chaff (countermeasure), 'chaff' technique used during
to disrupt radar on Axis powers' planes.
University of Cambridge alumni in astronomy include John Herschel, Arthur Eddington, and Paul Dirac, discoverer of antimatter and one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics;
, theoretical physicist and the university's long-serving Lucasian Professor of Mathematics until 2009; and Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, Martin Rees, the current Astronomer Royal and former Master of Trinity College. John Polkinghorne, a mathematician before his ordination to the Anglican Minister (Christianity), ministry, received the
for his work reconciling science and religion.
Other significant university alumni in science include Henry Cavendish, who discovered hydrogen; Frank Whittle, co-inventor of the jet engine; William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), who formulated the original Laws of Thermodynamics; William Fox Talbot, who invented the camera, Alfred North Whitehead, Einstein's major opponent; Jagadish Chandra Bose, one of the fathers of radio science;
, who made extensive contributions to both theoretical and experimental physics in the 20th century; and Georges Lemaître, who first proposed the Big Bang theory.
The University of Cambridge has a strong reputation in the field of politics, having educated:
* 14 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, British Prime Ministers, including Robert Walpole, who is widely regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain
* At least 30 foreign heads of state or government, including presidents of India, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, South Korea, and Zambia; along with prime ministers of Australia, Burma, France, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Malta, Thailand, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand
* At least nine monarchs, including Kings Edward VII, George VI, and (current King) Charles III of the United Kingdom, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Sofía of Spain. The university had also educated a large number of royals, including Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
* Three signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton, and Thomas Nelson Jr.
*
, athletes who are university graduates or attendees had won 194 Olympic medals, including 88 gold medals.
Alumni of the university include legendary Chinese six-time world table tennis champion Deng Yaping; sprinter and athletics hero Harold Abrahams; inventors of the modern game of football, H. de Winton and J. C. Thring; and George Mallory, the famed mountaineer. Indian cricketer Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji, Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II and Jam Saheb of Nawanagar (often known as Ranji), widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of all time, are alumni of the university.
University of Cambridge alumni are responsible some of the world's greatest advances in technology, and several have gone on to found or co-found leading technology companies, including:
* Sam Chaudhary, co-founder of ClassDojo, a San Francisco-based EdTech company connecting teachers with their students and families
* Demis Hassabis, co-founder and chief executive officer of DeepMind, a British artificial intelligence subsidiary of Alphabet Inc responsible for the AlphaGo and AlphaFold breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, AI
* Philip Kwok, co-founder of EasyA, one of the world's largest Web3 apps for students
* Herman Narula and Rob Whitehead, co-founders of Improbable (company), Improbable, a British multinational company developing video game simulation software
* Rahul Vohra, founder of Superhuman, an email messaging app that reduces the time people need to spend on emails
* Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber, co-founders of Arm Ltd., ARM, a British semiconductor and software design company still based in Cambridge
Throughout its history, the University of Cambridge has frequently been featured in literature and artistic works by various authors. As of 2020, IMDb lists 71 films or television shows that feature
as a filming location.
Cambridge was mentioned as early as the 14th century in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales''. In ''The Reeve's Tale'', the two main fictional characters are students at a Cambridge college called Soler Halle. It is believed that this refers to King's Hall, Cambridge, King's Hall, which is now part of
.
The university has been the setting for all or parts of numerous novels, including
' ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'', Rose Macaulay's ''They Were Defeated'', and
's ''Porterhouse Blue''.
Other notable examples of the University of Cambridge in popular culture include:
* Xu Zhimo's best-known poem (1928) is ''Zaibie Kangqiao'' (Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 再别康桥; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 再別康橋;.: 'again (or once more) leave Cambridge'), variously translated into English as "On Leaving Cambridge", "Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again", "Goodbye Again, Cambridge", etc. The poem is part of China's national curriculum taught to all schoolchildren and has generated a tremendous amount of adoration of Cambridge in China.
* In the ''Psmith'' series (1908–1923 collection of novels) by P. G. Wodehouse, both the Rupert Psmith, title character and Michael "Mike" Jackson, Mike, his closest friend, study at the University of Cambridge.
* ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981 film) by Hugh Hudson is partly set at Cambridge between 1919 and 1924, when protagonist Harold Abrahams (played by Ben Cross) was a student there.
* ''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'' (1983) features Churchill College, Cambridge, Churchill College in the film's church scene. Many members of Monty Python are University of Cambridge alumni.
* ''True Blue (1996 film), True Blue'' (1996) is a film about the mutiny at the time of the Oxford-Cambridge
of 1987.
* In ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007-2019), Raj Koothrappali, portrayed by Kunal Nayyar, studied astrophysics at Cambridge, and List of The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon characters, Priya Koothrappali, portrayed by Aarti Mann, studied law at Cambridge.
* ''The History Boys (film), The History Boys'' (2008) is a film about a group of boys applying to do history at
and Cambridge.
* In Guy Richie's 2011 film ''Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows'', Sherlock Holmes is shown meeting his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, in Moriarty's office with a brief stock shot establishing this as King's College, Cambridge, King's College, where Moriarty is a professor.
* In James Marsh (director), James Marsh's 2014 biographical film ''The Theory of Everything (2014 film), The Theory of Everything'', young
falls in love with literature student Jane Wilde at the University of Cambridge, where both of them study.
* ''The Imitation Game'' is a 2014 historical drama that features
(played by Benedict Cumberbatch). Several lines in the film's dialogue make reference to Turing being a Cambridge alumnus and fellow of King's College, Cambridge, King's College of Cambridge.
* The 2015 film ''The Man Who Knew Infinity'' about mathematician
.
* Armorial of British universities
* Cambridge University Constabulary
* Cambridge University primates
* Coat of arms of the University of Cambridge
* List of medieval universities
* List of Nobel laureates by university affiliation, List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Cambridge
* List of organisations and institutions associated with the University of Cambridge
* List of organisations with a British royal charter
* List of professorships at the University of Cambridge
* List of universities in the United Kingdom
*
* Brooke, Christopher N. L. (1988–2004). ''A History of the University of Cambridge''. Cambridge University Press, 4 vols., , , ,
*
* Garrett, Martin (2004). ''Cambridge: A Cultural and Literary History'', Signal Books.
* Koyama, Noboru; Ruxton, Ian, transl. , This book includes information about the wooden spoon and the university in the 19th century as well as the Japanese students.
*
* Lee, John S. and Christian Steer, eds
History of the University of Cambridge, Boydell, 2018.
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covering the period of approximately 1200 to 1900
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge, University Of
University of Cambridge,
1209 establishments in England
Culture in Cambridge
Educational institutions established in the 13th century
Exempt charities
History of Cambridge
Organisations based in Cambridge with royal patronage
Oxbridge
Russell Group
Tourist attractions in Cambridge
Universities UK